My Trip To Germany

[Gt1Street]

So, I came back a couple of days a go from my 7-day drip to Germany which included the following cities (in that order) :
Augsburg-Stuttgart-Frankfurt-Koln-Nurburgring-Munich

And let me tell you, It was wonderful !
In Stuttgart we visited the Porsche Museum & Design, the Mercedes Museum and the Stuttgart Lamborghini & Bentley dealership.
next we visited the amazing racetrack Nurburgring, which is a world of its own....
In Munich we visited the BMW Museum and had a tour of the BMW Plant and its amazing production assembly line.

I came back with over 4GB of pictures using my rather new Sony Alpha A100 and im still sorting them out, I'll resize them and start posting them here as soon as possible.

[Gt1Street]

Starting with the Porsche Museum which was kinda dissappointing, its just a long room with cars stuffed in, with almost no space between them and rather bad lighting...

[Gt1Street]

BTW, forgive me for the absurd amount of picture but im sure you wont mind ;)

[Gt1Street]

You can see me in the last pic with my favorite car :D

[Gt1Street]

911 2.7 Martini Racing & RSR

[Gt1Street]

some more...

[Gt1Street]

1987 LeMans Winner Porsche 962 C #17

[Gt1Street]

Porsche 959 Prototype destined for the Group B Rally

[netburner]

Hope you walked to the big Porsche dealership around the corner from the old museum? Then you saw the new building for the new Porsche Museum which will be opened early 2008.

I was there yesterday and saw all in all 3 CGTs (one in the old museum (black prototype), silver one in the dealership and yellow one outside the dealership) :)

[Gt1Street]

Carrera GT, im supposing its number 1 made but there was no one to ask at the time...

[Gt1Street]

some more of the CGT

[Gt1Street]

they took a Cayman S and chopped it up :) all nice so you can see its insides...

[Gt1Street]

Here you can see the first Porsche 356 B Carrera GTL Abarth, an amazing car that won the 1961-1963 World GT Championship

[Gt1Street]

the 1948 356 Roadster Number "1"

[Ferrer]

It seems the cars in the Porsche museum have been changed from when I went there. There weren't the 2.8 RSR Carrera and Carrera Turbo and the car cut in half was a 996 Carrera 4.

[Gt1Street]

Group pictures of cars in the museum, and a couple of pictures of the amazing collection of 1:43's they have

[Gt1Street]

and outside of the museum we encountered what seems to be a mule for the 997 Turbo Cab all black-ductaped, and in the last pic you can see part of the production line going over your head 5 storried up when you drive around the Porscheplatz

[Gt1Street]

and looking into the factory grounds I spotted the following cars :

[Gt1Street]

next comes the Mercedes-Benz Showroom and Museum which are just amazing, the showroom is three stories high and the museum is 9 :)
The most amazing museum i've ever seen, well worth the 8 Euro's for admission. It can suit anyone, even people who are not 100% interesed in cars because they show all kinds of interesting historical facts all around...

I'll start with pictures from the showroom.

[Gt1Street]

some more detailed pics of the SLR

[my porsche]

I love how in the turbo cab test mule they've bothered to cover the Porsche badge, as if you couldn't tell... :p

[Gt1Street]

here are some pictures of the showroom, which has a nice AMG display on the top floor

[Ferrer]

I love how in the turbo cab test mule they've bothered to cover the Porsche badge, as if you couldn't tell... :p
Just for the record I think they do it for legal reasons, or resons not associated with knowing which car is it.

[Gt1Street]

SLK55 + CLK DTM Cabriolet + E63 = Fun :)

[Gt1Street]

some more of those sweet AMGs

[Gt1Street]

and now for the amazing museum, starting with the first cars from 1886

[bmwpower]

More 959 prototpe please..such a beautful car

[Gt1Street]

cant remember the names of these but they sure are pretty...

[Gt1Street]

1:5 scale models, 1939 MB 320 Streamlined sedan, 1972 300 SEL 6.3

[Gt1Street]

1952 O 3500 All-Weather Coach, 1940 O 2600 All-Weather Coach, 1907 Milnes-Daimler Double-Decker, 1921 Mercedes Knight Touring Car

[Gt1Street]

1924 - 1944 Era : 10/40 PS Sport Two-Seater, SSK Two-Seater, 500K Special Roadster and so on...

[Gt1Street]

1928 27/140/200 HP SSK Sports Two-Seater

[Gt1Street]

1936 MB 500K Spezial-Roadster

[Gt1Street]

1955 High-Speed Racing Car Transporter & 300 SLR Racing Sports Car

[Gt1Street]

Gallerys of Carriers and Helpers

[Gt1Street]

1:5 Scale 300 SL Chassis, 1:1 Scale 300 SL Chassis, 1954 MB 300 S Convertible A, 1955 Uhlenhaut Coupe, 1955 300 SL Coupe, 1962 300 SL Roadster

[Gt1Street]

Group SL pics

[Gt1Street]

more SL group shots and detaild pics of the SL Coupe

[Gt1Street]

1964 230 SL, 1964 220 S, 1960 300 Measuring Car

[netburner]

Carrera GT, im supposing its number 1 made but there was no one to ask at the time...

No, it is one of the prototypes from before the production started.

[Gt1Street]

Silver Arrows

[Gt1Street]

DTM Silver Arrows

[Gt1Street]

GT and Formula 1 Silver Arrows

[Gt1Street]

Legendary Silver Arrows and a racing simulator that costed me 4 additional Euros but was well worth it because it flyed and drives you through Mercedes's racing history.

[Gt1Street]

SL and Formula 1 Taken Apart for your pleasure :)

[Gt1Street]

Fascination of Technology and show-offs

[Gt1Street]

A 1970 Mercedes-Benz C111 Concept which is a further developed version of the original 1969 Rotary engine concept

[Gt1Street]

more of the C111

[Gt1Street]

1991 F100 which featured the following inovations which later developed into add-ons to production cars; rain-sensor, autonoumous cruise control, xenon headlights and so on...

[Gt1Street]

1996 Mercedes-Benz F200 Imagination

[Gt1Street]

2001 Mercedes-Benz F400 Carving, the wheels on the F400 can tilt up to 20 degrees when cornering hence the epithet Carving with reference to the sporty carver skies

[Gt1Street]

more F400

[Gt1Street]

2003 Mercedes-Benz F500 Mind

[Gt1Street]

group concept pictures

[Gt1Street]

various interesting objects found on the museum grounds including the world's first driving license produced for Karl Benz allowing him to drive his car prototype around germany and the birth of the magic tree

[Gt1Street]

and here's me and my trust worthy 2007 Mercedes-Benz C200 Kompressor.
which has a funny storry behind it, because we ordered and paid for an Audi A3/BMW Series 1 and apperantly they were out of them by the time we arrived at Munich airport so they upgraded us, but not once but three times over :)

[Gt1Street]

Next we have the superb Stuttgart Lamborghini & Bentley Dealership.
inside you can find a very nice and not to say cute girl (which name I Just cant remember :() who let me opne and sit in a Lamborghini Murcielago LP 640 !!!!

[Gt1Street]

more LP640

[Gt1Street]

and then some

[Gt1Street]

I got to sit in it !!!!!
Forgive me for the shaky pictures, I got excited with the idea that im in a 300,000 Euro Car being one of my all time favorites. Apperantly I got my finger cut and bleeding and didnt notice it untill I came out of the dealership.

[Gt1Street]

last ones of the LP640

[Gt1Street]

They have an amazing collection of classic Lambos there starting with a Miura S

[Gt1Street]

Next you can see the last Diablo SE30 Jota with Zero miles one it, let me remind you that only 12 SE30 were equiped with the Jota package

[Gt1Street]

They also have one of 224 400GT 2+2 and the First made Diablo SVR which raced in the Supersport Trophy

[Gt1Street]

more of the SVR

[Gt1Street]

They also have two Countaches, one of which is the SE25.
And ofcourse they have 5 Gallardos, including an SE and a Spyder

[Gt1Street]

more Gallardos and the last from the Lambo dealership

[Gt1Street]

More pictures are to follow tomorrow when I get up (its midnight here now), come around to see the best part of the trip.....the Nurburgring, a BMW M6 Cabriolet Shoot-out and the BMW Museum...

comments are always welcome as usual :)

[F1_Master]

It seems the cars in the Porsche museum have been changed from when I went there. There weren't the 2.8 RSR Carrera and Carrera Turbo and the car cut in half was a 996 Carrera 4.

That's because the museum has over 400 vehicles stored in an underground garage that are changed out every 2 months or so.

[Vaigra]

I'm waiting on some Audis. :p

[jediali]

Fantastic photo tour. thanks very much for putting these up!

[Gt1Street]

The adventure continiues with the outragous Nurburgring Nordeschlife....
Even on the 70km ride to the ring you pass through little villages swarmed with bikers and fantastic cars that either came back from the ring or heading there...

[Gt1Street]

We went there on our Merc C Class, but exchanged it for a VW Golf V GTI with 230 BHP equipped with a Rollcage and upgraded stiffer Bilstein Shocks. Its actually a rental from a very nice and hospitable man called Theo who runs a bussiness called www.Rent-Racecar.de You can rent any of he's 6 race prepared cars for a set fee and run it around the ring for either half a day (130km) or a full day (260km). By the time we got there the only car he had left was the GTI, so we had no choice but ot take it for 320Euros...
I can say for sure that it was worth every cent !!! we had a complete blast with it, It just keeps on gripping with those tiers....

If you are new to the 'Ring, Theo wont let you go right ahead without a warmup lap with him on he's Golf 5 GT, and I can assure it the ride with him is better then any rollercoaster i've ever been on ! turns out he is a Pro driver, who had more then 20000 laps on the Nurburgring, both the Nordeschlife and the GP cercuit.

[Gt1Street]

In the first pic you can see the entrace to the ring...

[Gt1Street]

The amount of various cars is stagering, from Bentley Continentals to Mini Coopers... and the M3 CSL was amazing, I counted atlist 20 at that day

[Gt1Street]

Old mini coopers, BMW E30 M3's, Ferraris, Sportec Porsche 993 and what not

[Gt1Street]

ZakSpeed Viper, Cobra Replica, Ferrari 360 CS, Porsche 993 Turbo, Caterham 7

[Gt1Street]

There was a gathering of a UK TVR club called Blackpool Rockets - Cerburgring 2007 :)

[Gt1Street]

Tamoras, Cerberas and Tuscans

[Gt1Street]

2 of those M3 CSL's

[Gt1Street]

in the forth picture you can see the infamous webcam of the ring :)

[Gt1Street]

Another car avalible from Rent-RaceCar, The BMW M5 Ring-Taxi

[Gt1Street]

350Z, Catarham 7, Ferrari 360 CS

[Gt1Street]

997 GT3 RS, Ferrari 348, M5 Ring-Taxi

[Gt1Street]

Lamborghini Gallargo, Weisman GT

[Gt1Street]

later today, 10 X BMW M6 Cabriolet and the BMW museum...

[Gt1Street]

here are the M6's I was talking about, im guessing they are gonna show up in some add or magazine , question is what mag exactly ?

[Gt1Street]

some more of teh M6's

[Gt1Street]

I asked my sis during the time I was on the ring to save the pics from the webcam in hope she'll catch me on it, I know that chances are slim but who cares cause she caught me ! that's me in the black GTI

[Gt1Street]

and here are the pictures from the BMW Museum.

[Gt1Street]

BMW first creation a 27.7l plane engine :)

[Gt1Street]

the 502 and 503

[Gt1Street]

3/20 and L2002

[Gt1Street]

Z1 and 850CSi

[Gt1Street]

321 and 518

[IWantAnAudiRS6]

That's awesome with you in the Golf :) how did you find the 'Ring? Excellent pics too.

[Gt1Street]

There was a stand in the middle of the second showroom with racinf cars : E30 M3, M1 and E36 M3. Lovley display

[Gt1Street]

That's awesome with you in the Golf :) how did you find the 'Ring? Excellent pics too.

Well, I was scared shitless about making a lap on it being the longest and hardest racing track in the entire world and all. Not to mention that every time I gave it a shot on my PS2 GT4 I ended up hitting every possible wall....
And then the second worst part came when Theo (the guy that I rented the Golf from and who's a racing driver with 20000 laps to he's name) gave me a warmup lap with him, I mean we overtook Porsches and super bikes with he's Golf GT (diesel) but then he started explaining how it works on the ring. And turns out its really easy and theres a system for driving on it without ever seeing it before.
There are small white dots the size of an apple before every turn telling you to turn in, and then in the middle of the turn telling you to ease out the stearing out of the bend. Its very intense because your average speed on there is atlist 80Kph even on the bends and some go up to 140 on the bends.
Its a matter of hitting the spot as they say :). I recommend it to anyone who ever thought of driving a real car on a real race track !

[Gt1Street]

more of the E30 and the M1

[Gt1Street]

more of the M1

[Gt1Street]

M1 and the E36 M3

[Gt1Street]

E36 and a couple of F1's

[Gt1Street]

And for the pinnacle of the museum and Matt's favorive part......the 328 Mille Miglia !

[Gt1Street]

328mm

[Gt1Street]

And then we went to the BMW factory and had a guided tour of the assembly line of the new 3 Series. Unfortunatly they didnt allow taking pictures otherwise there would have been atlist a 100 more here.
The proccess is amazing, starting from a huge roll of aluminium into a complete 3-Series.... Its two hours long and is highly recommended, and best of all its free :)

[Gt1Street]

And heres a selection of cars that I came across on the streets of Germany...

[Gt1Street]

a bit more

[Gt1Street]

and that's all folks !

[Matt]

a bit more

Z1 on the street - rare. Z1 with a hardtop - I've never seen that before! Good catch!

[Gt1Street]

Z1 on the street - rare. Z1 with a hardtop - I've never seen that before! Good catch!

and its a ville green color too :)

BTW, no comments on the 328MM ?