Going to Germany next month

[John Helgesen]

I'm going to Germany with my wife next month to visit with some friends, will be there for about a week. Staying in Nuremberg.

We will probably try to tour the ring, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed we can go to the factory museum.

Anything you guys suggest I see, or any parts I should bring back with me I can't get over here?

Thanks!

[Eric Gibeaut]

Have you been to Germany before? Try and see the Auto+Technik Museum in Sinsheim as well as the Rosso Bianco Museum that is north of Frankfort. LOTS of cars to see at both. Have fun on your trip-May is a great month to be in Germany!

[Pat Daily]

Have you been to Gmund? About an hour south of Salzburg. The Pfiefhoffer museum is cool.

[Michael Eker]

here's a foretaste of the museum, the 917 16 cylinder engine is amazing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCGA6A3mWoE

meker

[Michael Cass]

John

I have been to the factory for a tour and also the factory museum which although small is still good to see. The museum curator Klaus Bischoff has told me that the new museum which will house about 80 cars as well as many other exhibits and displays should be open in August.

To do a factory tour you need to organise it in advance. You should call Porsche Cars North America and they should be able to help you. Among many other interesting things, you will see the original factory building in which the first prototype beetles as well as all of our 356's were built, which is now hertiage listed and will never be demolished due to it's historical significance. It is a saw toothed roof, brick building and is now a very important part of the factory chain being used as a parts depot for the cars that are about to be built. To just see the museum you can just turn up and as long as it is open you can check it out.

Other Porsche / car related museums and activities that are well worth checking out for their own merits not to mention the fact of the Porsche links are the AUDI Museum in Ingolstadt which is absolutely fantastic both in it's architectural design and auto content and has some wonderful cars on display including the Auto Union racers designed by Ferdinand Porsche. The Mercedes Benz Museum in Stuttgart is a must and is very big, you could easily spend a couple of days there without exageration and again has some Porsche links. You should try to go to Pfaffenhausen to the RUF factory. If you ring in advance you may be able to get Alous Ruf to show you around and as well as the hot modern cars that they make they are doing some of the best 356 restos around. All of these are located in easy striking distance from Nuremburg which is very central to all. Additionally, if you are prepared to travel to Munich which is not far anyhow make sure that you go to the BMW Museum Mobil andthe Deutsches Museum in Munich which is a Technical museum and is very big is a must as it has a great Automotive hall as welll as a pretty good aircraft hall.

There is lots of car stuff to do in southern Germany so I hope you have fun and you can rent some very hot cars from AVIS in Germany if you really want to take advantage of the Autobahns. They do Porsche 911's, BMW M3's and M5's the last time I was there and it is well worth it. Don't let road distance put you off because the autobahns allow you to cover a lot of distance in a very short time. I drove from Munich to Stuttgart which is 340 km or 209 miles in 1 hour and 57 minutes which took into account the fact that for about 20 minutes each side of the autobahn we were in 30 mph zones and we had a 10 minute toilet stop along the way. We were driving an AUDI RS6 Avant which is an All wheel drive Bi Turbo V8 wagon producing 450HP kindly loaned to us by AUDI during our stay in Germany. The stock car does 0-62mph in 4.8 secs and has an electronic limited top speed of 155mph but we had a derestricted car that was much faster than that as I saw 275kmh (169.75mph) on the speedo and then I was so busy watching the road and concentrating on driving that I couldn't watch any more but it still kept accellerating. Absolutely mindblowingly wonderful and a great experience. Just make sure that you practice the great driver etiquite (i think that's how you spell it) that the Germans have when they drive. They truly are the worlds best drivers in my opinion and are very courteous and that is why their road systems work so well with such speeds.

Have fun and make sure you post some pics

Michael.

[Deborah King]

Great post, Michael! I can definitely vouch for the Mercedes museum, and BMW's, too. And I'm going to bookmark this thread (and your car rental ideas) for my future trips.

If you go near Hannover, and IF it's still in operation, try this one:

http://www.lemgo.net/539.html

The fact that it's still listed makes me hope it's still open. When we went there a few years ago, it was a Sunday-only museum, or by private arrangement. Nice Porsche museum, with most cars driveable.

Again, this is from '01 or so, so don't quote me on anything!

[Michael Cass]

Hi John, or anyone else for that matter, here is the link to the area of the german Avis site that lets you hire a Porsche. http://www.avis.de/FahrzeugeundServices ... ge/FunCars

Do yourself a favour and hire one even if just for a day . Maybe the day that you go to the Ring .

Cheers

Michael.

[Deborah King]

Just don't smush it...

[Marc Graner]

Hey John,

if you make it to Stuttgart Zuffenhausen, you can visit the "old/current"
Porsche museum. There are not to many cars, because the philosophy
of Porsche is to keep the cars still on track. For the factory tour you need
to have an appointment.
It will take another while until the "new" Museum is Finished. If you are
around Stuttgart, leave me a message, maybe I can guide you.

Some other great items to see:
- Mercedes Museum in Stuttgart (a must see)
- The Kings Castles in Bavaria (Neuschwanstein, ...)
- Have fun at the Autobahn
- Get some extra Beer in Munich

Best regards from Germany - Marc
356 C Coupe

[John Helgesen]

3 days to go, we're getting excited.....

[Deborah King]

Gee, it's 3 days for us, too. Wonder if we'll pass each other along the way!

[Mark Pribanic]

Eins, Zwei, Zuffa!!

[Deborah King]

È un, due, tre, dove andiamo!

[Eric Gibeaut]

Have a great trip John!
We want a full trip report with photos when you get home.....
Probst! Eric

[Guest]

Have a great trip John!
We want a full trip report with photos when you get home.....
Probst! Eric

He probably liked it so much, he never went back.

Still lapping the ring !!!

Martin