Okay, it's been exactly 1 month, time to tell the Nürburgring story.
So, I've been a big fan of the Nürburgring and last year I made a decision to go to the Ring this year in Spring. I chose end of May, as I expected nice weather but not too hot. The Ring is super hard on the car, there's no need to torture it with additional heat outside. Late May proved to be really *the best* time of the year. No crazy traffic, and we hit the week of sunshine every single day. Kinda pity, because I really wished for at least a shower or some rain, because I really wanted to try the ring in the wet as well, but eh, next time.
The plan was 1 week of travel to the Ring (stopping in München and Stuttgart, visiting museums), and then enjoy 1 week on the Ring, and then go home.
We traveled with 2 cars (370z and M2) with walkie-talkies which are absolute recommendation, as it makes communication so much easier.
In München we went to the BMW museum and BMW Welt. Welt is kinda meh, contemporary cars, nothing special to see really. BMW museum however, is amazing. Several floors of everything to see; from classics, to prototypes, to incredible new stuff.
Check some of these pics out:
There's PLENTY more, but I'm not going to be uploading pics endlessly, can't be bothered, sorry �� also, museums must live off of something, so go there and see for yourself! There's a whole huge tech part where you can see all engines BMW made and how they're developed etc. It's really worth it.
Beside the BMW stuff, we went to the Museum of Technology, which is also fckn awesome. I didn't make a lot of pics there, but trust me when I tell you, it's fantastic. Just a couple of pics here:
full resolutions of these two panorama pics - worth checking:
https://imgur.com/mbRR9sR
https://imgur.com/ww9eOGH
In one of the garages where we parked, we also saw a small carpark by obviously the same owner - very separate spaces, all cars with nearly the exact same license plate. What's interesting is that the cars are.....a perfect choice for every occasion. You've got the big jeep, little jeep, cheap sportscar, expensive sportscar, a rally sportscar, a PDK sportscar, a manual sportscar....
That guy has good taste, no question about it. Anywho....
After that we went to Stuttgart. On our way there, we meet these dudes:
Bought a car somewhere in Germany, something broke, so they had it brought to the Porsche specialist in Zuffenheim (porsche HQ), and now they're on their way back home to England. Lovely 356 there.
So, Stuttgart. The plan there was of course, to check out Mercedes Benz museum and Porsche museum.
Mercedes has a huge museum, 8 floors IIRC in total, you can be there the whole day. The museum is not just cars cars cars, it's basically everything that somehow included Mercedes. First world war, second world war, industrial revolution of sort, everything. It's a really interesting place to be and to see everything. The security is super tight and they are very strict. I'm saying this, because for some cars, they don't allow you to come close at all. Not saying that I should be allowed anything but looking, but in Porsche museum, you can sneak a peek inside anything, you can almost sit down in some legendary cars - it's ridiculous how relaxed and laid back they are there. But more on that later. The Mercedes security might be so tight also because of the fact that some cars there are ridiculously expensive (1 out of 2 MB300SLR, that's worth 135M euros - yes, 135 million euros!).
So, some pics from the Mercedes museum:
This thing may not look that way, but it's HUGE. Also, Apparently it could hit 190km/h
All of these are quite big, people in the background are actually standing pretty close to them
And this car...the original SLR
This thing is worth €135M. For this one, I'm amazed you can basically touch it, if you dare. Security is right there next to it, but you may come quite close to it. It's crazy. Made in 2 pieces, one is bought by some sheik who knows what, and the other one is here in the museum.
Grids like these are particularly interesting, because they made sure to put the correct type of asphalt as on the track here beneath the cars - an actual fact lol.
Landspeed record vehicles are especially interesting
After Mercedes Benz museum, we go to the edge of Stuttgart to Zuffenhausen to check out the Porsche museum. That museum is small, but man, they made it SO GOOD. You get in, walk around looking at porsche history for maybe 1,5h, and you get out thinking - "Porsche is the best car in the world and I will sell my kidney to get one". Not sure how they made it, but that's the feeling you leave with after you go through their museum.
Some pics....
Yes, these are actual cars:
Beneath every car there's a plaque with a story behind it. Whether it's "the first XXX model" or it's some curiosity about the particular model...
The first turbo:
This car actually has 35km from new. That's cca 20 miles in freedom units. 20 miles from new!!!
The 911R, manual, naturally aspirated 500hp.
Not sure what a Subaru Impreza is doing in a porsche museum, but still, it looks nice
Part 1 complete. Preparing part 2 now.......