Hans Mezger, the legendary Porsche engineer, has passed away aged 90.

Mezger was born in a small village near Porsche’s hometown of Stuttgart in 1929. He started working for the company in 1956 after graduating from what is now the University of Stuttgart, having avoided being enlisted by the German military just weeks before the end of World War Two. He wouldn’t retire until 1993.

Mezger was part of Porsche’s first Formula One programme in 1960. Soon after he developed the 901 air-cooled flat-six that powered the first-generation 911, and would inform the design of all 911 engines until the water-cooled 996. Then in 1965 he was put in charge of “race car design”, where he was ultimately tasked with winning Le Mans…

The result was the 917 – Mezger was responsible for its “overall construction”, and the chief architect of its flat-12, which would go on to produce over 1,000bhp in the turbocharged Can-Am cars.

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