On a recent trip to Europe I was fortunate enough to be able to visit the Porsche factory, along with some mates of mine from the Porsche Club in Qld. As you can imagine, this turned out to be a highlight of my trip. As well as visiting the museum and taking in the factory tour, through a series of events we were also lucky enough to be taken through ‘Werks 1’ (the old Motor Sport building), where the Porsche restorations department is now located. I’ll come back to this a little later in the post.
Here's some pictures of the factory from outside the grounds. The car bodies are constructed in the building on the right and then are transported across to the other side by elevator/conveyor belt:
Firstly I must say that a visit to the factory is a must for any Porsche nut that gets to Europe. It was a brilliant day which started with a visit to the Museum. The museum itself is only small and currently has sufficient space for about 20 cars. This will expand to about 60-80 cars when the new museum is completed in about 1˝-2 tears time. As expected, there were a number of very special cars on display including those following:
1971 Le Mans Winning 917
The ill-fated Flat-16 917 Engine
As the Museum is only small it took about an hour to view and then we joined the tour of the manufacturing factory. Unfortunately, we could not take any photos during the tour, so all I can do is tell you that it is very worthwhile. We were taken through three major areas including (dash board assembly, engine assembly and final body work assembly. The engine assembly line was clearly the most interesting and we were able to view all engine types including Boxster, 997 Carrera, 996 Turbo, GT2 and GT3. The only engines we did not see were the Cayenne and Carrera GT – although examples were provided in a display area. The manufacturing process itself is a mix of robot automation and good old humans. It is very interesting to witness and one has to keep an eye out constantly for the robots maneuvering about the factory (on designated paths marked with yellow lines). When walking between the building, its interesting to see the mix of modern and historic buildings and to daydream about all the amazing cars and people that must have been through them over the years.
Following the factory tour we met up with Volker Spannagel, the 2IC for global Porsche Club management for lunch at the Porsche Casino (Yes casino! They explained that Casino is the German term for meal and recreation area. I guess I have to accept this seeing as I did not see any roulette tables). Volker, who has worked for Porsche for over 30 years, was a very interesting and charming host, who made us feel right at home. I think it is amazing (and a great credit to both he and Porsche) that someone in his position in organisation such as Porsche, can devote so much time and effort to a trio of visiting enthusiasts. In any case, following lunch, Volker asked if we would be interested in visiting ‘Werks 1’ to see some of the restoration projects they have underway at the moment. Porsche offers a full repair and restoration service to any Porsche owner with the desire (and obviously funds) to restore their cars to as-new condition. As their clientele includes anyone from “Jo Almost-average” right through to Middle-East Oil Sheiks, there some pretty amazing vehicles to be seen, the most amazing being the following:
A 906/8
Up to 6 959’s
A 356 with Abarth bodywork
Volker Spannagel and the boys from PCC
We were also fortunate enough to be able to have a first hand viewing of a Carrera GT up close and personal. Unfortunately no test drive /ride was offered
All in all it was a fantastic day. Once again I urge anyone heading over to Europe to contact the