After a few more wins in Europe, the cars were sold off to a buyer who continued to race them. Weeks later, a two-car effort took first and second at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Despite pouring rain and carburetor troubles, the 550 won the very first race it entered, a sign of what was to come. The first factory-built 550 debuted at the Nüburgring for the Eiffel Races on May 31, 1953. By 1952, Porsche had started developing its own purpose-built race car in-house-the Type 550. Successes continued to mount in the prototypes. From 1951 on, Glöckler prototypes bore Porsche branding. Porsche took notice, and began to support Glöckler’s car, eventually entering an informal mutual assistance pact. That year, his Porsche-powered prototype won the 1,100cc sports car class championship in Germany. Prototypes were developed starting in 1950 by Walter Glöckler, a motorcycle racer and Volkswagen salesman who wanted to use Porsche’s 1.1-liter flat-four engine in his home-built race cars. In an era where nearly every aspect of cars was getting larger, the 550 Spyder, remarkably light at less than 1500 pounds, was the direct opposite.
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