A parade of more than 1200 Porsche 911s took to the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit – a world record number of the cars – as the Silverstone Classic celebrated the 50th anniversary of the world’s most iconic sports car.

The original plan to produce a parade of 911 x 911s was almost immediately exceeded when the celebrations were announced, with registrations building hugely in the months leading up to the event. Organisers managed to squeeze 1208 of the Porsches on to the circuit. The parade, which raised funds for the Hope for Tomorrow cancer charity, was led by a number of famous Porsche legends.Mark Porsche, son of 911 designer Ferdinand ‘Butzi’ Porsche and great-grandson of the marque’s original founder, Ferdinand Porsche, got proceedings underway and he was joined by a number of the sportscar manufacturer’s most successful racing drivers.

Five-times Le Mans winner Derek Bell drove a 911 as part of the parade and Richard Attwood – winner of the Le Mans 24 Hours for Porsche in 1970 – was also on hand to pilot another 911. Porsche owners made up the remainder of the convoy.

The parade – organised by the Porsche Club GB and Silverstone Classic – included the most famous models from past and present, such as legendary Carrera, RS, RSR, GT, Speedster, Targa and Turbo variants. To this day the idolised 911 is also one of the most popular and victorious competition cars ever created and the dazzling on-track pageant also featured a plethora of winners from both racing and rallying.

Derek Bell said: ‘It’s because of the 911 that Porsche had the financial resources to go racing and create the history of the 917, 956, 962 and all the wins that we had around the world with all my fabulous team-mates. Porsche did a heck of a lot for me so to be here in this parade driving around my home track Silverstone is a great honour.’