Managed to get on the track!
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Member
Joined: Nov 2001
Posts: 210
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From: Maidenhead, UK
Managed to get on the track!
Went with my father who has a Nissan 300ZX TT to Goodwood race circuit yesterday, however towards the end of the day the coolant expansion tank broke, meaning he couldn’t push it too hard.
Cutting a long story short, I took my CL500 out on the track in his place, and was quite surprised how well it went! The steering is quite light compared to the 300, and is to over assisted for track driving. It handled quite well, with slight drifts round some corners (goodwood has some longer corners), and takes a lot to stop, when trying to slow from 135mph down to 45mph for the last corner.
The gearbox seemed to recognise that I was hammering it, and held gears a lot longer than normal. I had the selector in 4th, and didn’t use the tip shift for the first session, but it held 3rd as I lifted of the gas for a corner and kept it there ready for the build up of speed on the way out.
There was a Boxster S with me on the track, and that could get away in the corners, but on the straights it couldn’t pull any distance on me.
Overall, the lap best lap times from the 300XZ and my CL500 on the 2.4 mile track:
300ZX, 3 litre twin turbo: 1 minute 50 seconds
CL500: 1 minute 55 seconds
Not bad for a cruiser!
Cutting a long story short, I took my CL500 out on the track in his place, and was quite surprised how well it went! The steering is quite light compared to the 300, and is to over assisted for track driving. It handled quite well, with slight drifts round some corners (goodwood has some longer corners), and takes a lot to stop, when trying to slow from 135mph down to 45mph for the last corner.
The gearbox seemed to recognise that I was hammering it, and held gears a lot longer than normal. I had the selector in 4th, and didn’t use the tip shift for the first session, but it held 3rd as I lifted of the gas for a corner and kept it there ready for the build up of speed on the way out.
There was a Boxster S with me on the track, and that could get away in the corners, but on the straights it couldn’t pull any distance on me.
Overall, the lap best lap times from the 300XZ and my CL500 on the 2.4 mile track:
300ZX, 3 litre twin turbo: 1 minute 50 seconds
CL500: 1 minute 55 seconds
Not bad for a cruiser!
MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: Nov 2001
Posts: 6,340
Likes: 22
From: Southern California, USA
2003 CL55 AMG
Not bad at all Maff. Very respectable times. Let us not forget that the CL is a heavy car, however, with the ABC system it feels a lot lighter than it really is.
I think the breaks/rotors on the CL500 are the same as used on the CL55, and they are very good in themselves.
I think the breaks/rotors on the CL500 are the same as used on the CL55, and they are very good in themselves.
