Von Null auf Turbo
Porsche Zuffenhausen, 11-MAR-2006
An evening in red
Prefix
CR and his lovely girlfriend collected me at my hotel. mumbasic was already in the car. Weather was bad (sleet), but our mood wasn't at all. We arrived at the Porsche car park, locked the car and entered a bus shuttle which brought us to the entrance at Plant II.
The crowd
around 1,200 guests have been invited, 80% of them (my guess) between 40-60 years old. Mostly good customers, directors of the Porsche Zentren and some celebrities -- i've spotted Lothar Späth (former prime minister of Baden-Württemberg), Ulrich Schumacher (former Infineon CEO) and Bertie Vogts (former headoach of germany's soccer national team). Hm, a lot of "former" guys
Firestarter
We entered a hall which looked like a huge stylish night club -- with bars, a stage and running across the hall... a kind of simulated assembly line with real 997 turbo parts. example: a red body was hanging from the ceiling, while the chassis was placed beneath it on the ground.
The event's moderator was Rudi Cerne, a german TV sport presenter, along with a blonde lady i didn't recognize. Euro dance act "Safri duo" hit the drums to heat up the mood. PAG CEO Wendelin Wiedeking then gave a welcome speech -- his voice was very throaty, probably too much business talk at geneva
-- and after that Wolfgang Dürrheimer (PAG's head of development) talked about the turbo, it's technology and it's Nürburgring track time, accompanied by various featurettes on the countless TFT screens around. Btw, the whole evening any significant action was broadcasted to these screens by a betacam team.
Assembly line buffet
The crowd was then guided to Plant II's assembly lines by guides who looked like Blue Man Group is now Red Man Group.
It was just HUGE. Buffets everywhere, BETWEEN the stopped assembly lines with the half-finished cars hanging around... AWESOME. I've never seen anything like this and probably never will again. you actually needed a map for orientation (which PAG hostesses provided!).
The excellent buffets offered anything you'd ever wish to eat -- asian, sirloin steak, tafelspitz (my favorite), salads, seafood incl sushi, awesome desserts. excellent quality. service was great as well -- the staff managed it to accommodate all guests with wine, beer, soft drinks etc... fast, friendly and efficent!
During this an action-loaded fashion show (of course featuring Porsche Selection gear) entertained us.
The simply red car
At about 11pm we were asked to go back into the hall where it all started. Now... well, what is still missing? A complete turbo! We've seen the unfinished red one at the beginning, we've spotted some hanging in the assembly line... but now the reason behind all this entered the hall... driving... with amplified exhaust sound through the speakers... A red turbo drove through the hall at walking speed and entered a platform near the stage. Nice!
Then the moderator announced the evining's suprise act: Simply Red. Well I'm not a big Mick Hucknall fan, and he looked quite bloated and aged -- but the show was good, Simply Red's music suited the whole event just fine!
Epilogue
Simply Red played for about one hour up to midnight. But this -- of course -- wasn't the end of a great evening. But actually I don't have a clue how long we've been there since i suffer from a memory gap
It's very likely that every guest got a bag including a red 1:43 scale die-cast turbo and a leather keychain when leaving, since i found such a bag in my hotel room the next morning.
One final word about the Turbo: It looked good in red IMO. If i'd order one right now, i'd order a red one (ah, marketing works!). And the rims are just... beautiful! My favorite Porsche rims ever.
Thanks to CR, his girlfriend and mumbasic -- and of course to Porsche and the friendly staff -- for a great evening! And a big "thank you" to RC! I hope you have a great holiday -- but you sure missed something unique!
PS: If you're going to collect a 911 in the next couple of weeks... be warned: it might smell of cigar smoke
