Was driving through Stuttgart the other day...

[Ewan]

... and mysteriously got lost.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2640/3932830866_2d662dab09_b.jpg

[This is the Porsche museum in Zuffenhausen; well worth a visit if you're ever in the area. I'm not much of a Porker fan but it was the best (and cheapest!) of the Ferrari/Lamo/Porsche museums we visited].

Driving around here, the NSX was getting lots of pointing, double-takes from GT3RS drivers, photos taken from passers by etc...

[TheSebringOne]

What an amazing looking building!

Bet Porkers were truely ten a penny out there in Germany & especially Stuggart!

[JQD84983]

It hadn't opened when I was there earlier in the year so we did the Mercedes Benz Museum instead which was also great.

I intend to make a trip there soon. Porsche has a lot of racing history and still holds the outright lap record at the Nordeschiefe I believe.

[Ewan]

http://www.porsche.com/international/aboutporsche/porschemuseum/

It was great value too - only €8 entry each, whereas Ferrari Galleria was €13 and whilst quite interesting didn't flow anything like as well, and was way busier than the Porsche museum. Lambo's museum was €12 each and had only about 20 cars on display, nothing of note from the Audi era or beyond (except a couple of concepts). That said, they did have a Murci SV and a Reventon parked out front, which was nice :)

[Edit] - and yes, a 956 driven by Stefan Bellof set the lap record for the Nordschleife, at 6:11... though some reckon Nick Heidfeld's F1 run a few years ago may have been faster.

[dan the man]

Heidfield didnt go flat out around it im sure...

My pal went to the Porka Museum this year said it was amazing, real effort gone into it. I love Porsche for that. He timed it with the DTM revival at the ring the clever get.

[Ewan]

Heidfield didnt go flat out around it im sure...


he didn't go flat out all the way round, because on each lap he slowed down to pass a camera truck and do PR shots etc. But as the truck was moving, he was unofficially timed on one lap point:point. Trouble was, the GP circuit was included on the lap too - so accounting for that, it's though he may have done a well under 6 minute lap of the Nordschleife. Heidfeld said he'd love to go for it again without the restrictions, but with BMW calling it a day for F1, I guess that isn't going to happen now...

[dan the man]

Imagine a properly setup F1 car to handle the bumps......

Jeez that be unreal

[Ewan]

Onboard with Heidfeld - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ceX5Wk-zSY

Apparently, the car was set up to have the max suspension travel it could handle. With proper rubber, who knows what times could have been done...

[TheSebringOne]

I can't believe how smooth that was & it looks like hes not even trying that hard! :eek:

[Senninha]

Imagine a properly setup F1 car to handle the bumps......

Jeez that be unreal

I'd so like to see that lap .... in fact, why dont they wheel out the old 2 or 3 seater F1 cars, set them up purely to work round the ring and charge you a fee per lap ... that would be stunning..

[Ewan]

It would be stunningly expensive, that's for sure. I read somewhere - here (http://www.nurburgring.org.uk/taxi.html), in fact - that the Ring Taxi M5's cost BMW €480 per lap. I'd imagine an old 2 or 3 seater F1 car would be €10,000s per lap...

[NSXGB]

I can't believe how smooth that was & it looks like hes not even trying that hard! :eek:


You can tell that he is not trying that hard, that's why it was so smooth. Maybe because of the bumps as mentioned.

Just shows how good these F1 cars are.