September 9th - TX Airstrip Meet-n-Greet (German Car Shootout)...Mark Your Calendar!
This was our first time doing this and much was learned that will make future events run a lot more efficiently and allow everyone more time on the runway. Obviously safety was our highest priority and we purposely exercised excessive caution to mitigate the level of risk inherent in a high performance auto demonstration. There was a learning curve throughout the day for staff and drivers alike and we sincerely appreciate everyone's patience and positive attitude. I was parked at the starting line and had the priviledge of starting the runs throughout the day. I'd like to personally thank everyone for the abundance of courtesy, huge smiles and positive comments I received. I'm sure the folks in Affalterbach would be proud of the way AMG was represented at the event. You all have some very beautiful cars.

We did learn several things to ensure the next event is even better and smoother. Particularly regarding the staging and frequency of runs.
Everyone was absolutely amazing and we enjoyed meeting all the Mercedes, Porsche, and BMW enthusiasts.
Hats off to each of you!
The red SLK55 was also mine, I got pitted agasint a blue Ford GT. What was that all about?

The S4 was very quick, besting many cars. It was quite a suprise.
Here are some pics, we took a bunch but here's some teasers.
It was a fantastic event and had a lot of fun. We had some hiccups early on with getting the cars out onto the field but it was the first time and we learned a lot and the next one will be darn near perfect. Really looking forward to going again and it was great meeting everyone. Big props to Darren for putting this together, it was a blast. See you all next time.
E55 vs Darren's M5
It was great seeing you again and meeting your brother. Be sure to relay once again that he did an awesome job running the car for his first time out!
Just to add a little more color to the pictures...in the 2nd photo, which is just after launch, we were basically even, by the 3rd photo the M5 was ahead (that's about 1/3 the way through the run at that point), by the 4th photo you can see the lead difference.
Also, the 4th photo is about 60-70% through the run, that is not the end. We have about another 800+ feet or so. The distance continued to extend.
One of the things I learned is we need to stage at least one camera at the finish to capture the results.
Regards,
Darren
Cheers,
Darren
Last edited by darren_dallas; Sep 16, 2007 at 12:24 PM.
Take care,
Darren
It was great of Darren to organize the event and thanks to Dritan for the food.
Dritan had a 997TT Cab Tip with 200 miles on it and he hammered the daylights out of Darrens M5, which has an intake, headers, exhaust (what a sound!) and I think the ecu has been tuned. Darren didn't spray today because he just installed it and isn't tuned for that.
Oops, back to the subject, Thank you guys!
Thank you very much sir. I don't have an ECU tune yet. Looking forward to that next mod.
Cheers,
Darren
I've got 2 good vids from Rons car on your races with him. Problem is that I can't transfer from my firewire camera to my USB computer. Once I do, I'll pass them along. It's nice to watch a race video done in daylight!
Thanks again for a great day.
Mike
The Best of Mercedes & AMG

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GH2tfHOUrRU
Regards,
Darren
Last edited by darren_dallas; Sep 16, 2007 at 12:20 PM.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GH2tfHOUrRU
Regards,
Darren
But why is your window rolled down? Take a look at this video and see what happens when you roll up your window.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phixSri8eMI
Last edited by SleeperX; Sep 16, 2007 at 12:31 PM.
Regards,
Darren
1) Roll your windows up!
2) Turn off the A/C. I don't care how hot it is!
3) Don't race on a full tank of gas.
4) And most important of all.. Check your IATs. If they are too high getting cooling upgrades..
In the 2nd video I still have the windows down, but I won that one.
Regardless, I will definitely roll them up going forward.
Cheers,
Darren
Often I would let off before the finish line due to still getting familair with running at high speeds and stopping power/distance anyway. Something that got better as the day went on and I got more runs in.I only ran in my E55 once agains't can drive 55's E and he beat me by a length. Don't think my airbox does anything or possibly for some reason it hurts. Maybe I just have a particularly slow E55. I did have the dreaded reflash done though, can drive has your car had the secondary air injection reflash done? Next time I'll take my stock airbox out and do some comparison races with and without to see.
I drove the SLK55 the rest of the day and one thing I noticed is that 30mph is no good for it and the 7 speed. 30mph is litterally between 1st and 2nd gear and you would lose a second as it seemed the 7 speed would get confused. Rolling up to 30 you were light on the foot, but it would upshift before you hit it since you were very close to redline, then when you floored it downshift then upshift again back to back even when you were in S mode and had 1st selected. Then it would take off in 2nd gear. A rolling start from 20 or 40 would be better for us AMG 7 speeders.
My brother had never driven my E55 before, he was always terrified of it. It was funny to see him run it, I tried to give him a quick rundown as he was pulling up to meet Darren to race. That was the first time he ran it and you should have seen the look on his face when he got back. Even though he lost he had a huge smile and just went on and on about it. Then when he beat the Porshe it was even worse. He definatly had a great time.
My E55 vs Can Drive 55's
My brother after returning from his first race ever against Darren and losing
Here you can tell how bad my SLK lost to the Ford GT. I'm in the pic and you see everyone is looking way over there somewhere.

P.S. Definaly getting the SLK supercharged, where'd I put Kleemanns # again...
Last edited by bfnnrgn; Sep 16, 2007 at 01:21 PM.
This was our first time doing this and much was learned that will make future events run a lot more efficiently and allow everyone more time on the runway. Obviously safety was our highest priority and we purposely exercised excessive caution to mitigate the level of risk inherent in a high performance auto demonstration. There was a learning curve throughout the day for staff and drivers alike and we sincerely appreciate everyone's patience and positive attitude. I was parked at the starting line and had the priviledge of starting the runs throughout the day. I'd like to personally thank everyone for the abundance of courtesy, huge smiles and positive comments I received. I'm sure the folks in Affalterbach would be proud of the way AMG was represented at the event. You all have some very beautiful cars.
), and I'm sure that next time (hint, hint It was a blast to see (and hear!) the M5s as well...truly an awesome machine, along with all of the other cars there. They all sounded just great, and truly wicked in their own ways...the M5s sounded like formula cars, while the AMGs sounded like poomped up muscle cars, yah!
Thanks again for a great time, and it was really nice to meet you all. Look forward to doing it again sometime, sooner rather than later!!

We did learn several things to ensure the next event is even better and smoother. Particularly regarding the staging and frequency of runs.
Everyone was absolutely amazing and we enjoyed meeting all the Mercedes, Porsche, and BMW enthusiasts.
Hats off to each of you!
) we'll look forward to ripping off lots of runs in the AM while it's still cool. Your car sounded great and ran better....beautiful machine, despite the outcomes when you ran the AMGs!
thanks for posting the vids and keep them coming

so the viper was the fastest car out there?
what the the most "surprise" car during the races?








