Focus of the book: Norbert Singer’s autobiography working at Porsche, the most successful manufacturer at Le Mans ever (16 overall victories).

Norbert Singer joined Porsche right after university and he was given the task to find a way to cool down the gearboxes of the Porsche 917… this is how it started.

So “24:16″ is a racing story told by senior engineer at Porsche, Norbert Singer. Amazingly, Singer has played a key role in every one of Porsche’s 16 overall race victories at the Le Mans 24 hours. Porsche is without doubt the most successful manufacturer ever to compete at Le Mans and this stunning book focuses on the cars, the drivers, the challenges and the achievements.

When, as a young engineer, he joined the Porsche company in Stuttgart straight out of university in Munich, he was given the job of cooling the gearboxes on the powerful 917 racers. His first task was successful and Porsche 917s dominated the event in 1971 as well as in 1972, the first year Singer attended the great race. Engineer Singer was then given the task of developing the 911 road car for racing, and in doing so he created what is by far the most successful customer car that Porsche ever produced, the 935, a car which won at Le Mans in 1979. Following this, he designed the bodywork of the 956 and 962 Group C cars which won no fewer than 7 Le Mans titles, engineered the Porsche WSC open sports car which claimed two victories, and finally oversaw the GT1-98 project which achieved Porsche’s 16th Le Mans victory in 1998.

Singer takes us behind the scenes at Zuffenhausen and at Weissach and tells many fascinating stories about the ‘holy of holies’, Porsche’s race engineering division. Just what is the secret of all those victories, a record that rival manufacturers can only dream about? All is revealed in Norbert Singer’s fascinating autobiography. 24:16!