I just got back from a two week tour of southern Germany with my longtime friend, Syd Baker. In 14 days we toured 13 museums; auto, aircraft and the like. Of course this included museums of the German “big three” auto makers, Audi, BMW, Mercedes and Porsche. For us one of the most memorable highlights was seeing the Auto Union race, hill climb and speed record cars of the 1930’s on display at the Deutsches Museum in Munich and at the Audi Forum in Ingolstadt. I have been enamored of these monsters since first seeing (and hearing) one in the 1980’s at the Monterey Historics. But I think my friend, Syd, really blew our Audi Forum Tour Guide away when he told him that in 1938 at age seven his Dad had taken him to the Grand Prix race at Donington Park in the UK where he had seen Nuvolari dominate in the Auto Union.

All in all we had a great time. Particularly the Audi folks were most gracious (with your assistance, Karen) in scheduling our tour. Though their website suggests otherwise, there was no charge for parking or for the tour.

 
Anyone contemplating such a tour should definitely get a copy of Ron Adams’s Via Corsa Car Lover’s Guide to Southern Germany which I learned about from an interview of Ron that Jay Leno did and that someone had emailed me. Rick Steves’s Germany travel book also helped a lot with hotels. For us this trip was definitely a “once in a lifetime”  experience.
-Don Melnick
Lacey, WA