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Novemeber 2022 - vehicle ordered
Aprill 2023 - vehicle locked
May 2023 - vehicle manufacturing completed and transferred to Leipzig
June 2023 - our planned 2 day track event in Valencia spain was canceled - rework the entire trip but keep the "anchor" flights (too expensive to change them)
July 2023 - wait for august - conduct extensive performance testing on Porsche's web infrastructure by clicking refresh A LOT!!
August 2023 - oh sh*t they want me to given them actual money - you mean it's not free? OMG what sort of operation is Porsche running here? I have to park how much money with you for German VAT iin case I don't send the car home? come again?
August 2023 - wait for end of august - more performance testing of the Porsche web site…
Day 1 was a travel day - one had to get from SFO to Stuttgart for the beginning of our trip - additional levels of difficulty were added by addition of one's own 21 year daughter (father daughter time) and a good and dear friend from my college days…by the end of this trip two of Porsche's finest GT 911's will be dropped in Stuttgart for their trips home to US - what happens between now and then is the reason we are all here - I've been looking forward to this trip for quite some time!!! So here we go!
travel was made less friendly by planning a 10 day european trip with luggage that will fit between the sports seats in a 911 with no frunk - this means no roller bag - and the walks from terminals to passport control to the train station while lugging small bags on one's shoulders reminded me of my deep love the roller bag invention - but it's all worth it right?
One flight was SFO -> FRA non-stop
Two flight was SFO -> CLT -> FRA
Three flight was SEA -> LHR -> FRA
much texting and inflight wifi kept us all in touch - once in FRA - we all had to navigate the excellent german rail system for our first 2 nights in Stuttgart before making way to Leipzig for the actual delivery.
train ride from FRA to STU was slightly delay'd - but nothing major - German DB train app worked great and was easy to puchase tickets - german train was electrical - fast smooth and quiet - just like my Taycan - hmmm maybe this whole EV thing isn't that new - we've had effective EV transport for decades - these train EV motors must be bulltet proof in terms of power, reliability, an efficiency - trip was 1 h 20 m and easy - but OMG why must I walk the entire length of the train platform with heavy luggage - oh yeah I'm the idiot who ordered the RS…and it has no frunk!!
Day 2 will involve the Mercedes Museum, the Porsche Museum and a friendly afternoon chat with my instructor from "the ring" in summer of 2022 - evening's plans for Stuttgart day 2 are up in the air, but will involve some preparations for our 10 am train to Leipzig on day 3 - day 2 dinner will have to be decided upon during the course of today…
weather app for delivery day in Leipzig is receiving the same high performance testing I was giving the Porsche web site…so far it seems Leipzig should be a decent day for delivery.
Inventory update: wife collects starbucks "location" mugs from places we/she/I have visited - Stuttgart mug achieved!! Didn't see a starbucks in frankfurt in the airport- guess I'll have to bring the wife to Frankfurt for a future EU delivery for one of her cars!!
1st time in Stuttgart for me - so far seems a lovely german city - I'm looking forward to tomorrow - my goal (other than getting the car) is for the pictures to get more interesting…
Last edited by daveo4porsche; 08-29-2023 at 12:07 AM.
still recovering from a bit of jet lag - away at 3 am and hungry - waiting for breakfast to open at 6:30 (too lazy to leave the Stuttgart Hotel) - breakfast with daughter - lovely chat about her final year in College - she and I are super excited and I couldn't be a more proud papa - we've come to realize she's been on dean's list 5-6 times since freshman year - and she's really good at her major - again proud papa - she's doing everything one wants to allow their children to grow, mature and succeed…
while at breakfast checking "hours of operation" for the Mercedes Museum (our first "catch of the day") - OMG - it' opens at 8 am _NOT_ 9 am - we've got to get going!!! Easy taxi ride we're there at 7:58 - walk up to the front door - doh - 9 am - not 8 am - I hate you internet !!!! So we spend a hour in drizzel walking around the impressive facility and wondering how the internet got it so wrong. The hour passes quickly and soon we're inside.
when visiting a museum there are two dimension to evaluate it from (at least) - how is the content and how is it as "a museum" - my daughter is only 40% 'car girl' so the content is not fully her thing - but she knows what she signed up for and find the cars mildly interesting - but she is blown away at how good of a "museum" the Mercedes museum is - it is frankly one of the best examples of a generic museum one could hope for - and if you are more car person than my daughter you will be blown away by both the content & the quality of it as a museum…we spent 2 1/2 hours there - could've been more - but frankly my limit for _ANY_ museum is no more than 3 hours before I need a break…
Fact/lessions: both Porsche museum and mercedes museum are closed on mondays, they open at 9 am, getting there earlier is highly recommend, and they are 30-45 minutes apart from each other in normal day time traffic/taxi…both are super well done, and both will get more crowded as the day goes on…
we return to hotel, rest a bit, grab some lunch walking around in the excellent euro outdoor/square/shopping mall - and our next stop is the reason we're here - the Porsche Museum!!!
this again is an excellent example of a museum - but I'll grade the content as "more focused" than Mercedes - I booked the one hour private walking tour - which ended up being a well spent 90 minutes - and the tour guide did a great job of explaining Porsche's history and future and setting context for all things Porsche - less about the content (except for a few key vehicles) and a lot abou thte family, the growth, the near death, and why Porsche is Porsche and why we love it - I ate it all up…couple this with then walking around after the tour and just looking at the exhibits and it's a day well done for anyone remotely interested in cars and if you are a Porsche fan - well you'll be in heaven…and I'm not going to attempt to do it justice with my sad and pathetic story tellings skills…
Recommendations:
book your tickets early (I did) both museums were turning people away with out reservations
closed on monday - plan accordingly
book the tour - it's only 90 minute or less, very very affordable, and well done and sets great context
earlier is better, both museums were ramping up to truly impressive crowds by the time we left or arrived
I think I'd make sure to get a tour at both - we only did the Porsche tour - I believe a private tour with Mercedes would be equally awesome
I believe I'd get more out of it doing it across two days - but I'm not convinced it would worth it if you're not staying in stuttgart
we compromised on only 1 full day in Stuttgart because it's not our euro delivery point - and we have another travel day to lipzig
if my pick up was stuttgart - I might've done the two museums on separate days and spent more time at both - not sure
Factory tours were "not a thing" - because we're here during factory shutdowns - so no tours - factory tours I've done before are universallly awesome - add more time if you're doing museums and factory tours - personally I would love to do both Porsche & Mercedes, but it was not an option given our Porsche delivery time frame - so I'll have to leave that for another day…
piling awesome on top of awesome - my afternoon was spent with my instructor from my 2022 Porsche Ring 2 day master's event - he joined us at the end of the tour for a personal "mini" tour but it was fascinating to spend the back part of the afternoon and have access to non-marketing perspectives, and actual details of how/why he does his work and Porsche's perspectives from past projects…he was too kind to spend his afternoon with myself, travel companion and my daughter
some thoughts from our talk…
Porsche's future is bright - we are going to continue to love the brand, the products and the performance - amazing things over the next 3-10 years
he's personally sure of it and has his own ideas he's working on
his management is enthusiastic and supportive of his ideas and working to pursue some of the vectors - stay tuned
no details - but confidence that things will continue to improve as they always have
they have many many ideas and are confident in continued performance increases - and some are already well on their way - he simply said "stay tuned" - Porsche has wicked smart engineers "on the problems"
as he told me in 2022 the RS is down on power vs. it's aero stuff - they know this and understand it will need to be overcome to continue forward progress - he has no doubt we'll see continued growth
the 911R's success lead directly to the touring GT3 as a product - no 911R would mean there would've never been a GT3 Touring
motorsport tech working it's way into series production cars continues at break neck pace and amazing things are coming - he's personally involved in that pipeline…
he offerred to champion a couple of my personal "software" issues inside and see if we can make progress on some of my "pet peeves" and agreed the tech/software aspect needs a bit more polish…not feature set necessarily or design - but rather if there is software being done making sure it's more bulletproof and better thought out (OTA updates that have meaningless notifications is one example)
we left company and agreed we need to see each other again and keep in touch - he's looking forward to my feedback on the GT3 RS and if I have any issues - well he might be able to help…interesting - but feel's I'm going to love the car…
apparently one to does not speed in switzerland for both cost and potential penalties reason - was told this multiple times.
after a long and overwhelming day - we returned to out hotel and promptly collapsed - dinner was not a priority, but when we woke later we were peckish and room service fit the bill…
day 3 will be our train ride to Leipzig for our deliveries on day 4…early day tomorrow, but less "to do"…
hopefully more interesting pics below - enjoy…
a 928 stationwagon??? I'm a sucker for engineering cut-aways yes we are at Porsche!! one of the few EV designs I'd consider trading my Taycan for - but alas it's only a concept car - but OMG what a looker!! yes an actual F1 car and others… F1 hybrid engine - it's so compact!! lost world movie car the gullwing - need I say more… I'm thinking of making this my tow vehicle for my GT3 RS - what you guys think? we are smiling because at this point we still think we are just on time rather than one hour early.. just an amazing museum and well worth the time.
still recovering from a bit of jet lag - away at 3 am and hungry - waiting for breakfast to open at 6:30 (too lazy to leave the Stuttgart Hotel) - breakfast with daughter - lovely chat about her final year in College - she and I are super excited and I couldn't be a more proud papa - we've come to realize she's been on dean's list 5-6 times since freshman year - and she's really good at her major - again proud papa - she's doing everything one wants to allow their children to grow, mature and succeed…
while at breakfast checking "hours of operation" for the Mercedes Museum (our first "catch of the day") - OMG - it' opens at 8 am _NOT_ 9 am - we've got to get going!!! Easy taxi ride we're there at 7:58 - walk up to the front door - doh - 9 am - not 8 am - I hate you internet !!!! So we spend a hour in drizzel walking around the impressive facility and wondering how the internet got it so wrong. The hour passes quickly and soon we're inside.
when visiting a museum there are two dimension to evaluate it from (at least) - how is the content and how is it as "a museum" - my daughter is only 40% 'car girl' so the content is not fully her thing - but she knows what she signed up for and find the cars mildly interesting - but she is blown away at how good of a "museum" the Mercedes museum is - it is frankly one of the best examples of a generic museum one could hope for - and if you are more car person than my daughter you will be blown away by both the content & the quality of it as a museum…we spent 2 1/2 hours there - could've been more - but frankly my limit for _ANY_ museum is no more than 3 hours before I need a break…
Fact/lessions: both Porsche museum and mercedes museum are closed on mondays, they open at 9 am, getting there earlier is highly recommend, and they are 30-45 minutes apart from each other in normal day time traffic/taxi…both are super well done, and both will get more crowded as the day goes on…
we return to hotel, rest a bit, grab some lunch walking around in the excellent euro outdoor/square/shopping mall - and our next stop is the reason we're here - the Porsche Museum!!!
this again is an excellent example of a museum - but I'll grade the content as "more focused" than Mercedes - I booked the one hour private walking tour - which ended up being a well spent 90 minutes - and the tour guide did a great job of explaining Porsche's history and future and setting context for all things Porsche - less about the content (except for a few key vehicles) and a lot abou thte family, the growth, the near death, and why Porsche is Porsche and why we love it - I ate it all up…couple this with then walking around after the tour and just looking at the exhibits and it's a day well done for anyone remotely interested in cars and if you are a Porsche fan - well you'll be in heaven…and I'm not going to attempt to do it justice with my sad and pathetic story tellings skills…
Recommendations:
book your tickets early (I did) both museums were turning people away with out reservations
closed on monday - plan accordingly
book the tour - it's only 90 minute or less, very very affordable, and well done and sets great context
earlier is better, both museums were ramping up to truly impressive crowds by the time we left or arrived
I think I'd make sure to get a tour at both - we only did the Porsche tour - I believe a private tour with Mercedes would be equally awesome
I believe I'd get more out of it doing it across two days - but I'm not convinced it would worth it if you're not staying in stuttgart
we compromised on only 1 full day in Stuttgart because it's not our euro delivery point - and we have another travel day to lipzig
if my pick up was stuttgart - I might've done the two museums on separate days and spent more time at both - not sure
Factory tours were "not a thing" - because we're here during factory shutdowns - so no tours - factory tours I've done before are universallly awesome - add more time if you're doing museums and factory tours - personally I would love to do both Porsche & Mercedes, but it was not an option given our Porsche delivery time frame - so I'll have to leave that for another day…
piling awesome on top of awesome - my afternoon was spent with my instructor from my 2022 Porsche Ring 2 day master's event - he joined us at the end of the tour for a personal "mini" tour but it was fascinating to spend the back part of the afternoon and have access to non-marketing perspectives, and actual details of how/why he does his work and Porsche's perspectives from past projects…he was too kind to spend his afternoon with myself, travel companion and my daughter
some thoughts from our talk…
Porsche's future is bright - we are going to continue to love the brand, the products and the performance - amazing things over the next 3-10 years
he's personally sure of it and has his own ideas he's working on
his management is enthusiastic and supportive of his ideas and working to pursue some of the vectors - stay tuned
no details - but confidence that things will continue to improve as they always have
they have many many ideas and are confident in continued performance increases - and some are already well on their way - he simply said "stay tuned" - Porsche has wicked smart engineers "on the problems"
as he told me in 2022 the RS is down on power vs. it's aero stuff - they know this and understand it will need to be overcome to continue forward progress - he has no doubt we'll see continued growth
the 911R's success lead directly to the touring GT3 as a product - no 911R would mean there would've never been a GT3 Touring
motorsport tech working it's way into series production cars continues at break neck pace and amazing things are coming - he's personally involved in that pipeline…
he offerred to champion a couple of my personal "software" issues inside and see if we can make progress on some of my "pet peeves" and agreed the tech/software aspect needs a bit more polish…not feature set necessarily or design - but rather if there is software being done making sure it's more bulletproof and better thought out (OTA updates that have meaningless notifications is one example)
we left company and agreed we need to see each other again and keep in touch - he's looking forward to my feedback on the GT3 RS and if I have any issues - well he might be able to help…interesting - but feel's I'm going to love the car…
apparently one to does not speed in switzerland for both cost and potential penalties reason - was told this multiple times.
after a long and overwhelming day - we returned to out hotel and promptly collapsed - dinner was not a priority, but when we woke later we were peckish and room service fit the bill…
day 3 will be our train ride to Leipzig for our deliveries on day 4…early day tomorrow, but less "to do"…
hopefully more interesting pics below - enjoy…
a 928 stationwagon??? I'm a sucker for engineering cut-aways yes we are at Porsche!! one of the few EV designs I'd consider trading my Taycan for - but alas it's only a concept car - but OMG what a looker!! yes an actual F1 car and others… F1 hybrid engine - it's so compact!! lost world movie car the gullwing - need I say more… I'm thinking of making this my tow vehicle for my GT3 RS - what you guys think? we are smiling because at this point we still think we are just on time rather than one hour early.. just an amazing museum and well worth the time.
Last edited by daveo4porsche; 09-02-2023 at 04:32 PM.
the first 911? they had to verify with a vin no know knew anything about…barn find - literally - then restored by Porsche Archives… yeah it's the porsche tractor this was at the Mercedes museum!! cross promoting the Porsche museum Sally!! clear interior design minimalism… a concept pre-WWII - never a car this is/was the template that became the GT3 touring…
Super sad that the damn museum was closed for the 75th party when I went there. Wife thought she had checked all dates but either missed that or they announced it after she had planned itinerary however the Mercedes museum was absolutely spectacular. I could EASILY spend the whole day there. We spent at least 3 hours and felt like we rushed through a lot. It's the best automotive display I have been to in terms of the layout, the story, the history, how it includes world events, politics etc. into the car stories. The BMW museum, while fun and featuring some nice vehicles, was so much smaller it was laughable. As you noted, even non-car people could spend hours there and not get bored. My wife and daughter had no intention of leaving except we needed to get on to the 'Ring!
first off this was a planned travel day - 5 hours of train from Stuttgart to Leipzig - so photos will lack awesomeness
wake up - breakfast - walk across the street to the train station for 9:23 am train as planned…
there were two near misses for travel logistics completely self inflicted - I nearly didn't get on my train - when it pulled into station it had the wrong train # on it - and I didn't see the number change to "my train" - fortunately my travel companions saved us - so we got on the train as planned…
2nd near miss - is the german train app lets you "reserve" seats with out paying for tickets - so I had 3 reserved seats but only 1 purchased ticket - so we had to purchase an additional 2 tickets "on the fly" on the train - and that cause some problems with our credit cards triggering fraud alerts - but we got past that also - and arrive in Leipzig mostly on time and with low stress
german trains are fast, quite, and smooth - during travels from Ernfurt to Leipzig I achieved speeds of 265 kph - it was awesome
arrive in Leipzig and trek to the hotel - and then walk around the town.
spoiler - I love Leipzig - it's such a great city - and the area of town we're in is simply beautiful, urban in the best way, and a wonderful walking city with great buildings - I simply can't say enough about how much I love leipzig and in the future I'd plan at least one full day to enjoy Leipzig by itself…really it's a great place.
Afternoon walk, Lizpig Starbucks coffee mug achieved, and an afternoon nap followed by a lovely outdoor cafe dinner and more walking around city…it was nearly a perfect evening until…
Good Afternoon [Name],I just left you a voicemail regarding tomorrows delivery. The Leipzig team was running their last quality check before delivery and they discovered a quality issue with the engine. I don’t have the exact information, but they were not able to start the vehicle. As a result, the team will need to send the vehicle back to Stuttgart for inspection and diagnosis. The delivery team has secured a Porsche for you to drive on your trip as planned. Your delivery day will still move forward, expect [sic] for the delivery of your vehicle. I am very sorry for the last minute email and inconvenience of this matter. Please let me know if you still plan to drop the vehicle on [date] [locaation] or if you have a different plan. I will coordinate with both Leipzig and Zuffenhausen to expedite this process as much as possible.
Please feel free to give me a call whenever you receive this email
Kind regards,
[PCNA European Delivery Representative]
Delivery Programs Manager, | Porsche Cars North America, Inc. | M
Last edited by daveo4porsche; 08-30-2023 at 05:23 PM.
08-28-2023, 11:26 PM
2023 911 GT3 RS - The Quest…
