If you’re young enough, you may have been misled into believing that Ferdinand Piëch, Volkswagen Auto Group’s außergewöhnliche Führer (extraordinary leader), has produced only two of the world’s most sensational engineering acheivements. These are, of course, the Volkswagen Phaeton and the Bugatti Veyron. The Phaeton is renowned for complying with 10 of Piech’s notoriously absurd and lofty benchmarks, one of which was that the Phaeton should be capable of being driven all day at 300 kilometres per hour (186 mph) with an exterior temperature of 50 °C (122 °F) whilst maintaining the interior temperature at 22 °C (72 °F). Pretty normal coming from Piëch, but stark raving mad coming from anyone else.

Then there is the Veyron, the culmination of which is the recent 1200 hp SuperSport. The out-and-out speed of the Veyron is reason enough for applause, but the duality of the car, wherein the owner can toodle around town or drive 400+ kph, is what amazes most.

But let’s not forget about Ferdinand Piëch’s other other special project: The Porsche 917.

For more on the glamourously crude 917, read here.

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