Porsche – It’s My World: what is this book all about? Well, for starters, you won’t learn anything about Porsche’s cars, it doesn’t contain any technical specifications, and it has no narrative. So, you may well ask, what good is that to a Porsche enthusiast? And who is this guy, Stéphane Coradi, we have never heard of him? Also, his name doesn’t appear anywhere in the book, nor on the cover, there is only a small hint in the handle, Motörsteph, in the top right corner of the front cover.
Stéphane Coradi is 53 years old and lives in Agen, which lies between Toulouse and Bordeaux, in southern France. His love affair with Porsche began at the tender age of just 12 years when he and his father visited the Le Mans 24 Hours in 1977 for the first time. There, he came face to face with the Porsche 934, 935 and the 936, and his most vivid memory is of these fantastic race cars spitting flames, and the noise of that flat-6 engine at full chat. Who could blame him for being converted at that impressionable age? Having seen the real racing version of the 911, when a 930 later turned up in the street where he lived, his young mind was gripped even tighter. But it was only 33 years later, at age 45 years, that Coradi acquired his first 911, a Type 993 which he hopes to keep forever – can’t blame him.
Coradi is a truck driver. So, what drives a man who has a practical, demanding job like that, to turn his hand to publishing? Trucking and publishing don’t ordinarily belong together in the same sentence, and it is not because he is a whizz on a computer in his spare time, he is a self-confessed long-hand writer and illustrator!
Creating Porsche – It’s My World, is the realisation of a long-term dream for this author, and in his words, “Porsche means more to me than just sports cars…it’s a lifestyle! It’s not fashion, it’s a mix of history and performance.” The book is a combination of memories represented by imagery and graphics, and this concept is portrayed through creativity, colour, and loud expression. Coradi approached Porsche Germany, Porsche France and Porsche North America to help, but none of these would commit to, or contribute to, his project. So, what does a man do who is convinced by his own idea, when no-one comes to the party? Well he does it himself, and that is what Stéphane Coradi has done, he has self-funded and self-published his first Porsche book himself!
