My factory collection (long + pics)
09-19-2008, 11:53 AM
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My factory collection (long + pics)
So I was off to Germany to a) Collect the new Merc b) Do the GT-R day at Nurburgring circuit, c) Do Stelvio Pass
Our flight from Heathrow was at 8am, and not wanting to risk a Monday morning traffic jam/breakdown we figured it'd be best if we stayed over at an airport hotel the night before and just walked to the terminal the next morning.
We stayed in the Yotel, this weird + wonderful Japanese inspired place, where the rooms looked not much different to an enlarged airplane toilet albeit with smooth mood lighting.
There were no windows, other than the one on your door, no daylight.. very weird. The rooms overlapped too, such that if you have to climb into your bed, then the area beneath yours is the bunk from next door.
Yotel pics: http://www.ukjobs.net/images/cars/C63/germany/yotel
Not suited for families I guess, but considerably cheaper than a normal airport hotel.. and I'm not sure I'd want to stay in one if I was under the weather or had a hangover.
Only fly in the ointment was that the hot water ran cold.. still, it was a livener !
The flight was on time, and smooth, blagging as much Bucks Fizz as we could (figuring driving wasn't for many hours to come). After collecting our bags we were met by the taxi firm sent by Merc for us, and sped off in the direction of Singenfelden.
Upon arrival, one nice lady took our bags, and the other took us to the English speaking tour which had just started.. good timing, since the next tour wasn't for another 3 hours.
Depending on your level of geekery, you'd find the tour fascinating, or rather dull.. but it was quite something to see the robots rotating/flipping complete body shells around like they were 1/10th scale toys.. the factory employs some 38,000 people, but all they seemed to do was fill the conveyor belts with small components for the robots to do their thing.
Tour over, now to collect the car.. well, almost.. figuring we had a long drive ahead the next stop was the rather excellent Mercedes restaurant, serving up some well presented food for a very reasonable price.
OK.. now onto some trivial paperwork, and then we were walked over to the car, which already had our luggage in the boot (nice touch)
A quick run-through of the controls the Nav was programmed with our next destination and we were off.. firing up the car caused everyone in the "showroom" to stop and stare.. (the first of many)
Factory collection pics: http://www.ukjobs.net/images/cars/C6...ry/index2.html
The next ten minutes was mainly giggling at the plainly rude exhaust note in response to the accelerator.
We schlepped several hundred miles over to the Nurburgring to get our bearings for the next day, then onto the Nordschlieffe to see if the esteemed Mr Yu had been circulating, he wasn't to be found sadly.
We parked up in the 'ring car park and went for a coffee, upon our return was a bloke talking to his mate about the C63 saying how it had this and that, but was restricted to 155mph.. given our German plates he was forgiven for thinking I was German, and was surprised when I corrected him..
We got chatting about cars, he had an RS4 etc, and he'd just bought an E30 M3 Evo Sport from Munich Legends which had been giving him lots of trouble.. I joked that he should have bought mine I just sold.. after a bit he said "Was it grey ? Did it have white roundels on the door ?" Turns out, I'd spoken to the chap some weeks before when he phoned up about my BMW.. small world eh ?
Next, we went back to our hotel kindly paid for by Mercedes, for some much needed beers and rest for the next day.
Up bright and early, did the 40mile hack back to the Nissan Nurburgring thing and welcomed by bacon rolls + coffee. nice.
We were split into teams, and then given 5-6 events to take part in.
First up was the road driving.. we had to follow a "pace car" around country roads "keeping to the speed limits".. which amounted to pulling back from the car ahead, then nailing the accelerator to find out how fast you could get it before slamming the brakes on :-)
The GT-R is pretty brutal in sport shift mode, and accelerates hard.
Next up, was the track driving..
First we were taken for a sighting lap, then given the keys to the car.. a few laps with all the aids on, then a few with the traction + suspsension + shift modes in Race. I'm not sure how often the car would need new pads/discs/suspension bits, but for those laps I did, it held up very well.
Whereas my old R34 would push itself into oversteer then catch itself, more for showboating than anything, the R35 seems more interested in going about the business of going fast, which it does in spades.
I really like the Nurburgring F1 circuit, I'd imagine it's hard as nails on the brakes though into the first downhill sharp right corner.
Next up, was taking a 350Z around the skid pan, which was OK, but the pan was only slippery for 180 degrees, so you couldn't do a full 360 slide.
GTR day pics: http://www.ukjobs.net/images/cars/C63/germany/gtr
Next up, was a slalom course in a 350Z which was fun enough, and then onto a kick plate in the GT-R simulating the back end losing grip suddenly.. in both Race and non Race mode.. to be honest, I couldn't tell the difference.
Our team won, but I didn't win the group. The scoring appeared pretty arbritrary with no idea what differentiated a 70% score from a 73%.
OK, so that was the end of the Nissan event at about 2:30pm, and onto the 450 mile trip down to Stelvio taking in some cracking scenery. Near the end of the journey it had become dark and the mountain switchbacks were like some Japanese Midnight Club driving stage.
21:00 we arrived in Santa Maria im Muestertal, Switzerland just a couple of miles away from Stelvio.. check-in times were 6-8pm but after some standing around the manager checked us in.. This town was supposed to be a touristy, but at 9:30pm nowhere was serving hot food.. only after our best impressions of waifs and strays did a hotel take pity on us and found us some soup.. which was "the best soup evar".. more beers ensued.
Next morning, amazing view from our hotel, the moon clear as day but with the sun clipping the tops of the peaks..
07:00 went to check out to find that's not allowed until 8:30am.. so we dropped the key off and left and made our way for the famous pass.
We had been warned by smug types that Stelvio wasn't "all that" it was too narrow, there was too much traffic.. well, it's true, it is too narrow to do any hard driving, but in terms of scenery it's breathtaking and still well worth the journey to see it.
As you can see from the pics, the weather was glorious, and as we climbed to the top we wondered if it would be closed as there was snow on the peaks.. fortunately the pass was still open, but I think it'd only need a snow/rain fall for all that to change and next time I go I'll plan it for a week or two earlier to be safe.
The other good thing about Stelvio, is the surrounding road network.. my word, there are some proper mountain roads.. long, winding and open, with very few cars.. and any we encountered were soon dispatched.
Route link: http://www.multimap.com/s/LCQGeJv8
To me, this was the highlight of the entire journey.. a grunty car, a daft companion, and some epic roads which went on for mile and miles.. the entire road I've linked to are the best roads I've ever driven, and I'm working out how to get back there as soon as possible.. as well as the "Renschen pass" that the local recommended we do next time.
The C63 came alive here, accelerating hard, soaking up the full-on braking, getting the back end out as the power is put down coming out of corners, and repeating.. for many many miles.. taking all the hard work given to it.
Stelvio pics: http://www.ukjobs.net/images/cars/C6...io/index2.html
The drive back.. this was going to be the long run.. the satnav said from Muestertal was 700+ miles plus then the journey from Folkestone to Heahtrow to collect Buntas wheels and home..
Mercedes had previously changed our booking from the Eurotunnel to the ferry earlier on in the week, and to be safe we had booked ourselves in for the midnight crossing.
After joining the motorways past Zurich it was pretty much Outrun.. 110mph on the clock, stopping only for fuel.. and we arrived at Calais by 9pm. As we were early the woman managed to check us into the 11pm crossing (which was running late) so our expected sail time was 11:45.. Hmm. crap wait.. As we drove over to our ferry "car park", I noticed there was another long line of cars about 50 yards away.. and said to Bruce "F*ck waiting nearly 3 hours we're getting on that ferry"..and joined the back of their queue.
As we got to the front, we were stopped by an official who demanded our ticket and told us we were in the wrong line.. Using my Jedi mind trick, I told him that "the woman at the desk told us that you had space on this crossing, and you'd let us on".. he went to radio through, to check our story, but lost interest and waved us through .. hah, result.. that knocked a good 2.5 hours off our trip.
Back to Blighty, we steamed over to Heathrow, collected Bruces car, then parted company and I made for home at a not strictly legal speed, the 80 mile trip took less than an hour, not bad considering much of it was through villages at 30mph.
As for the C63.. well..
I can't be accused of not using this car.. 2000 miles, and about 10 fill ups in under 3 days.
The best way to sum the car up, is that its like a mini NASCAR.. it's squared off, noisy, torquey.. and zero body roll.
Even before reading the Evo write up in this months edition, I'd have acknowledged that it's not quite as sharp as an M3 (close though), but that negative is balanced by the huge amount of torque and a plainly silly soundtrack.. I'd gladly forgo tenths here and there for the things it does that BMW doesn't.
I've had a few Mercs in my time, but they were never properly sorted chassis wise.. sure they had stiff/firm suspension with big brakes, but the steering always had too many turns lock to lock always felt like if it wasn't for the air suspension would roll like a bastrd in the corners. The C63 doesn't feel it's 1.7 tonnes at all.
It's brought out the big kid in me, and I'm finding excuses to go out in it.. and to top it all, I've washed it.. and I never do that..
I've had the child-seat in the back and done a family trip yesterday, so it's practical too.. the missus loves the car too.
Now where's my keys ?
Our flight from Heathrow was at 8am, and not wanting to risk a Monday morning traffic jam/breakdown we figured it'd be best if we stayed over at an airport hotel the night before and just walked to the terminal the next morning.
We stayed in the Yotel, this weird + wonderful Japanese inspired place, where the rooms looked not much different to an enlarged airplane toilet albeit with smooth mood lighting.
There were no windows, other than the one on your door, no daylight.. very weird. The rooms overlapped too, such that if you have to climb into your bed, then the area beneath yours is the bunk from next door.
Yotel pics: http://www.ukjobs.net/images/cars/C63/germany/yotel
Not suited for families I guess, but considerably cheaper than a normal airport hotel.. and I'm not sure I'd want to stay in one if I was under the weather or had a hangover.
Only fly in the ointment was that the hot water ran cold.. still, it was a livener !
The flight was on time, and smooth, blagging as much Bucks Fizz as we could (figuring driving wasn't for many hours to come). After collecting our bags we were met by the taxi firm sent by Merc for us, and sped off in the direction of Singenfelden.
Upon arrival, one nice lady took our bags, and the other took us to the English speaking tour which had just started.. good timing, since the next tour wasn't for another 3 hours.
Depending on your level of geekery, you'd find the tour fascinating, or rather dull.. but it was quite something to see the robots rotating/flipping complete body shells around like they were 1/10th scale toys.. the factory employs some 38,000 people, but all they seemed to do was fill the conveyor belts with small components for the robots to do their thing.
Tour over, now to collect the car.. well, almost.. figuring we had a long drive ahead the next stop was the rather excellent Mercedes restaurant, serving up some well presented food for a very reasonable price.
OK.. now onto some trivial paperwork, and then we were walked over to the car, which already had our luggage in the boot (nice touch)
A quick run-through of the controls the Nav was programmed with our next destination and we were off.. firing up the car caused everyone in the "showroom" to stop and stare.. (the first of many)
Factory collection pics: http://www.ukjobs.net/images/cars/C6...ry/index2.html
The next ten minutes was mainly giggling at the plainly rude exhaust note in response to the accelerator.
We schlepped several hundred miles over to the Nurburgring to get our bearings for the next day, then onto the Nordschlieffe to see if the esteemed Mr Yu had been circulating, he wasn't to be found sadly.
We parked up in the 'ring car park and went for a coffee, upon our return was a bloke talking to his mate about the C63 saying how it had this and that, but was restricted to 155mph.. given our German plates he was forgiven for thinking I was German, and was surprised when I corrected him..
We got chatting about cars, he had an RS4 etc, and he'd just bought an E30 M3 Evo Sport from Munich Legends which had been giving him lots of trouble.. I joked that he should have bought mine I just sold.. after a bit he said "Was it grey ? Did it have white roundels on the door ?" Turns out, I'd spoken to the chap some weeks before when he phoned up about my BMW.. small world eh ?
Next, we went back to our hotel kindly paid for by Mercedes, for some much needed beers and rest for the next day.
Up bright and early, did the 40mile hack back to the Nissan Nurburgring thing and welcomed by bacon rolls + coffee. nice.
We were split into teams, and then given 5-6 events to take part in.
First up was the road driving.. we had to follow a "pace car" around country roads "keeping to the speed limits".. which amounted to pulling back from the car ahead, then nailing the accelerator to find out how fast you could get it before slamming the brakes on :-)
The GT-R is pretty brutal in sport shift mode, and accelerates hard.
Next up, was the track driving..
First we were taken for a sighting lap, then given the keys to the car.. a few laps with all the aids on, then a few with the traction + suspsension + shift modes in Race. I'm not sure how often the car would need new pads/discs/suspension bits, but for those laps I did, it held up very well.
Whereas my old R34 would push itself into oversteer then catch itself, more for showboating than anything, the R35 seems more interested in going about the business of going fast, which it does in spades.
I really like the Nurburgring F1 circuit, I'd imagine it's hard as nails on the brakes though into the first downhill sharp right corner.
Next up, was taking a 350Z around the skid pan, which was OK, but the pan was only slippery for 180 degrees, so you couldn't do a full 360 slide.
GTR day pics: http://www.ukjobs.net/images/cars/C63/germany/gtr
Next up, was a slalom course in a 350Z which was fun enough, and then onto a kick plate in the GT-R simulating the back end losing grip suddenly.. in both Race and non Race mode.. to be honest, I couldn't tell the difference.
Our team won, but I didn't win the group. The scoring appeared pretty arbritrary with no idea what differentiated a 70% score from a 73%.
OK, so that was the end of the Nissan event at about 2:30pm, and onto the 450 mile trip down to Stelvio taking in some cracking scenery. Near the end of the journey it had become dark and the mountain switchbacks were like some Japanese Midnight Club driving stage.
21:00 we arrived in Santa Maria im Muestertal, Switzerland just a couple of miles away from Stelvio.. check-in times were 6-8pm but after some standing around the manager checked us in.. This town was supposed to be a touristy, but at 9:30pm nowhere was serving hot food.. only after our best impressions of waifs and strays did a hotel take pity on us and found us some soup.. which was "the best soup evar".. more beers ensued.
Next morning, amazing view from our hotel, the moon clear as day but with the sun clipping the tops of the peaks..
07:00 went to check out to find that's not allowed until 8:30am.. so we dropped the key off and left and made our way for the famous pass.
We had been warned by smug types that Stelvio wasn't "all that" it was too narrow, there was too much traffic.. well, it's true, it is too narrow to do any hard driving, but in terms of scenery it's breathtaking and still well worth the journey to see it.
As you can see from the pics, the weather was glorious, and as we climbed to the top we wondered if it would be closed as there was snow on the peaks.. fortunately the pass was still open, but I think it'd only need a snow/rain fall for all that to change and next time I go I'll plan it for a week or two earlier to be safe.
The other good thing about Stelvio, is the surrounding road network.. my word, there are some proper mountain roads.. long, winding and open, with very few cars.. and any we encountered were soon dispatched.
Route link: http://www.multimap.com/s/LCQGeJv8
To me, this was the highlight of the entire journey.. a grunty car, a daft companion, and some epic roads which went on for mile and miles.. the entire road I've linked to are the best roads I've ever driven, and I'm working out how to get back there as soon as possible.. as well as the "Renschen pass" that the local recommended we do next time.
The C63 came alive here, accelerating hard, soaking up the full-on braking, getting the back end out as the power is put down coming out of corners, and repeating.. for many many miles.. taking all the hard work given to it.
Stelvio pics: http://www.ukjobs.net/images/cars/C6...io/index2.html
The drive back.. this was going to be the long run.. the satnav said from Muestertal was 700+ miles plus then the journey from Folkestone to Heahtrow to collect Buntas wheels and home..
Mercedes had previously changed our booking from the Eurotunnel to the ferry earlier on in the week, and to be safe we had booked ourselves in for the midnight crossing.
After joining the motorways past Zurich it was pretty much Outrun.. 110mph on the clock, stopping only for fuel.. and we arrived at Calais by 9pm. As we were early the woman managed to check us into the 11pm crossing (which was running late) so our expected sail time was 11:45.. Hmm. crap wait.. As we drove over to our ferry "car park", I noticed there was another long line of cars about 50 yards away.. and said to Bruce "F*ck waiting nearly 3 hours we're getting on that ferry"..and joined the back of their queue.
As we got to the front, we were stopped by an official who demanded our ticket and told us we were in the wrong line.. Using my Jedi mind trick, I told him that "the woman at the desk told us that you had space on this crossing, and you'd let us on".. he went to radio through, to check our story, but lost interest and waved us through .. hah, result.. that knocked a good 2.5 hours off our trip.
Back to Blighty, we steamed over to Heathrow, collected Bruces car, then parted company and I made for home at a not strictly legal speed, the 80 mile trip took less than an hour, not bad considering much of it was through villages at 30mph.
As for the C63.. well..
I can't be accused of not using this car.. 2000 miles, and about 10 fill ups in under 3 days.
The best way to sum the car up, is that its like a mini NASCAR.. it's squared off, noisy, torquey.. and zero body roll.
Even before reading the Evo write up in this months edition, I'd have acknowledged that it's not quite as sharp as an M3 (close though), but that negative is balanced by the huge amount of torque and a plainly silly soundtrack.. I'd gladly forgo tenths here and there for the things it does that BMW doesn't.
I've had a few Mercs in my time, but they were never properly sorted chassis wise.. sure they had stiff/firm suspension with big brakes, but the steering always had too many turns lock to lock always felt like if it wasn't for the air suspension would roll like a bastrd in the corners. The C63 doesn't feel it's 1.7 tonnes at all.
It's brought out the big kid in me, and I'm finding excuses to go out in it.. and to top it all, I've washed it.. and I never do that..
I've had the child-seat in the back and done a family trip yesterday, so it's practical too.. the missus loves the car too.
Now where's my keys ?
09-19-2008, 12:18 PM
#3
MBWorld Fanatic!
GREAT write up my friend
Truely makes me want to come back to Germany for some FUN driving
Enjoy the new beast, and go get her oil changed NOW
See yeah
Truely makes me want to come back to Germany for some FUN driving
Enjoy the new beast, and go get her oil changed NOW
See yeah
09-19-2008, 12:23 PM
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09-19-2008, 01:42 PM
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'98 C43 AMG. Obsidian Blk w/2 tone slvr/blk interior
i felt like i was reading some kind of magazine article lol. the pictures and writing style were quite enjoyable. nice car 
i really like the wheels, are they the clk BS wheels?
i really like the wheels, are they the clk BS wheels?
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09-19-2008, 01:57 PM
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W164 ML500,SMART For two,1994 C280(5speed manual) 1999 C230k station wagon
That looks very familiar, I once drove my 190 2.3 16v thru Bavaria into Austria and then Switzerland and then back up to Germany towards the "Ring". This was back in 1989 and it was a drive of a lifetime. If anyone has a chance to do it you will never forget!
09-19-2008, 03:40 PM
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C63 Darth Vader
09-19-2008, 04:15 PM
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1999 SLK
Brilliant!
Very enjoyable
09-19-2008, 06:09 PM
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W211 E55 AMG, ML63 AMG, Past 996GT3,ZCPM3,Brabus C32,ML 500
It's good too see someone really living it up, soaking it in and expressing real emotion towards motorsports as a lifestyle. I love it man. Congrats...
It's so much better than, OMGF YO look at my new RimZZZ and I'm gonna spank dat Mfree at Da car meet today and it sucks cause my parents r making me pay insurance on my C63..
It's so much better than, OMGF YO look at my new RimZZZ and I'm gonna spank dat Mfree at Da car meet today and it sucks cause my parents r making me pay insurance on my C63..
