Visited the Prototype Automotive Museum in Hamburg. Although small in size, the museum showcases a lineup of prototype and rare cars. I never expected to see a wooden model of the body for the Auto Union Type-C. There are various speed breakers from different eras, and it’s quite unusual to find those from small-displacement cars. The prototype F1 from Toyota is also on display, leaving me wondering why such a thing is outside the company.
There are numerous race cars, including F1 and VW’s Paris-Dakar machines. The staff emphasizes not touching the exhibits, but the closeness of these displays is remarkable! There’s hardly any fencing around the vehicles, and you could almost stick your head into the air ducts. Underground, there are documents and exhibits related to automobile development, and on the old-school CRT televisions, videos play with gear stress distribution and high-speed gear cutting processes. I found myself unintentionally entering work mode watching those videos. In the driving simulator, you can push an old Porsche to its limits on the circuit! It’s truly a paradise for automotive enthusiasts.
NSU’s record breaker. 500cc, 110 PS achieved 260kph！The appearance of the building is such plain.A cute sports car. It’s delightful to see the aerodynamic covers on each suspension arm.Even though they say not to touch, it looks like someone’s foot is touching, huh? As long as you don’t brazenly climb into the cockpit, it seems they don’t mind too much? On the left is the beloved Porsche 904 Carrera GTS. So cool!!A light weight record breaker, mounting two! Zuendapp engines on its front.I was a bit taken aback by the wooden model of the P-Wagen, which is the body design for the Auto Union Type C by Dr. Porsche. Imagining German craftsmen shaping the aluminum sheets on this model to form the actual body makes my heart race!Here’s the model of the Type-C. It’s a monster with a V16, 6L engine, and a top speed exceeding 300 kph. I believe there should be an original at the German Museum in Munich.I’m not very familiar with F1 cars post-flat bottom era, but this one seems to be one of the two prototypes of Toyota’s TF110. It’s entirely covered in carbon, which is quite impressive.The Porsche 718 is a renowned car from the late 1950s in F1/2, but could this thing next to the driver be a fuel tank? so scary!!It’s the unmistakable Volkswagen “Schwimmwagen”. I’ve built Tamiya’s 1/35, Bandai’s 1/48, and Fujimi’s 1/76 models. I love it.The driving simulator. The gear change is only the shift lever (no need for a clutch), and it’s a 4-speed, but the handling is super sensitive. Is it true that even on a straight, you can’t go straight when it’s fully open? Of course, it’s popular, and there was a crazy line. I waited in line for a long time, and I was the only one who managed to speed up properly, shifting up to 4th gear, and taking a corner in 3rd gear. I thought I was doing well until I immediately spun out. It’s challenging. The sign in the foreground says, “Please limit to one lap per person.”In the underground technical section, there was a video presentation. This one visualizes the stress on gears, showing both contact and bending quite neatly. After this, there was a manufacturing process for hypoid gears, and I felt a bit dizzy with déjà vu. It’s a Porsche technical document, so helical gears from the gearbox and hypoid gears from the final drive are assembled together.Even though you’re not supposed to touch, the top cover can be opened and closed freely. There are various aerodynamic design models lined up in front that can be freely swapped. There’s a smoke button in the lower right, allowing you to see the behavior of the white airflow.
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