This was in fact Bez’s fourth and final stint at Porsche: on leaving school he had been an engineering apprentice at Zuffenhausen, grinding valves and helping with the restoration of the 804, Porsche’s F1 car. At university he began an engineering degree, but graduated in aeronautical studies some six years later. Returning to his native Bad Cannstatt on the east side of Stuttgart, Bez applied to Porsche for a placement to carry out the practical part of his thesis. After six months Porsche’s research department offered him a permanent position and he settled into a ten-year stint at Weissach. He learned about bodywork and driving dynamics, managed projects on accident research and published papers which enabled him to complete his PhD under the tutelage of Hans Hermann Braess, Porsche’s then R&D head.
In the best Porsche tradition, there was also plenty of practical motorsport involvement and as the latest recruit he had the task of operating the valve on the fuel tank in the pits for the Nürburgring 1,000km. Flow was achieved by gravity, which meant Bez was billeted on the pit roof with the tanks. Pit signals at Le Mans also fell to him and gave him the chance to admire the organisational skills of team manager and senior car tester Peter Falk; from Falk, Bez would also learn much about feel for driving a car, how it should brake and how it should shift and corner.