Slipstream - July 2008

Catch My Draft, Cont.
one of the two memorized phrases “Porschestrasse Eine”
which is the street address of the Leipzig factory. The first
cabbie nodded Ja and so I got in the car and enjoyed a nearly
silent ride there – him speaking NO English, and me only
knowing two phrases in German – the other being “Kurfuerstenstrasse
achtundsiebzig” which was the address of my
hotel in Berlin!
The cabbie dropped me off at the Factory security gates,
which looked like Fort Knox. Nobody would get through
there! And the person working the desk spoke no English,
but another guard did and had me sit until 15 minutes before
my tour. I was a bit nervous at this point, but I was so close
to the holy grail, the excitement washed away any trepidations
still lingering.
At the appointed time, they told me to proceed to the
customer center – the diamond. I didn’t know if I would
get an escort or not, but I was on my own. So I walked the
quarter mile path towards my own version of Heaven that
day. I took my time, took lots of pictures, and absorbed it
all, trying to remember every bit of it.
I had no hope of getting on the test track, as the Transsyberia
Cayennes were all on the track testing everything
they could before their upcoming rally starting in Mongolia
on July 25 th . So there were quite a few Cayennes there, all
orange and black, in various states of muddiness, figuring
out what needed to be tweaked and adjusted to do their best
in the upcoming race.
I could see portions of the track from the walk up, but
the best part was looking ahead between the rows of perfectly
manicured trees at the customer center. It is called the
diamond for a reason!
I finally got inside, and was greeted by several people
(who I could hear saying “This is the President of the Porsche
Club in the U.S.” – I doubt they would have understood me
if I had tried to correct them), and finally Astrid showed up,
to give me the tour.
The tour started in the customer center, with the showing
of a short film about the history of Leipzig and what I would
be seeing. She then took me around the building, showing
me the amazing dining room overlooking the whole factory,
test track, and customer areas, and then upstairs we went
to an impromptu historical museum of racing and street
Porsches from throughout their history.
She showed me the control room where there are about
40 cameras positioned around the test track, each one with
full 360 degree rotation and elevation and zoom capabilities.
The “corner workers” man the track from the control
room and can see every square inch of the track, often from
multiple angles. Positioned at many points around the track
are traffic signals that show yellow and red lights, should
something happen on the track that the driver needs to be
aware of. Astrid even let me play with the cameras a bit, and
I could zoom right in and see inside one of the Cayennes
which was parked for a bit.
Next was the factory tour. First was the area where engines
and transmissions appeared and got attached to the
frame. Then the frame assembly moved around on its own
robot, driving across the factory floor getting more pieces
attached to it. There were no visible wires or paint for the
robots to follow, but there were buried lines guiding them, I
think. They also had sensors to they wouldn’t clobber anyone.
The frames rolled up under the chassis, where they
lifted up and were bolted together. Humans did all the final
torque checks, though. Humans actually did a lot more there
than I thought – I was expecting more robots, but even the
wheel mounting devices, which were robot-assisted, had
humans lining things up.
I took a certain pride in knowing that the wheel crest
should have its point aimed at the valve stem, and was
pleased to see the factory workers making sure they did this
step correctly. And placing the name badges on the back
also took a lot of care, even though a big template guided
them. Everything was barcoded and arrived just when it was
needed – including entire tool chests that followed the Cayennes
along as a worker inside installed the interior pieces.
The final step inside the building was an alignment, and
then off to the test track they go. EVERY Cayenne made
takes a few quick laps to make sure things are well put together,
and if any problems are noticed, they get brought
back inside for correction.
So the tour was over, and I was wondering what was
next, when a guy came up and introduced himself. His name
was Kai Riemer, and he was a former pro race driver (not
for Porsche) who now did customer instruction on the test
track there in Leipzig. He was there to take me for a few hot
laps in a brand new Cayenne GTS!
There was a short break between the Transsyberia Cayenne
testing sessions, so we climbed in, belted up, and he
took me first on a slow lap, explaining all the turns and
curves, and then sped it up for the final two laps. This was
truly a dream come true!
Sometimes in life, the rain must fall, but when the sun
shines, we need to take advantage of it. And the sun sure
was shining on my trip to Germany.
In other news, the Lewisville lunch had 16 people – we
are really filling up that back room now! If someone wants
to start another lunch somewhere else, just let me know.
Check the calendar for upcoming events – we have fun
stuff for track cars and street cars and socialites. So come
on out and join the fun! See you soon!
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