A brief and somehat unstructured review of an 'AMG driving experience' that I did at Mercedes Benz World, near Weybridge last a Friday. The car we ended up with was a previous shape E63 AMG, which, while initially disappointing (inso far as I'd expected one of their new cars) actually made no difference. And the fact I was, broadly, familiar with the car actually made it slightly odd. A 560bhp twin turbo V8 at full chat sounds immense :)
Actually a pretty good hour - a mix of car control, track and skid pan stuff. An hour's actually quite a long time when you're just blatting about... There was some acceleration / braking / manoeuvring stuff on a drag strip / slalom area. Then some skid pan stuff to demensotrate ABS and ESP. Turning ESP off, making a right turn and then been told to floor it was, predictably, only going to end one way. But it was fun :). Then two circuits - a low and 'high' speed one. Didn't get over 90 I don't think - there's no time to look at the speedo. But some useful tips. And then the drifting circle. A low friction, wet circle to practice drifting. That was fun too, but also useful from a car control perspective - it's actually harder than you think to hold a steady 4K rpm while constantly adjusting the steering. I got it in the end, though there were plenty of 360s as well...
In fact it only went wrong when the instructor offered to 'show me how it should be done' for a couple of laps of the quick circuit...he was certainly much much quicker than me (and used far more of the track than I was told to!!) but, unfortunately, he broke the car. A thud thud thud sound was first attributed to a stone trapped in a tyre, which was quickly dismissed. Then tread delamination (he was pushing it...) which was ruled out on inspection. That left the diff. So we abandoned that one and they swiftly brought out another car. A CLS 63S AMG shooting brake. That had 585 BHP :)
Both cars made an awesome sound; I couldn't really tell the difference on the track between the two power wise, though I felt more insulated from what was going on in the the CLS. It was a very nice place to be
Then it comes to the price; pretty reasonable I thought. It was £205 before extras. I paid £240, including one passenger and CDW (or the equivalent) and I have to say that, while that's not an inconsiderable amount it's not silly money. Great to be able to practice skills you only need on the road when it's too late. And using the 'drifting' circulat skidpan was great fun. Drifting £100k and 585bhp of car on a very low friction surface is immense fun and was most informative from a car control perspective ;)
The rest of MBWorld is so-so. A very big car showroom really, though the older stuff is interesting, as are some of the movies. So, if you like cars it's worth a go I think. I'll go back I expect - thy do a 4X4 and AMG combo experience which is a bit cheaper and would add more variety.
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>> The rest of MBWorld is so-so. A very big car showroom really, though the older
>> stuff is interesting, as are some of the movies. So, if you like cars it's
>> worth a go I think.
>>
Yeah that's about the size of it; went there with Spamcan Junior last Autumn, spent about an hour there then drove round the corner to Brooklands Museum, not free but much more interesting from my (and thankfully his) point of view. Learned 'hands on' how to deal with engine fires on a VC10. OK that's a pretty 'niche' job ;-)
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Since ordering BDC I've been offered a free Porsche Driving Experience. Unfortunately it's at Silverstone, which for me is the other side of the world. It's easier to fly to CA!
If I want to bring a friend to experience the same thing it's £472.
Don't think I'll bother
Same price as flying to CA when I get a decent KLM deal!
Last edited by: legacylad on Tue 2 May 17 at 21:00
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>> The rest of MBWorld is so-so. A very big car showroom really, though the older
>> stuff is interesting, as are some of the movies. So, if you like cars it's
>> worth a go I think. I'll go back I expect - thy do a 4X4
>> and AMG combo experience which is a bit cheaper and would add more variety.
I get my car serviced there. Sometimes I have a wander round, watch cars on the skid circle from upstairs, etc.
But normally I walk down to Tesco for a fry up before LD picks me up...
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MB world is just round the corner from Palace Zero, pop in there regularly for a cup of coffee and a Fishfinger sarnie. (A classy one) Even better now I know Dunc is slumming it in Tesco.
Last edited by: Zero on Tue 2 May 17 at 21:56
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A friend used to have a C63. Noisy thing. Fast though, very fast indeed.
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>> A friend used to have a C63. Noisy thing. Fast though, very fast indeed.
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I have to say the full throttle standing starts (with and without ESP) were pretty amazing; not, however, as astounding as the rate it decelerated. The rate of deceleration was such that the pre-safe system put the passenger seat into the best position fot the airbag to operate - slightly reclined and back!! The seats were not really suited to track use though - they seemed identical to those in my old E250 :O
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Used to live very near MB World, still got family near by and regularly visit when in the area, it's always interesting and good for a coffee etc, one son did the junior experience a couple of times when about 14/15, driving A and B Classes. Brooklands museum is great. Funny how a BMW turns heads in the car park though there are usually a couple of Porsches, Maseratis etc ...
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Mercedes Benz E-Class W212 - E63 AMG - spamcan61
