The Current Limits of Germany Engineering!

[jluetjen]

I just got back after a couple of weeks of Alps, castles and at the end flooding during the family vacation in southern Germany. As usual, I went through Stuttgart to visit my onkel. In the past I've been through the Porsche Museum a couple of times and passed on it this year. As usual the factory was shut down again when I was there so there was nothing to see there. This time my onkel and I stopped at the Porsche Marketing and parts support facility in Ludwigsburg to pick up some souvineers at the shop there.



Unfortunately, no CGT's were to be seen.



As a bonus I did get a ride in his girlfriends 996 Targa with Tiptronic. A very nice car and an absolute hoot to drive on the inter-town roads in the area (with even burst up to 200 kph between the cameras -- I wasn't driving by the way!). While still an MFI zealot, I have to admit the the new 911's are awesome cars.

Our rental car was far more "pedestrian", but still a pleasent surprise. We had a SEAT (Spanish division of VW) Altera (~VW Golf) 2.0 Turbodiesel, with a 6-speed manual.


It took only a minute or two to get used to the 4500 RPM redline, but with 140 HP the car was as quick as many gas powered cars for normal driving, and cruised easily at 170 kph (100+ MPH) while turning over 33 MPG. I was impressed! I'm looking forward to seeing future diesel developments as they start to be raced more at Le Mans.

But the most memorable piece of German mechanical enginuity that I found...





No. That is not a Fiesta that happened to be parked behind a snow plow. It IS a Fiesta Snow Plow! Powered by a...

(Wait for it!!!)



... 1.1 Liter motor!!!!

What will they think of next?

[ianc]

Nice trip! But, you give us pics of parking lots, rental cars and Fiesta snowplows?

Where's the Autobahn blast in the 996 targa? Where're the goodies you picked up at the gift shop? Where are the frauleins in their summer finery?

ianc

[jluetjen]

Unfortunately with a family full of women, the trip was not very Porsche-centric, and I didn't have my camera with me for the 996 ride. We didn't even get on the autobahn with the car. But like all Porsches, the magic of the car isn't in it's top speed, but in how well it hands the twisties. If it's any consolation, that 200 kph burst was reached on a stretch of road that wasn't even a mile and a half long between the corners.

The "parking lot" is still hallowed ground to me being one of the factory sites. I got a bit of a rush just seeing the large Porsche script across the top of one of the buildings. Ok, so I'm a bit of a Romantic. The girl-friend's ex-husband used to work at Porsche, and her daughter (who was driving me) now works at Daimler Chrysler. She was telling me how her dad drove her home once in one of the racing 911's, but she couldn't tell her mother so as to not get him in trouble. (I guess her parents were separated at the time.) Apparently the word on the street is that Porsche is not known in the area for great salaries. They're very good at making employees feel like part of the family, and as a result they don't pay people as much as the much larger and far more impersonal Daimler Chrysler organization.

[ianc]

Apparently the word on the street is that Porsche is not known in the area for great salaries. They're very good at making employees feel like part of the family, and as a result they don't pay people as much as the much larger and far more impersonal Daimler Chrysler organization.

Sounds like LucasArts when I worked there. Apparently George figured the pixie dust was enough. Think again George!

ianc