The First Crossover.(Escape Roads)

Byline: LEIGH DORRINGTON

Porsche's RSK Spyder dominated under-2.0-liter sports car racing in the late 1950s and early 1960s, taking third and fourth at Le Mans in 1958, a win at the Targa Florio in 1959 and overall victory at Sebring in 1960.

But did you know this design also led to a Formula Two championship for Porsche in 1960 and the company's 1961 Formula One entry? Few recognize it because the RSK is a full-bodied car and we're accustomed to open-wheel formula cars. In 1957 though, new F2 rules called for a 1.5-liter normally aspirated engine and a single seat, but did not specify an open-wheel body.

So Porsche's Le Mans entry, the Type 718 RSK prototype, would fit into the F2 rules by the simple expedient of moving the driver's seat and controls to the center of the car. In 1958 Porsche did just that, taking Jean Behra's third-place Le Mans car to the Reims F2 event three weeks later.

The advantages of the car's full body on the fast circuit helped Behra claim a stunning 21-second victory over the best F2 cars from Cooper, Ferrari and Lotus. Encouraged by the success, Porsche built five new RSKs for 1959 (including our subject car, for Behra's F2 team) with mounting points designed to simplify moving the steering wheel, seat and pedals from the left side of the car to the center. Behra died while practicing for a sports car race at Avus in August 1959, thrown from the cockpit of his earlier two-seat RSK.

With new rules dictating 1.5-liter engines for Formula One beginning in 1961, F2 suddenly became a testing ground for F1. Porsche took the next step in 1960 with the 718/2, an open-wheel variant of the RSK, and won the F2 championship with the car as campaigned for the factory by Jo Bonnier and Graham Hill, and privately by Stirling Moss for Rob Walker, and Olivier ...