AMG Experience at MIRA, UK
03-10-2006, 05:11 AM
#1
MBWorld Fanatic!
Thread Starter
AMG Experience at MIRA, UK
Will be attending this event tommorrow. Should be fun. Will take some snaps etc ...
Rgds Steve.
Rgds Steve.
03-13-2006, 05:38 AM
#3
MBWorld Fanatic!
Thread Starter
Hi guys well good news and bad news...
First bad news... MIRA would not allow any cameras on site as often there are prototype cars doing testing at the facility - so its a blanket NO CAMERAS. Sorry!
Good news ... well what fun. And I learned alot. The events were as follows...
1 - Skid pan - holding a slide on a 60m diameter circle on black ice simulation and agian on packed snow similation - ESC on / off. Bascially shows how much ESC looks after you and also the ESC does not switch off 100% - even in off mode there is still 20% intervention. (C55 estate - I was driver).
2 - Skid pan - curve on simulated black ice while adding power... almost impossible to catch back end coming round with ESC off ... with esc on tracks stable. Also demonstartes the transition from no traction to sudden traction .. . pretty violent if the car is not going straight. (CLK55 - I was driver).
3 - Wet asphalt track. Demonstrates that ESC only kicks in when you make a mistake. And here I have to agree. This guy had us going round this track at rediculous speeds on a wet track ... amazing handling from the SLK55. Lovely car. (I was passenger only).
4 - High speed blast on banked oval in SLR. Wow what a car. Amazing resposiveness and acceleration braking presence, sound ... amazing. And to think it uses the same basic engine as our machines. We reached speeds of 180mph+ on the straight and the G-forces on the banked corners was rediculous. More on the SLR motor in another thread. (I was passenger only.)
5 - Police Driving Instructor on public road. Some tuition of awareness on road etc, but more excitingly taught me something about the gearbox shifting. If you in Sport mode and keep a button down for mbe 1 second (e.g. on a downshift) the system will change straight from current gear to the lowest feasible gear given your roadspeed. This giving you instant power and control. Nice trick and making the gearbox come alive. The system also works for upshift - hold + button for ~1 sec and it will take you from current gear straight to D. Some instruction on the visual limit point ... geez cant believe I had not got to learn about this before. Hard to explain but amazingly usefull on blind winding roads. Basically the visual limit point of the raod ahead forms a point / arrow. If this arrow is moving away from you you can accelerate in the corner, if this point is stationary you need to slow down. Maybe those on the forum who know more can explain better. (CLS55 - I was driver).
6 - VMax 1 mile straight. What fun - and a little scary... Flat out from stand still to around 155 mph - just before limiter kicks in and back to 50mph and repeat the run going back. Demonstrates stability at speed and controlled braking from high speed. One thing I learned here is you dont have to hit the brakes hard from this high speed gentle push is all that is needed. Another interesting point we noted was the speed at gear change. 1st around 40mph, 2nd at around 75/80mph, 3rd at 140 mph (!!!) and reached 155 mph in 4th !!! This cars gearing is way too long... could easily get shorter final drive to make it quicker 100-150mph.
(CLS55 - I was driver).
7 - More skid pan stuff ... braking on simulated black ice ... bottom line is you don't stop quickly regardless of your braking system. Turning onto and accelerating on black ice - even ESP struggled a bit with this. Least interesting event of the day. (CLS55 - I was driver).
All in all a great day out and gave me opportunity to drive my car for 200miles !!! Fabulous facilities and a compliment to MB AMG for hosting this day ... for free.
Rgds Steve.
First bad news... MIRA would not allow any cameras on site as often there are prototype cars doing testing at the facility - so its a blanket NO CAMERAS. Sorry!
Good news ... well what fun. And I learned alot. The events were as follows...
1 - Skid pan - holding a slide on a 60m diameter circle on black ice simulation and agian on packed snow similation - ESC on / off. Bascially shows how much ESC looks after you and also the ESC does not switch off 100% - even in off mode there is still 20% intervention. (C55 estate - I was driver).
2 - Skid pan - curve on simulated black ice while adding power... almost impossible to catch back end coming round with ESC off ... with esc on tracks stable. Also demonstartes the transition from no traction to sudden traction .. . pretty violent if the car is not going straight. (CLK55 - I was driver).
3 - Wet asphalt track. Demonstrates that ESC only kicks in when you make a mistake. And here I have to agree. This guy had us going round this track at rediculous speeds on a wet track ... amazing handling from the SLK55. Lovely car. (I was passenger only).
4 - High speed blast on banked oval in SLR. Wow what a car. Amazing resposiveness and acceleration braking presence, sound ... amazing. And to think it uses the same basic engine as our machines. We reached speeds of 180mph+ on the straight and the G-forces on the banked corners was rediculous. More on the SLR motor in another thread. (I was passenger only.)
5 - Police Driving Instructor on public road. Some tuition of awareness on road etc, but more excitingly taught me something about the gearbox shifting. If you in Sport mode and keep a button down for mbe 1 second (e.g. on a downshift) the system will change straight from current gear to the lowest feasible gear given your roadspeed. This giving you instant power and control. Nice trick and making the gearbox come alive. The system also works for upshift - hold + button for ~1 sec and it will take you from current gear straight to D. Some instruction on the visual limit point ... geez cant believe I had not got to learn about this before. Hard to explain but amazingly usefull on blind winding roads. Basically the visual limit point of the raod ahead forms a point / arrow. If this arrow is moving away from you you can accelerate in the corner, if this point is stationary you need to slow down. Maybe those on the forum who know more can explain better. (CLS55 - I was driver).
6 - VMax 1 mile straight. What fun - and a little scary... Flat out from stand still to around 155 mph - just before limiter kicks in and back to 50mph and repeat the run going back. Demonstrates stability at speed and controlled braking from high speed. One thing I learned here is you dont have to hit the brakes hard from this high speed gentle push is all that is needed. Another interesting point we noted was the speed at gear change. 1st around 40mph, 2nd at around 75/80mph, 3rd at 140 mph (!!!) and reached 155 mph in 4th !!! This cars gearing is way too long... could easily get shorter final drive to make it quicker 100-150mph.
(CLS55 - I was driver).
7 - More skid pan stuff ... braking on simulated black ice ... bottom line is you don't stop quickly regardless of your braking system. Turning onto and accelerating on black ice - even ESP struggled a bit with this. Least interesting event of the day. (CLS55 - I was driver).
All in all a great day out and gave me opportunity to drive my car for 200miles !!! Fabulous facilities and a compliment to MB AMG for hosting this day ... for free.
Rgds Steve.
Last edited by stevebez; 03-13-2006 at 06:23 AM.
03-13-2006, 05:45 AM
#4
MBWorld Fanatic!
Thread Starter
London is great ... and the rest is fine too. The best about the countryside are the winding roads !!!! mmm second gear ... mmmmm...
London traffic is a killer though....
Rgds Steve.
London traffic is a killer though....
Rgds Steve.
03-22-2006, 09:32 PM
#6
MBWorld Fanatic!
Wonder why there couldn’t be an AMG Experience here. I would even pay using my own car for what you went through.
03-27-2006, 04:06 AM
#7
MBWorld Fanatic!
Thread Starter
Hi Nige - lovin' it ... got 2 annoying minor ratles / vibration cabin noises I need to have sorted and then it will be 100% ... can't beat this cars performance though just breathtaking.
Have you done any tuning to the suspension / ecu etc ? DMS seem like a decent crowd out here and I may go for their delimit / remap / lowering offering but not sure I need it.
H&R offer a lowering module that maybe is better given the companies' reputation in suspension.
The driving instructors on the course were pretty good although most of the MB guys were marketing guys and were completely technically void. So thats a little disappointing ... they should have a geek on standby to fill you in on the finer details.
You will enjoy the day ... lotsa fun.
Rgds Steve.
Have you done any tuning to the suspension / ecu etc ? DMS seem like a decent crowd out here and I may go for their delimit / remap / lowering offering but not sure I need it.
H&R offer a lowering module that maybe is better given the companies' reputation in suspension.
The driving instructors on the course were pretty good although most of the MB guys were marketing guys and were completely technically void. So thats a little disappointing ... they should have a geek on standby to fill you in on the finer details.
You will enjoy the day ... lotsa fun.
Rgds Steve.
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03-28-2006, 04:46 AM
#8
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Mercedes-Benz A170 CDI
Sounds like you had an awesome time! Good on ya! 
The long gearing on the CLS55 is nothing new. The E/S/CL all share the same ratio, the SL55 has a shorter final drive but it makes minimal difference. Any shorter ratio and traction will become terrible in 1st/2nd. A better bet would be to use the SL55's 2.82 ratio and get an MKB 600hp upgrade, that should cure it!
The long gearing on the CLS55 is nothing new. The E/S/CL all share the same ratio, the SL55 has a shorter final drive but it makes minimal difference. Any shorter ratio and traction will become terrible in 1st/2nd. A better bet would be to use the SL55's 2.82 ratio and get an MKB 600hp upgrade, that should cure it!
