It's not often you'll see a pack of motoring journalists excited. The steely cool reserve before getting in a new supercar takes years to perfect, but that usual calm isn't evident right now. Today we're getting an exclusive look at Porsche's museum. It's usually closed on a Monday, but the curator is in and he is prepared to show us around the exhibits - and behind the scenes.
Gathered in the workshop we're like a bunch of kids in Hamleys. There's some serious Porsche geek-ery on display as we discuss the cars in various states of build and restoration. There's a 917K LM parked alongside a Speedster, a Carrera GTS and a 718 RS 60 Spyder up on stands while it's being stripped and rebuilt. There's a 956 and RS Spyder stacked up on the wall, giving a foreground to the workshop background view from the coffee shop. Porsche nirvana? Absolutely. And we've not even ventured out into the museum proper yet.
There's an escalator leading up to it and the first car you see, rather fittingly, is the first Porsche ever. It's one of the museum's 480 vehicles, which rotate on a regular basis to keep the exhibits interesting. Achim Stejskal, Director of the Porsche Museum, describes it as a 'museum on wheels', stating that all the cars are in running condition and that none gather dust. Everyday that's proved, when the staff picks a car and start it for visitors. The museum features an extraction system in the floor to allow the exhaust fumes to be removed.
Even if you're not interested in the cars themselves the building is something of an architectural marvel. There's more steel holding up the 35,000-tonne building than is in the Eiffel Tower in Paris - some 10,000 tonnes of the stuff. The Stuttgart-based structure is so complex Porsche consulted the people who usually build nuclear power stations to help build it.
It's the perfect space to exhibit the 23,000bhp that the museum's exhibits collectively produce. One car, a 917, is responsible for some 1,200bhp of that, while some of the early exhibits struggling to reach double figures. Underlining Porsche's varied history is a fire engine - Ferdinand Porsche's first electric vehicle with surprisingly future-looking in-hub electric motors. Battery technology stopped it taking off... Well, it was the year 1900.
There's the very earliest 356s and 911s, every type of racing and rally car and some spectacular concepts. There's an eight-cylinder 914, long-wheelbase 911s, the 924 and Boxster concepts. Add all the racing cars, from the very earliest pre-war models engineered by Porsche but not wearing the brand's badge, to the very latest RS Spyder that's still running competitively today and you've a quite spectacular exhibition. It's the oddities and real rarities that really excite: there's a 928 estate among the cars, Porsche tractors and more than one police car.
As exciting as the cars are, an exclusive sneak peek behind the scenes into Porsche's archives is a real treat. There are books with hand-written records of every 911 2.7 RS built - it a Holy Grail among the RS fraternity. There are engineering models and drawings, every brochure, press pack, racing programme and poster ever printed, while all books and print and web reports on Porsche's cars are meticulously numbered and stored. There's a room dedicated to photos and film, which like all the archives is kept at the perfect temperature and humidity level.
You could easily lose months in the archives, with every numbered cardboard box on the rolling shelves revealing something exciting or unexpected. Nothing's more surprising though than visiting the shop afterwards and seeing journalists spending their own money on models and books. It's that kind of place; it gets right under your skin. Even if you're not a Porsche fan it's worth a visit if you're in Stuttgart. Though if you are it's a spectacularly interesting and absorbing place. See just a small selection of what's in it in our photo gallery.
Kyle Fortune - 23 Dec 2010
