People

Ernst Fuhrmann

Engineer behind Porsche's Type 547 four-cam engine

Born
Vienna, Austria, 1918
Died
Teufenbach, Murau, Austria, 1995
Nationality
Austrian

The record

Porsche engineer who designed the Type 547 four-cam engine, which powered the 550 Spyder and later reached the 904 Carrera GTS. After leaving for Goetze in 1956 he returned in 1971 and led Porsche AG from 1972 to 1980.

Fuhrmann was born in Vienna on 21 October 1918 and studied at the city's technical university from 1936. He joined Porsche's design office in Gmünd in 1947, working with Ferry Porsche on projects that included the Cisitalia 360 Grand Prix car, then moved with the firm to Stuttgart. In 1950, the year he married Elfriede, he earned his doctorate for work on valve drives for high-speed combustion engines.

In 1951 Ferry Porsche commissioned a high-performance version of the 356's Volkswagen-derived flat-four. From the summer of 1952 Fuhrmann applied that thesis to the boxer and developed the Type 547 four-cam engine. It first ran on 2 April 1953, was tried at the Nürburgring that August and shown in Paris that October. With 110 PS from 1.5 litres it powered Hans Herrmann's 550 Spyder to a class victory at the 1954 Carrera Panamericana, which gave the engine the name Carrera.

As head of engine testing he was passed over for technical director in 1956 and left for Goetze, whose owner drove a 356 Carrera and put him in charge of technical development. He joined that board in 1962. Porsche continued the four-cam line without him: Umberto Maglioli won the 1956 Targa Florio in a 550 A, and the two-litre form later produced 180 PS in the 904 Carrera GTS.

He returned in 1971 as technical director. When Porsche became an AG on 1 August 1972, he was the first manager from outside the family to head it, first as spokesman of the executive board and from November 1976 as chairman. He pushed the front-engined, water-cooled 924 and 928 and also the 911 Carrera RS 2.7 and the 911 Turbo. He left at the end of 1980; Peter W. Schutz succeeded him in 1981.

The Vienna University of Technology made him an honorary professor in 1977, while he still chaired Porsche. After leaving the company at the end of 1980 he chaired the supervisory board of VOEST-Alpine from 1982 to 1988. He died on 6 February 1995 in Teufenbach, Murau, Austria, aged 76.

Vertical-shaft valve drive

The Type 547 used four vertical shafts and bevel gears to drive two overhead camshafts per cylinder bank. In the 550 Spyder that layout held valve timing at more than 6,000 rpm and allowed 110 PS from 1.5 litres.

Twin ignition, dry sump

The Type 547 added double ignition and dry-sump lubrication to the air-cooled flat-four. On the 550 Spyder those features, with the four-cam heads, let the 1.5-litre unit rev toward 8,000 rpm.

Two-litre Carrera line

After Fuhrmann left, Porsche continued the Königswelle architecture. In the 904 Carrera GTS the two-litre form produced 180 PS, the last customer-racing development of the four-cam he had drawn for the 550.

The stations

  1. 1947–1956PorscheEngineer, later head of engine testing
  2. 1956–1971Goetze AGHead of technical development; board member from 1962
  3. 1971–1972PorscheTechnical director
  4. 1972–1976Porsche AGSpokesman of the Executive Board
  5. 1976–1980Porsche AGChairman of the Executive Board
  6. 1977–Vienna University of TechnologyHonorary professor
  7. 1982–1988VOEST-Alpine AGChairman of the supervisory board

The house

Porsche

Credited through Porsche.

In the register

2 files carry this name

The files above are the register's own record of this name. The people index holds everyone the register credits.