The GTS Chronicles - Getting Two/True Sportscars - Delivery Adventure - 2020-2023

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Wednesday, August 9th, 2023 - The Parting

Alas, parting is such sweet sorrow...

No sleeping in today. No, quite the reverse. We were up at 3:30 a.m., having already packed the night before. Today we had to say goodbye to the Nurburgring area. In fact, today we had to say goodbye to our now-beloved Porsche 718 GTS 4.0s. Today was the day they needed to be dropped off for the start of their long journey back to Canada.

As part of Porsche's European delivery program, a dropoff point is selected (by the customer). There are two standard dropoff points - one in the Stuttgart area and one at the Porsche facility in Leipzig. Since we were closer to Stuttgart than Leipzig, this is where we chose to go (there are also other dropoff points around Europe, but all those have an extra fee associated with them, and none were closer to us than Stuttgart).

The dropoff handler in Stuttgart is a company called BLG Logistics. Their office is located in Sindelfingen - a southern suburb of Stuttgart. We had arranged for a 9:30 a.m. dropoff time, and, working backwards from that time to allow for the drive, a stop at a carwash to cleanup the cars, and a little buffer, and we arrived at a 4 a.m. departure time. Hence the 3:30 a.m. get-up time.

Pre-dawn Autobahn

A Most Auspicious Time

Luke's Thoughts

[on the commute back south...]

We breakfast en route, as we are keen to make good time, though construction on the Autobahn makes the lanes narrow and dicey at times. I see a large truck come awfully close to Andrew ahead of me at one point, and he backs off rapidly stay clear. Yikes.

(to read more of Luke's thoughts from this day, check out his blog post)

There wasn't a whole lot to say about the drive from the Nurburg/Adenau area back to Stuttgart. Put a route into Google maps, then follow it. Once we got onto the autobahn, it was simply a matter of setting cruise control and letting the kilometres click by. Being early in the morning, the traffic was reasonable, although as the sun rose and we approached the Stuttgart area (and the morning rush hour), things got a little more congested.

Our dropoff appointment (an appointment must be made in advance for a Euro Delivery dropoff) was at 9:30 a.m. We arrived in the suburb of Sindelfingen around 8 a.m., giving us plenty of time to do a proper car cleaning session. We felt this was very important because we wanted the cars to be as pristine as possible for the dropoff vehicle inspection. It would be our opportunity to have as clean of a damage report as possible, in the unlikely event some unfortunate incident happened on the journey back to Canada.

It didn't take us long to find a suitable self-service spray wash, and we got to work. This was a full-on clean job, with multiple spray sessions. a thorough wheel cleaning, a wipedown, and an interior vacuum and dusting. In a show of Swiss meticulousness, an employee at the spray wash stopped by to inquire (and make sure, in almost a slightly admonishing way) that some drink cups we had placed on the ground (and were empty) would be properly disposed of in the right disposal bins before we left.

Afterwards, Luke and I installed Airtag trackers into a hidden place in the interior of the cars. We felt it important to have some sort of backup to the official vehicle status / location information. Again, just in case. And also to help get us through what was likely to be an agonizing wait for our babies to be re-united with us back in Canada.

To Sindelfingen

A Final Wash

Tracker Time!

We pulled into the BLG Logistics facility about 15 minutes before our appointed 9:30a.m. timeslot. We used the extra fifteen minutes to get all of our luggage and gear and personal effects out of the cars.

Another vehicle pulled into the parking lot soon after we arrived, and out came a person Chris and I both knew: our work colleague Martin! In addition to being our crew-chief, Chris was also a work colleague, and our team back in Canada had a counterpart team here in Germany. And Martin worked in that team. In fact, in the suburb of Böblingen, which is directly adjacent to the suburb of Singelfinden. When he had heard the details of our big GTS Chronicles Euro Delivery trip, Martin had graciously offered to help with the dropoff logistics.

Arriving BLG Logistics

BLG Logistics Dropoff

We went inside the logistics building and greeted the gentleman seated behind the desk. Salvador - as he introduced himself - had a slightly bohemian flair about him and was very friendly. With our papers already at the ready, we started filling out the forms necessary for us to release the cars to him and for him to accept them for transport back to Canada. I made it a point to request, if at all possible, that the Euro Delivery temporary plates be preserved and returned to us back in Canada - as a memento of our trip.

We then went outside into the parking lot and did a detailed walk-around inspection of the cars, marking even the slightest of imperfections (for example, I had a small rock chip on the passenger side fender). When we got to the interior, he pointed at our factory-installed fire extinguishers (which Luke and I had both specified as an option in our build) and noted that they might end up getting taken out during transport, due to some sort of regulation or other. We weren't sure what to do about this, since these weren't items you could just remove and bring to Fedex, as they surely would be considered dangerous goods. So we really had no choice but to leave them in place. And as I'll mention later in the full telling of The GTS Chronicles story, not taking some special action with the extinguishers would ultimately turn out to be a poor choice on our part.

The Martinspection

The final mileage on our odometers were another example of us being super obediant boy scouts: 5,963 kilometres for me, and about twenty kilometres less for Luke. A carefully calculated and managed hair's breadth below the 6,000km German foreign vehicle residency official limit.

Final ED Mileage

By 10 a.m. we had completed all of the necessary paperwork, our luggage was safely transferred over to Martin's Mitsubishi SUV, and we were ready to say goodbye. Well, maybe not ready, as I ran my hand down the rear fender of the Cayman one last time. Let's say accepting. Accepting of the fact that there was no avoiding a long period of transport to get The GTS Chronicles back to Canada.

Our work colleague Martin had graciously offered to take us out for a team lunch at a nearby pub, and then afterwards drop us off at the Stuttgart train station, where Luke and I would be starting our journey back to Canada. Most generous!

Final lunch

Martin only had to drive about a kilometer. He had taken us to the old downtown part of Sindelfingen, to a quaint old town square (the Wettbuchplatz). Lining this square were all sorts of quaint shops and restaurants, and one of these, Funzel, was our lunch spot. Martin had also invited the rest of his team to the lunch (many of whom we also knew). We ordered beer and food, and caught everyone up on our trip. Again, thank you, Martin!

Final lunch

Luke and I had a train to catch: a train that would whisk us back west, to Paris, to put us in position for a morning flight back to Canada. Martin again stepped up to the plate, driving both Luke and I right into downtown Stuttgart and to the doors of the hauptbahnhof. This was also where we parted with our most excellent crew-chief Mr. Chris Hatko; he was going to visit with Martin and his team for one more day, and then head off to Poland, where the rest of his family was doing their own vacationing while Hatko had spent his crew-duty time for The GTS Chronicles. Well, done, sir, and thank you, too!

Interactive trackmap with photo points - August 09 - click map to view

Interactive trackmap with photo points - August 09 - click to view

August 9 - Drive Data

Start Time: 4:12a.m.

End Time: 8:59a.m.

Duration: 4h47m

Distance: 336.23 km (208.93 mi)

Average Speed: 70.3 km/hr (43.7 mph)

Start Elevation: 1156ft (352m) *

Max Elevation: 2116ft (645m) *

Min Elevation: 292ft (89m) *

End Elevation: 1434ft (437m) *