Kobalt

Thanks for sharing... Feeling so sorry for you. I hope there will be a next time.

signes

Feel badly as well, no way to end such a great adventure. Hopefully between the two trips you have many fond memories.

TRAKCAR

The Ring is a tough mistress under the best conditions but crazy weather is part of it.
RSR really dropped the ball, that's a big no no and I would have been pissed. Good on you to keep your cool and make the best of it!

Thanks for the posts!!

24Chromium

Saturday, 6 August
I woke early and began by swapping my European blinkers for my US ones. I'd broken both when removing them, the metal retaining springs broke off and fell inside the fenders, never to be seen again. So in order to swap back to the originals, I had to also swap the springs. Naturally, the assembly of them is a one-way and one-time affair. So I had to sacrifice the European set. Ugh.

I drove out to Sindelfinging to drop the car. Due to the massive construction going on at Zuffenhausen, Porsche is not taking returns at this time, so they picked up the tab for remote drop off at a nearby 3rd party.



Saying goodbye for now...

I saw a few Porsches in the lot - one in particular caught my eye, a white GT4, very similar spec to mine. This being a Saturday, the business was closed, but the owner was on-time to meet me and very friendly. He explained all the whys to my questions. He removed the front license plate and tow-hook bracket. I kept the plate as a souvenir. He wrote on the paperwork instructions to retain the plate on the rear of the car. He asked that I remove everything, save the floor mats. I explained that on my prior ED car, I left the items in the frunk (first-aid kit and hazard triangles) and there were still there upon delivery. He explained how many people handle the car and that there are no guarantees. He smartly asked if the safety vests were still there and I had to concede no. Thankfully, he gave me a bag to carry all the stuff. Finally we filled out some paperwork and I was off. I was a bit surprised to learn that one of the documents was for the US EPA. I had to certify that the car was un-modified and exactly as it left the factory. This made my issues with Manthey much more clear.



Do either of these belong to a Rennlister?

I spent the afternoon at the Mercedes museum. I was utterly stunned to see a queue extending well over 100 meters out the doors. Thankfully, it took less than an hour to get inside. I thought about abandoning, but this was my very last chance, so I soldiered on.



The building is impressive - inside and out!

I have to say, the place is so much more impressive than I expected. The things I enjoyed the most were the origin stories of the founders and the 'timeline' chronologically documenting important events. They didn't shy away from their history with the *****, foreign workers or even environmental issues. However, I couldn't help but notice the one topic that was taboo was why the company pulled out of Grand Prix and endurance racing - the tragic events at Le Mans in 1955. This was never mentioned.



My favorite car on display at the Mercedes Museum



Mmmm... race cars!

I spent the evening people watching and taking in the live music at the Sommerfest on the Schlossplatz. It was a beautiful day and the sunset didn't disappoint.

24Chromium

Sunday, 7 August
Very sad to be finally leaving Germany with no plans in place to return. Today was again glorious sunshine - just the type of weather I've been pining for over both trips, being a native Californian.

Now the long wait begins for my beloved GT4 to arrive home. She was a joy to drive on the Autobahn and insanely fun to flog on the race track. Extremely comfortable to tour in, even on those 4 or 5 hour trips. At least she has tens of thousands of dollars worth of presents waiting for her upon arrival!

Need4S

Great story. Thanks for sharing.

The wait for your car to make the trip across the Atlantic will be an example of how to make time pass more slowly!

montoya

Lar- thanks for documenting the trip! Some day I might make the same journey, so this will really be helpful.

Once the car is back home, I guess the GT4 becomes your full on track car and the GT3 is your sports car?

24Chromium

Glad to have helped some fellow p-car fans. Yes, the GT4 will become my race car.

dark knight

the cranes are for a controversial project called Stuttgart 21, the are totally redoing the train station and destroyed part of the historic station, cost over runs and environmental concerns cause problems, it will save time to the airport someday

trebien

Sounds familiar... on my way back to Leipzig, I decided to make the most of the bahn before returning to the US and the land of speed limits... somewhere maxed out about 280, and figured it was a solid send-off.

24Chromium

I was rather surprised that I maxed out at 270. However, in retrospect, I realized I'd always been in 6th gear. Did you use 5th or 6th gear?

One other subtle tweak is that my car has been setup for max downforce. That may have contributed as well.

trebien

I was in 6th (5th would be over redline) - at 280 kph I was turning 7000 rpm, that would have been 8200 in 5th.

I did NOT have setup for max downforce, because did not want to store the parts while in Europe... so that's probably good for ~10 kph. I actually ran out of room with traffic... the speed was still slowly climbing, so I didn't quite top out. But it's as close as I was going to get to top speed, likely ever in the life of the car. My indicated was fairly accurate compared to GPS data, so 280kph is about 175mph... and the quoted top speed is 183.

However, I was most impressed with the fact that it was rock solid. I've tickled those speeds with other cars, even with strong aero... and I can't say I've ever felt a vehicle as confident at those speeds. It was GLUED.

24Chromium

Yep, I always ran out of room as well, due to traffic or the zone came to an end. It's possible that I was still ever so slowing increasing in speed - I just know that my foot was to the floor and it felt like it was for there for minutes (probably wasn't, because you are hyper aware of everything at that speed!).

Agreed about the stability of the car. I just love this little car!

24Chromium

Just got an email from my Sales Associate that my car left Emden on 19 August. Now I get to play the game of tracking the ship as it traverses two oceans to reach the port of San Diego.

Kobalt

ED is a lifetime experience that never ends