The Rookie Road Tripper Visits The Porsche Museum in Stuttgart

Ask anyone who likes cars and motorsport the brand they associate Stuttgart with and the answer is going to be Porsche. Porsche is the creator of one of the most iconic cars in the world of sportcars: the 911 - love it or hate, my feelings about it change almost every single day but you can't deny its place in the motoring world. Furthermore, the brand has enjoyed success in almost every racing series it laid fingers on - most notably, in endurance racing.

My relationship with the brand started through the World Endurance Championship. It was the brand that introduced me to the wonders and beauty of endurance racing and the dirty and yet beautiful 24 hour love affair that is commonly known as Le Mans. I like that Porsche has a sense of humour, that they push technology and think "left-field" on occasion, that they created almost fairy-tale like stories in motorsport,that each member of the team seems to take pride in who they work for and created a family like atmosphere. So when news reached me that Porsche were going to pull out of the WEC, my heart broke into tiny, tiny pieces ...

In order to fix some of the damage Barb foolishly suggested, "hey, when you come to Stuttgart we should visit the Porsche Museum together." And so we did.

Getting to the Porsche Museum ...

... should be relatively easy when you come from the trusty Autobahn. Just like with the Audi Forum there is a brown sign that indicates which exist you are meant to take. If you are coming from the North, it is relatively simple as you simply follow the signs that indicate Zuffenhausen and then drive off the Autobahn a mere 2 kilometers later at the exit S-Neuwirtshaus. Afterwards you follow the road for a kilometers and there you are!

When you come from the South, you are going to need to take a different exit. Once you are on the B10, you need to take the exist towards Korntal. Afterwards you follow the Adestraße for about a kilometer, in order to do so you need to turn right after getting spit out form the Autobahn, and another right onto the Strohgäusestraße until you hit the famous roundabout in front of the museum. And if you are of a British disposition, you are going to love this one as it has three lanes and traffic lights.

Should you survive the Roundabout of Confusion and wonder where to park your car, Porsche provides an underground carpark in exchange of a small fee.

In case you are not too fond of squeezing your car through the traffic, there is a busstation around the corner and a train station right behind the building. You simply hop onto the S6 heading towards Weil der Stadt/Leonberg, and jump off it at "Neuwirtshaus/Porscheplatz".

The museum ... 

... is open the whole week with the exception of Mondays. Admission is 8€.

After a quick trip with an escalator, you are within the holy halls of the Porsche Museum. It consists of one very long and spacious floor, with an additional Mezzanin. The number of stairs you have to scale are limited.

Since it is 2018, Porsche is celebrating 70 Years of Porsche Sportcars and dedicating a special exhibition to this topic. So the first type of cars that you are going to see, are old models from the very beginning. The company has sportcar literally written into its DNA, this shows in almost every object on display.

While you are being lead through the sacred halls it does not take long until you stumble over a 911 - which is without a shadow of doubt the defining car of Porsche and what helped them to become what they are today:

Afterwards, you enter the realm of motorsport:

Even though, Porsche has enjoyed success in a lot of motorsport series - and even started its own with the Porsche Supercup, the heart and soul lies in endurance racing.

While other manufactures enjoyed success in recent endurance history (Audi) and thus their exhibition focuses more on that, Porsche has a far older and richer racing heritages. This reflects in such a way that the Le Mans winning models are scattered across the years and the focus lies on old legends rather than on recent success.

This has the effect that modern WEC history had been cut short. Personally, I felt this was a bit of a shame, since I don't quite subscribe to the "they have such a big heritage so they must be great" even when they do shit at the moment - see: F, for Ferrari.

Yes, Porsche's history is immense and very impressive. I did learn a lot by walking through it and looking at the clean polished models, my heart and soul lies with the recent past and the future. I wanted to be woohed with that, which is what happened when, at last, we stumbled over the 2014 #14 919 Hybrid - the first 919 Hybrid that won a race in the WEC and also the car that marked their return into the top category in endurance racing the Le Mans:

In that moment, the noise I may have made could be considered inappropriate.

I hope that when I return in a decade that the halls are going to worship and appreciate the beauty of very recent WEC history the way it deserves. And then I am going to be upset why there is only one Formula E car on display because "how could they? It's mega!"

The Porsche Museum provides a great over-view and insight into the heritage and DNA that makes Porsche great and why it has earned a place in the history books.

It is spacious, and has an open and welcoming atmosphere. I enjoyed that it was kept very clean and with almost stereotypical attention to precision and detail. While we already went in early, by the time we left around midday the museum had started to fill quite well. This is understandable because if you are a 911 lover, this is going to be your number one destination in the world.

Even if my endurance racing loving heart was still a bit sore after the visit.However, for that there is always the Audi Forum in Ingolstadt.