very cool. Its so neat to see the old race cars to me. Where is that place?

 

Stuttgart, Germany. It is at Porschplatz which is about 7km north of the main train station.

I'll try to find out when the new museum opens.

 

I will be there next week, please let me know about the new museum.

 

Hey guys,

I just got back from Stuttgart. Good trip, worth it of course. I'll post pics in the morning (it's 23:30 here), but here are a few notes to address some of the questions raised.

1. The new museum is not complete. In my completely ignorant opinion, I doubt it will be finished until spring. But I'll post pics later for you.

2. The small museum is still in effect and was worth the trip. The pics above, just about cover everything you'll see, but it is special to see it in person.

3. The Porsche Center (Zentrum) is also worth the trip. Three floors (much bigger than the small museum), of modern Porsches. I think the oldest car I saw in the Zentrum was a 993 Turbo. Some cool stuff there.

4. Factory tour. Make your arrangements before arrival. I grabbed a card of the guy you need to get ahold of. He is Christian Hoenniger at +49-711-911-25384. Phone is supposed to be the way to go. The email address is factorytours@porsche.de. Be sure to ask for a tour in the language of your choice. A secondary email address is werksfuehrungen@porsche.de. but this one is likely only for German speakers so take your chances with that one.

I also met a guy (Canadian) there that was in the middle of an interesting trip. He even gave me a ride back to the train station. (Thanks Ryan!) Anyway, you can rent a Boxster S in Frankfurt for about $1000 for 4 days. That's enough time to see the Nurburgring (see note at bottom of post), both Porsche and MB museums, and several cool roads and castles. I plan on following his advice in November when I head to the 'Ring for the first time.

Hope the helps guys,

Cheers,

Trevor


***Note: Rule #1 don't try to take a rental car out on the Ring. The rental agencies have cameras and spotters watching and you will get dinged big time. Rule #2 respect the Ring, it is a dangerous track. I say these two things because so many people have told them to me that I feel like my life goes on "pause" every time I mention the ring. They warn me about these two things every time. What this tells me is they care about me, and I appreciate that. I'd like to return the favor to everyone reading this. So in honor of, Scott, Chris, Larry, Don, Ryan, the crew at Group2, and various other track junkies I chum around with in the states, please do your homework before driving the ring. Ben Lovejoy's site is a great resource. Google it and be safe. -Trevor

 

Wright up, directions and pics here

 

Thanks for the pictures and the write up.

 

Thanks for posting the writeup and pics. Sounds like it was a fun trip!

 

It was a good trip.

I just got back the other night from the Porsche factory tour. I learned that they have recently (two months ago) switched production methods for the engines and have incorporated a new testing procedure.

The engines are no longer assembled ferrari style by one person, it is an assembly line. Seperate lines for the V engines and the B engines. They have the new test (I can't remember the name) that is to replace the hot test. This was the final test previously. Currently, they are running both tests on 100% of the engines so they can gather data on the new test. Then after a period of time, the old test will go down to 1% of the engines, but instead of being 10 minutes, it will be ten hours long.

IMO, engines at Porsche made right now are likely to be more reliable than at any other point. THey are being tested much more throughly as they switch processes.

interesting.

 

I was there last year. Nice museum. I wish they gave factory tours. That would be REALLY sweet. Actually, I'm sure they do, but you have to be somebody!!

 

I am planning on going March 09. Thanks for the information, I will send emails now!