And even met the Governor of Nevada at Porsche Leipzig today!
 

My arrival to Porsche Leipzig today coincided with the visit of a distinguished visitor from my former state - Governor Brian Sandoval of Nevada! :thumbup:

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlis...f27c5b0f01.png

I happened to be going into to the 'Customer Center' when he popped out of a black VIP van and I took the occasion to greet him, shake hands &
exchange a couple of words! Then he was met by Siegfried Bülow, Chairman of the Management Board of Porsche Leipzig GmbH, for his official visit:

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlis...7f977b7b37.png

My wife & I had a home at Montrêux Golf & Country Club in Northern Nevada for a number of years. And this was the place where the former
governor - Kenny Guinn (RIP) - had his Northern Nevada residence. So we have a number of contacts with Republican circles in that state.
And I personally like Brian very much & think he is doing a great job as Governor! Brian is in Europe on a trade mission at the present time.
You can read more about it here:

http://lasvegassun.com/news/2015/jul...trade-mission/

Saludos,
Eduardo
Berlin
.

More great info! Not a fan of MBM, but I do like that experimental color, quite a bit more than Miami Blau (at least in pictures.)

Excellent reporting! And nice to see new photos and verification from a variety of sources on Magic Bamboo metallic. Strange that they painted this colour on a Panamera GTS and Cayenne S Diesel (wonder if it was a one-off test vehicle for the colour like the GTS and is now being sold??). BTW the MBM formula is now newly posted on the Glasurit site. But I wonder where that name came from?!

BTW, while we're on new colours, Graphitblau met M5G has been on Glasurit for a while, but not listed as a 911 colour. There is also a new Vulkangrau met M7R and the as yet unseen Nachtblau met M5F. Finally there are also the generic sounding "Marron met" and "Blue met" colours (perhaps still in the works?) with no dates, colour codes, or formulas. So a few more on the way!... but it's not clear which models. For the 911 (at least as far as the Glasurit website goes), only Nachtblau has not yet been seen; the other new colours may appear on the Cayman/Boxster (Graphitblau met), for example, at least assuming the Glasurit site is relatively reliable for the model information.

Interesting to note that the (presumably base) Boxster (based on the badge and caliper color) painted in Graphit Blau Metallic appears to have a non-base exhaust tip setup. Or I'm just crazy...

I know it's very difficult to go from samples, especially when the square Eduardo showed us was so small, but I was hoping MBM would have been more of a teal color and with a little but of flake in might have been a stunning color. If it's the much darker, olive type green as seen above I'd pass on that. :crying:

The sample was provided by our friend Daniel and looks indeed like 'teal'. That is what initially confused me about the used 'Cayenne' Diesel for sale in 'Magic Bamboo Metallic'.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlis...548effe67e.png

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Someone at the gt4 forum reacted to the photos of 'Graphit Blau Metallic' in this manner, which struck a cord with me too:

And I must tell you that my first reaction after seeing this color, especially from the distance, was that it was also PTS 'Slate Grey' (one of the formulations). I didn't see a hint of 'metallic' in it...but they tell me it's there! Here is another shot of it I took in the heavy rain - the 'Graphit' is definitely more pronounced than the 'Blau'!

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlis...fcc36f7ffd.png

So we will monitor what all of these color 'sightings' mean - if anything - as PAG chooses an expanded color palette for the .2 991 / 981 coming up soon in MY2017 face-lifted models!

Saludos,
Eduardo
Berlin
.

Recommendation on Leipzig...and Auf Wiedersehen Germany!
 

Since we were getting to Leipzig late after driving four 1/2 hours from Düsseldorf, we chose to stay close to the Porsche Leipzig factory by the local airport. It was a bargain at 55 Euros (plus 5 Euros for secure underground parking). It was literarily across the highway from the Porsche factory in a little town called Radefeld:

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlis...37bda44c38.png

http://www.accorhotels.com/gb/hotel-...ig/index.shtml

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Leipzig Visit:

After arriving at our hotel around 6:30 PM and checking in, we drove to downtown Leipzig (around 15 minutes away) in the old city center. We found a safe & convenient underground parking garage at 'Martkgalerie', accessible via a street called 'Thomasgasse'. We then walked up 'Klostergasse' & chose a local cafe on the 'Barfußgäßchen'. We had a good but simple meal, accompanied by a bottle of Riesling from Pfalz. Our place was called 'Zigarre'. But you can choose from many other similar type sidewalk restaurants found all throughout this pedestrian section of the old town!

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlis...664a71404a.png

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlis...29dde4e197.png

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlis...3812fc8319.png

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlis...483fa3372b.png

And this is all half a block away from the beautiful 'Marktplaz':

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlis...f8fa5ed4ce.png

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlis...698f0a404b.png

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The next day (yesterday), we were able to get to the factory in less than 5 minutes from our budget hotel in Radefeld. We could have almost walked there! If you are planning to stay a few days in Leipzig, I would recommend a hotel in the city itself. But if your interest is mainly the Porsche Leipzig facility, this hotel is a viable alternative at a very good price point! From Radefeld, you can see the 'diamond' of the 'Customer Center' tower at Porsche Leipzig in the distance!

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlis...0c663ebaa7.png


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Overall, we were very impressed with the little we saw of Leipzig on Sunday night and plan to return for an extended future visit. And perhaps will try to book an 'English-Speaking' Porsche driving event at the Leipzig track, which I understand is quite rare since most track events are given in only in German by the instructors. More about this when I post a detail account of our visit to Porsche Leipzig!

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Berlin

I am not very fond of this city, but it's the gateway to our airport for our departure later today for Sardinia.

Here is one of the few sights worth a short visit.

Brandenburg Gate - How it looked a few hours ago:

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlis...4fa2289cd0.png

Brandenburg Gate - How it looked approx. 70 years ago in May 1945:

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlis...4a09d5d6ee.png

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Trabant Woes!

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlis...1a069bfbf4.png

And what would this city (once totally surrounded by the DDR) be without a Trabant to remind us of the 'good-old-kissing-days' between Erich Honecker & Leonid Brezhnev! :nono:

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlis...e0f2f34242.png

And true to form, the Trabant driver couldn't get the damn thing to start...and was on his way to ruining his starter motor with his many repeated & desperate attempts to get it going! 'Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose'.

:banghead:

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlis...0ebebde8ad.png

And on that old-timer automobile note, I bid 'Auf Wiedersehen' to Germany! It's been a memorable two weeks! :bigbye:

Saludos,
Eduardo
Last hours in Berlin
.

Eduardo...Great posts...just read your 2013 trip....how cool......I have several Porsche workers "overalls" and "jackets"from my 1988 trip.....my wife almost threw them out a few weeks ago...I gave one toGM of the dealership that just sold me my Targa GTS and Pano E Hybrid......Please tell us more about "exclusive" and leipzig....... I also sent you a "PM"...... interesting story i sent you.......KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK!

Eduardo, I have now been to two driving school events at Leipzig and will be attending a 3rd in September. When you book, you can explicitly request an English language class as they only run courses in two languages, German and English.

On both occasions I have been to Lepzig, there have been so many people attending the English speaking course, they have had to break the group into two smaller groups. My impression is that the English classes seem to be the most fun. The Germans classes are attended by, errr Germans, while the English language classes are very mixed. In my class there were people from Russia, Latvia, UK, Singapore, Taiwan, USA and Italy, etc. and because they have typically all had to travel from far away places to get there, they seem more determined to get the most out of the event..and have some more fun at night.

Driving the track as fast as you can in a GT3 is such a buzz. Everyone should get there if they possibly can.

What an amazing first part of your trip Eduardo! I'm not sure who I'm more impressed with - you or your wife? You for "working" throughout your vacation or your wife for putting up with it all! At least you have the best bit to come. I was lucky enough to have a week cruising the Med in a luxury motor yacht once. There's something very special about being on the water, afternoon cocktails and then eating quality food onboard - magical!!
PS - back to business for a minute. I had visions of MBM looking like this. No idea what color this actually is??

^ Looks like that could be Ipanema blue metallic.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlis...2d580706d.jpeg

Thanks Daniel. That's a pretty ballsy color to go for. Can't say I've seen many of them around!

You're welcome. I've never seen it in person, but it's not particularly popular. Just ask Eduardo how much he "LOVES" this colour!!!

Just checked Glasurit for MBM again and they've updated the little green square to a much darker shade of green. I think the earlier teal one was a generic green "placeholder" until a new (only very slightly better??) one could be added along with the formula which is now up too. Sorry if that was misleading. I didn't know any different either.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlis...49b0ef54a4.png

I've seen this car in person a few times. It was at the Petersen Automotive museum for the 50th anniversary celebration back in '98. That picture is actually a pretty good representation of the color in person. It's a very teal-ish type color that was pretty strong on the greenish side of teal. Definitely not Ipanema blue though.