For the second edition of the Gravel Trap guide to travel destinations for the engaged motorsport fan, the author will spin off into the gravel in turn one like he is a Schumacher brother at the 1997 Luxembourg Grand Prix, as he visits nearby Hamburg and the Automuseum Prototyp.

Located in the heart of what Hamburg calls “HafenCity” in the perpetual endeavour of my fellow countrymen to mutilate both the English and German languages at once, it has many other museums, cafés and other entertainment facilities in walking distance. If you arrive in Hamburg at Altona train station, the bus line 111 will get you right to the museum at the “Koreastraße” stop. There are various ticket options, but a single entry costs €12 for adults and €5 for children. Families and groups can save money with other options both available on the museum website and on-site. Payment is possible both with cash and card on site and with, among other options, credit card and PayPal online. Guided tours are possible at enquiry with a week’s notice. The museum is open from Tuesday to Sunday from 10 am to 6 pm. It is closed on public holidays except for German Unity Day (October 3) and Saint Stephen’s Day (December 26).

Upon entry, you are guided by signs to the ticket office on the second floor which also doubles as one half of the museum’s merchandise score. The merchandise available includes various Porsche toys and books, ranging from the affordable to luxurious tomes running over €200. After either purchasing or presenting your ticket, the staff will ask you whether this is your first visit and inform you of the three floors of the museum. The first sight is the open repair shop of the museum where during working hours the guest might enjoy the pleasure of seeing restoration efforts on vehicles. After that, the museum offers an insight into the first post-war German racing cars, an era driven not by works designs, but individually designed and assembled vehicles. A nearby exhibit also deals with road cars of the era and before, in particular the design of the KdF-Wagen that would become the basis for Volkswagen.

The visitor is led to a number of Porsche road cars and unique designs before seeing a number of racing models, including the Jordan 191, its historical relevance for German motorsport being obvious. Other racing cars presented include a Porsche LMP1 and a prototype for the Audi endurance racing effort that would dominate the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the early 2000s. A particular gem for reject fans is the complete Porsche 3512 V12 engine, known for its role in the disastrous 1991 season for Footwork. Among the racing cars is a simulator in which eager drivers can run a lap or two in Assetto Corsa with a proper steering wheel, pedals and a gearshift – though for what it is worth, because of his size, the author had to use single-foot braking as he barely fit inside the simulator. A problem, he is sure, normal-sized people will not experience.

After the first exhibit, the visitor is led to the gallery. In it, a number of documentaries about the cars shown in the museum and their racing history are running on loop, though it should be noted that unlike most written plaques in the museum, there is no English audio available for the video footage at the museum. This section also features memorabilia of pre- and post-war racing (though a cynical observer will notice certain parts of the pre-war memorabilia being covered up). From there, the guided path leads to the staircase and to the ground level exhibit. There, various models ranging from a Scuderia Isobel de Tomaso Formula Junior, various Porsche models to the Cuno microcar used as an attraction for young visitors at the Tierpark Hagenbeck. Furthermore, an Italian exhibit shows various models from companies like Maserati and Ferrari and their history, including their use in sportscar racing.

Last but not least, a significant exhibit about the history and the actual production of the VW Käfer, including documentary footage made in that car’s era is presented in a dark, but tastefully designed cellar room. While the author was not paying much attention to that exhibit on this particular visit, as his last trip into the gravel already got him a lot of Beetle enjoyment, it is undeniably a well-designed walkthrough of its production. From there, the visitor arrives at the last great highlight: the Wolfgang Graf Berghe von Trips display. A story of his career, from his beginnings to his Ferrari career and eventually his tragic death at the 1961 Italian Grand Prix is presented and emphasised with memorabilia, newspaper articles and other elements. About the only thing the author struggles to answer after the exhibit is where he picked up the nickname “Taffy”.

All in all, the Automuseum Prototyp comes with a strong recommendation. Its design, layout and form of presentation all point towards a staff that is passionate, highly competent or both. With its ideal position in Hamburg, it can be paired perfectly with visits to other museums or entertainment facilities like the Miniatur Wunderland, which paired with the prettier side of Hamburg, makes for a worthwhile day trip at the very least. The museum manages to balance the motorsport and road car sides perfectly, on occasion even interlinking them with road models based on race cars. Almost all exhibits have useful information on plates nearby, allowing the less experienced car enthusiast to identify models and figure out their historical significance. With the simulator, the video footage and some other amenities, children can be taken there as well without growing bored for a while. As almost all written text in the museum is written down in English next to or below the German text, German skills are not a requirement to enjoy yourself. With the combination of more famous vehicles and comparatively more obscure ones, both casual and passionate lovers of the automobile find something new and exciting to learn. If forced to come up with a criticism, the author would point towards a lack of modern vehicles in comparison to post-war vehicles, but one easily could counter that by pointing out that the very prototype-oriented nature of the museum makes the era from the 1940s to 1960s a much more worthwhile time to reflect.

With those facts in mind, the author proudly awards the museum a rating of Merzario A2 out of A4 on the Official Merzario Scale of Reject Sites (not trademarked, as European trade marks are too expensive).