f you’ve been reading my recent posts, you’ll already know that I have a bit of a weakness for a good car museum. So it probably won’t come as a surprise that earlier this year I planned a short road trip to Germany with a couple of friends to visit several of them before the motorsport season gets too busy.
We set off on a Thursday evening as soon as my friends finished work, crossing into France just before midnight. From there it was an overnight drive towards Stuttgart, making good use of the unrestricted sections of the German Autobahn to cut down the travel time.
Just a few hours later, as the sun came up, we rolled into Stuttgart and arrived at the Porsche Museum right as the doors opened.
Porsche Museum – Stuttgart
This was actually my second visit to the Porsche Museum, but the rotating exhibitions mean that many of the displays had changed since my last trip. It’s a place that feels less like a traditional museum and more like an automotive art gallery, with each car presented as a design icon.
And it’s always a good start to the day when you’re greeted by three Porsche 911 GT1s sitting together.
On display were both the 1997 and 1998 Le Mans race cars, alongside the incredibly rare 911 GT1 Straßenversion, Porsche’s road-going homologation special. Seeing these three cars together is a rare treat and easily one of the highlights of the museum.
Even on a return visit, the Porsche Museum remains one of the best automotive museums in Europe, and I’m sure I’ll find time to visit again in the future. If you’re anywhere near Stuttgart, it’s absolutely worth adding to your itinerary.
Motorworld Stuttgart
Later that afternoon we headed to Motorworld Stuttgart, located on the outskirts of the city.
Motorworld sites are something of an automotive playground. Alongside showrooms and dealerships you’ll find glass storage pods where collectors keep their cars, motorsport memorabilia shops, and specialist workshops. For car enthusiasts and photographers alike, there’s always something interesting to discover.
The Lamborghini Service Centre immediately caught our attention, with several colourful machines lined up outside. One highlight was a paint-to-sample Lamborghini Revuelto, parked next to what appeared to be the owner’s Diablo.
Inside the dealership itself was another eye-catching machine: a Lamborghini Huracán STO, sitting proudly on display.
The storage pods are always worth exploring, as you never quite know what you’ll find.
Among the standout cars were two Mercedes-AMG ONE hypercars, both tucked away under covers side-by-side – a rare sight given how few of these Formula 1-derived machines exist.
Fortunately, most of the other cars were fully visible. One particularly special machine was a Flying Lizard Motorsport Porsche 997 GT3-RSR, the same car that competed at the 2011 24 Hours of Le Mans, finishing 12th in class.
For motorsport fans, stumbling across genuine race cars like this makes wandering through these collections especially rewarding.
Here are a few other photos from around the site.
Mazda Classic Automobile Museum Frey – Augsburg
The next morning we made a quick stop at a museum I had only discovered while browsing Google Maps before the trip.
Located in Augsburg, the Mazda Classic Automobile Museum Frey wasn’t originally part of the plan, but after visiting their website I knew we had to check it out while we were nearby.
As it turned out, we arrived just before opening and the incredibly kind receptionist let us in a little early which meant we had the entire museum to ourselves for about 15 minutes.
The museum is the first Mazda museum outside Japan and houses cars from one of the largest private Mazda collections in the world. The collection ranges from obscure models most people have never heard of to some of the brand’s more famous rotary-powered machines.
What I particularly liked is that the cars don’t feel overly restored or sterilised. Many look like they’ve actually been driven and enjoyed at some point, which gives the collection a lot of character.
Among the highlights were a Group B Mazda RX-7 rally car displayed alongside a 1979 IMSA raced RX-7.
For something truly unusual, it’s hard to beat the Mazda Parkway 26, a rotary-powered minibus of which only 44 examples were ever built.
Another personal favourite was the Autozam AZ-1, a tiny kei sports car built by Mazda featuring gullwing doors and a 657cc turbocharged engine sourced from Suzuki. It’s one of those cars that perfectly captures the creativity of Japanese automotive engineering.
Enjoy a few more images from this collection before we move onto the next stop on the trip.
BMW Museum – Munich
Our next destination was Munich and the BMW Museum, which provides a comprehensive look through the history of the brand.
While I would have liked to see more of BMW’s most iconic models on display, there was still plenty to explore, particularly in the motorsport section.
Highlights included:
2016 BMW M4 DTM car driven by Marco Wittmann
BMW 3.0 CSL “Batmobile”
BMW E30 Group A touring car
BMW 320 Turbo Group 5 DRM car
2015 BMW Z4 GTE from Marc VDS that competed in the European Le Mans Series
Beyond the motorsport displays there were also several interesting road cars and concept vehicles spread throughout the museum.
Motorworld Munich
Our visit to Motorworld Munich came later that evening. Compared to the Stuttgart location it felt slightly quieter, likely because we arrived on a Saturday evening just before many of the stores were closing.
Even so, there were still a few interesting cars to spot among the storage pods and showrooms.
Audi Museum – Ingolstadt
The final stop of the trip took us to Ingolstadt and the Audi Museum, which turned out to be one of the highlights of the entire journey.
One of the museum’s most distinctive features is the paternoster lift, a continuously rotating vertical display that holds 14 cars in constant motion. Visible from every floor of the building, it provides endless opportunities for photography from different angles.
Further into the museum, the motorsport displays feature several legendary race cars, including:
Audi 90 Quattro IMSA GTO
2011 Audi R18 e-tron quattro Le Mans prototype
NSU streamliners that set speed records in the 1950s and 1960s
It’s an impressive showcase of Audi’s engineering and racing heritage.
And just like that, the trip came to an end.
In just a few days we had visited some of Germany’s best automotive museums, seen everything from rare Group B rally cars to Le Mans prototypes, and captured plenty of photos along the way.
Something tells me it won’t be long before another road trip like this appears on the calendar.
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