On Saturday the 28th of November we had the opportunity to visit
the "Prototyp-Museum" in Hamburg for the opening of their
special exhibition dedicated to the legendary 24 hours at Le
Sarthe.
This small gem is located in an old redbrick building in the
Hafencity listed for preservation. After a complete renovation in
2008 this building is shining in a new gleam combining exciting
new architecture with the existing one.
The first floor entirely kept in white is reserved for the permanent
exhibition of prototypes and one-offs mainly from the 1940s/50s.
The collection of the two young and engaged founders Oliver
Schmidt and Thomas Koenig consists of very early examples of
Porsche and Volkswagen but also some less known examples of
smaller manufacturers like Dannenhauer&Strauss or Denzel.
Furthermore there are several specials build by individualists
mainly for racing on show to round off a very special and
interesting collection. In showcases one can see many
interesting automobilia and a small library invites for a rest.
The vault in the basement modernized with exposed concrete is a
brilliant place for the gallery of the museum. There you can see
superb images documenting the past better than most of these
multimedia shows in other museums. During our visit there was
also a small special exhibition dedicated to the life of Bernd
Rosemeyer who would have had his 100th birthday in October.
Rosemeyer became famous for racing the advanced silver arrows
of Auto Union before passing away after a fatal accident on the
Reichsautobahn Frankfurt-Darmstadt in January 1938 at a high
speed attempt.
The main reason for our visit was the opening of the new special
exhibition dedicated to the 24 hours of Le Mans. With 77 editions
(therefore the name 24/77) there are few other races that can
match with this huge history. Thanks to the support of the
manufacturers of Audi, Porsche, Mercedes and Alfa Romeo the
organizers could present an example of almost every important
make that is linked with the 24 hours.
The oldest car on show is a 1928 Bentley 4.5 Litre that
represents the first make to dominate Le Mans in the 1920s with
no less than 5 victories in the first 8 races. Among these Bentley
Boys there was Sir Henry „Tim“ Birkin who won in 1929 before
winning again in 1931 with an Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 LM. The Alfa
Romeo presented in this exhibition is not the winning car but it is
the one that belonged to him personally. With 4 successive wins
Alfa Romeo was the next dominant make. Also present is the
legendary 8C 2900B Touring Le Mans Coupe that was the most
advanced car in 1938 leading the field before it had to retire with a
broken valve.
After the war came the time for Ferrari and Jaguar. Unfortunately
there is no Ferrari there to represent the 9 wins of the Scuderia
which is the only downside of this great selection of cars. Jaguar
is represented by the D-Type that won the race three times. Just
Mercedes-Benz could break through the dominance of these
Italian/British teams with its win 1952 with a 300SL. Mercedes
might have won in 1955 as well but the fatal crash of Pierre
Levegh forced them to retire.
The late 1960s where the years of the Ford GT40 before Porsche
started their success story with the 917. There is not just a 917
to see but at the opening there was also the legendary
mastermind of the Porsche-engines Hans Mezger who just turned
80 a few days before. The exhibition has also a Porsche GT1 that
was the last Porsche to win at Le Sarthe before the Audi years.
With now 8 wins the make from Ingolstadt dominated the new
millennium so far.
In the "Prototyp-Museum" it is a tradition to start such a special
exhibition with a symposium. More than 350 visitors found their
way to the museum to listen to stories of the good old times.
Porsche was very well represented by the already mentioned
Hans Mezger, Kurt Ahrens, the 1977 winner Jürgen Barth and
former head of the racing department Peter Falk. Star of the event
was surely the record holder with no less than 8 victories “Mister
Le Mans” Tom Kristensen who was supported by the head of the
Joest racing department Ralf Jüttner. When listening to their
stories one could see how the times have changed over the
years. Nevertheless 24 hours are still an adventures no matter
how well prepared the contenders might be in today's races.
A different point of view was given by Hans-Joachim Bunnenberg
and the film diary of Paul Blancpain (via telephone live from Brazil)
who gave an inside view in the making of the legendary Le Mans
movie with Mr.Cool Steve McQueen. The filming of this movie was
also recorded by photographer Rainer Schlegelmilch who has
some examples of his extensive Le Mans archive presented in the
gallery.
So what is the conclusion? The permanent exhibition and the
architecture alone are already worth a visit of this superb museum
but with the 12 cars of the special exhibition there are a dozen
more reasons not to miss this.
The 24/77 Le Mans special display is open until the 28th of March
2010 and is highly recommended to everyone interested in motor
racing.
For more details please visit www.prototyp-hamburg.de
Text and Images Peter Singhof
|
