Pocono AMG challenge - what a blast
05-10-2003, 07:19 PM
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2003 E500
Pocono AMG challenge - what a blast
hi gang,
I had the great fortune to let an E55 loose at Pocono Raceway on Friday at the AMG challenge.
The roar of that motor was amazing. MB was apologetic every time I brought up the whole NAV fiasco, and Sirius was there with an E55 equipped with their built in satellite radio.
If you've never been to one of these events I highly recommend it. I'm not a big speed freak, but the sheer fun of learning how to throw these cars around and keep them in control was a great opportunity to experience the capabilities of these vehicles.
Speaking of throw around, we took S55s out on the skidpad and wore the tires down on the front wheels.
These cars all had like 20 miles on them, and this is the start of the tour for 2003.
We autocrossed SL55s, skidpadded and max-braked the S55, open-lapped/hotlapped/slalomed in just about any car (CL55, E55, CLK55, SL55, C32, S55), and there were plenty of opportunities to change cars and try each of them out.
It seems that the E55 is the quickest of the bunch. The SL55 is heavier, but more nimble in the autocross, and it really doesn't feel in the least like a heavy car.
All in all the AMG cars, duh, are really amazing. Step into the gas and the *go*, tap the brakes and they *slow*.
I really like my E500 -- but if the sky were no limit I'd be all over it.
I'll post an E55 sticker jpeg when I get a chance.
The instructors were a lot of fun and really informative, including a number of fairly experienced racers.
Most interesting observation: standing near the track during hot laps, as the AMGs head *away* from you the rumble is what you really notice - but when you listen as they approach under throttle, you hear the whine of the supercharger - a jet turbine like high pitched sound. Really cool.
-james
I had the great fortune to let an E55 loose at Pocono Raceway on Friday at the AMG challenge.
The roar of that motor was amazing. MB was apologetic every time I brought up the whole NAV fiasco, and Sirius was there with an E55 equipped with their built in satellite radio.
If you've never been to one of these events I highly recommend it. I'm not a big speed freak, but the sheer fun of learning how to throw these cars around and keep them in control was a great opportunity to experience the capabilities of these vehicles.
Speaking of throw around, we took S55s out on the skidpad and wore the tires down on the front wheels.
These cars all had like 20 miles on them, and this is the start of the tour for 2003.
We autocrossed SL55s, skidpadded and max-braked the S55, open-lapped/hotlapped/slalomed in just about any car (CL55, E55, CLK55, SL55, C32, S55), and there were plenty of opportunities to change cars and try each of them out.
It seems that the E55 is the quickest of the bunch. The SL55 is heavier, but more nimble in the autocross, and it really doesn't feel in the least like a heavy car.
All in all the AMG cars, duh, are really amazing. Step into the gas and the *go*, tap the brakes and they *slow*.
I really like my E500 -- but if the sky were no limit I'd be all over it.
I'll post an E55 sticker jpeg when I get a chance.
The instructors were a lot of fun and really informative, including a number of fairly experienced racers.
Most interesting observation: standing near the track during hot laps, as the AMGs head *away* from you the rumble is what you really notice - but when you listen as they approach under throttle, you hear the whine of the supercharger - a jet turbine like high pitched sound. Really cool.
-james
Last edited by jposhea3; 05-10-2003 at 07:24 PM.
05-11-2003, 07:55 PM
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supercharger whine?
How much of that supercharger whine can you hear when you're
inside the car? Could you also compare all aspects of the ride to an E500 i.e. exhaust sound, suspension, transmission shifting,etc. Thanks.
inside the car? Could you also compare all aspects of the ride to an E500 i.e. exhaust sound, suspension, transmission shifting,etc. Thanks.
05-11-2003, 08:33 PM
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2003 E500
Inside the car what you really hear is the exhaust note.
Controls, etc are just like the regular E. Black wood, sport-package-style gauges. Beefier seats, stiffer side bolsters, but otherwise it looks basically the same and feels the same. Suspension - same. But when you floor it - zoom :-)
Its surprising that you don't feel any bumps as you full-throttle it, even from the outside you hear the car smoothly going up through the gears.
A really nice car.
Controls, etc are just like the regular E. Black wood, sport-package-style gauges. Beefier seats, stiffer side bolsters, but otherwise it looks basically the same and feels the same. Suspension - same. But when you floor it - zoom :-)
Its surprising that you don't feel any bumps as you full-throttle it, even from the outside you hear the car smoothly going up through the gears.
A really nice car.
05-11-2003, 09:02 PM
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04E55AMG, 05Dodge RAM 1500 Quad Cab, 02Montero Limited
Have you driven the E500? I had MB email me the 35 page US Media Release on the E55 and it explains how AMG reworked the whole suspension, springs, etc. I hope the car feels very different then the normal E500. I test drove the E500 and the ride was not tight, it felt like a boat! I hope the car has more of a sport car feel to it like the M5 does. My wifes 2000 A4 Quatrro w/sport package felt better then the E500.
05-11-2003, 09:23 PM
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2003 E500
See the .sig...I *own* an E500, and so I'd say "yep, driven one" :-) The airmatic suspension might have some different settings on the E55 vs the E500, but you can dial it up and down in firmness. I'd hardly describe the E500 as a 'boat' in its road feel - it soaks up the expansion joints on 'normal', and bounces you around on 'sport 2', when going down an elevated section of highway with seams between the concrete slabs. Same is true on straight interstate highways.
That's the coolest thing about Airmatic - you can dial up the suspension you want.
I didn't find the AMG overly harsh, and when I was on the track we were on Sport 1. I attributed any bumpiness to moving at 90+ mph along coarse racing roadways. In the past you were stuck with a rocking ride *all* the time with a conventional spring and shock suspension, while now with airmatic you can get the suspension that's appropriate to the road conditions.
I'm sure AMG upgraded the suspension gear to handle the added downforce and cornering forces, without which the E500 suspension parts would feel mushy trying to handle the increased loading that a high performance motor puts on the rest of the car (you tend to yank and bank harder in a 400+hp car than in a 300hp car, I think it's safe to assume).
One odd thing I noticed - in Park, when you blip the throttle *mildly* (from idle to, say, 1500-2000rpm) you'd feel the car rock a bit from side to side (sort of a torque kick). You were definitely aware that there was a lot of power there.
And I love the dual spoke wheels.
But it's all subjective - I'd say spend the $850 on the AMG Challenge and thrash one for yourself - that's the best way to really wring these cars out. As the MB AMG reps said "hey, it's not *your* car, so don't worry about using it hard, hop in and go for it!"
That's the coolest thing about Airmatic - you can dial up the suspension you want.
I didn't find the AMG overly harsh, and when I was on the track we were on Sport 1. I attributed any bumpiness to moving at 90+ mph along coarse racing roadways. In the past you were stuck with a rocking ride *all* the time with a conventional spring and shock suspension, while now with airmatic you can get the suspension that's appropriate to the road conditions.
I'm sure AMG upgraded the suspension gear to handle the added downforce and cornering forces, without which the E500 suspension parts would feel mushy trying to handle the increased loading that a high performance motor puts on the rest of the car (you tend to yank and bank harder in a 400+hp car than in a 300hp car, I think it's safe to assume).
One odd thing I noticed - in Park, when you blip the throttle *mildly* (from idle to, say, 1500-2000rpm) you'd feel the car rock a bit from side to side (sort of a torque kick). You were definitely aware that there was a lot of power there.
And I love the dual spoke wheels.
But it's all subjective - I'd say spend the $850 on the AMG Challenge and thrash one for yourself - that's the best way to really wring these cars out. As the MB AMG reps said "hey, it's not *your* car, so don't worry about using it hard, hop in and go for it!"
05-17-2003, 02:52 PM
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2003 E500
The sticker from the Sirius demo E55. The Sirius is not in the sticker though, but it was installed.
Incidentally the Sirius added a small circular black antenna at the center of the trunklid near the base of the rear window (anyone who has rented a Nav-enabled Hertz Neverlost car will know the antenna I'm talking about - its about 3 inches in diameter). The car had a NAV *button* on the radio but no NAV installed - I wonder if the 'real' NAV will have the same visible trunk antenna.
Note that the base E55 in the US includes as standard a few items from E320/E500 option list (some are standard on US E500):
4 zone a/c
heated front seats
harman kardon stereo
power glass sunroof
intermittent rain sensor wipers (part of the bi-xenon package on E500/320)
Incidentally the Sirius added a small circular black antenna at the center of the trunklid near the base of the rear window (anyone who has rented a Nav-enabled Hertz Neverlost car will know the antenna I'm talking about - its about 3 inches in diameter). The car had a NAV *button* on the radio but no NAV installed - I wonder if the 'real' NAV will have the same visible trunk antenna.
Note that the base E55 in the US includes as standard a few items from E320/E500 option list (some are standard on US E500):
4 zone a/c
heated front seats
harman kardon stereo
power glass sunroof
intermittent rain sensor wipers (part of the bi-xenon package on E500/320)
Last edited by jposhea3; 05-17-2003 at 02:58 PM.
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05-17-2003, 03:06 PM
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2003 E500
from the blurry cars in the background you can see there wasn't a lot of separation between vehicles if you chose to drive aggressively
as the cars approached you could hear the turbine whine of the supercharger, then the growl as the cars moved past.
as the cars approached you could hear the turbine whine of the supercharger, then the growl as the cars moved past.
05-17-2003, 04:46 PM
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Great Pics
I'm getting excited for this coming Wednesday at Daytona. Hey James, please describe the AMG challenge-
1) How much time in the classroom
2) How much time as a passenger and at what speed
3) How much time behind the wheel and top speed?
4) Which was your favorite car to drive? I hope it was the E55!!!!!!!!
Thanks
1) How much time in the classroom
2) How much time as a passenger and at what speed
3) How much time behind the wheel and top speed?
4) Which was your favorite car to drive? I hope it was the E55!!!!!!!!
Thanks
05-17-2003, 11:01 PM
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2003 E500
Re: Great Pics
you break up into 4 groups of 18-20 people each. Each group does rotations through the various areas, about 20-40 minutes per rotation. So for group 2 (mine), the 1st rotation was the skidpad (S55) (no pun), then the classroom, then lead-follow laps (jump in whatever car you wanted), then autocross (SL55), then lunch (I think...) then after lunch was a slalom (jump in any car - this one you could be a passenger - down the slalom, back, then driver and pax switch and you move up one car, so you got to try a few different cars), then some braking stuff on S55, back to the autocross for team autocross (doing it for best recorded time as opposed to 'for fun' the first time - in both autocross events you get 2 laps, then the next student brings the 2nd SL55 online for the next 2, etc), then student hot laps (like lead-follow but faster, with passing allowed on the low side of the bank/straight), then instructor hot laps (you're the passenger again as the instructors get their revenge and scare the students)
So you get a couple of hours, in the aggregate, though usually it's 10 laps or 20-30 mins or so at a stretch.
In virtually all cases there is an instructor in the right seat and you're driving. If you're not driving, you're standing with the group waiting to rotate (lead-follow laps we had 9-10 cars and 18 students, so we loaded up half the students, half hung out and watched (where I shot those pix), then we changed out after 15 minutes or so.
No idea about the speed really, I didn't get a chance to look... maybe approaching 90 on heading up onto the high bank - you really can't go heads-down what with the helmet and the course constantly changing. Add about 15mph or so during instructor hot laps, when they drag you around the course to show you how it's really done in the last session of the day.
Its the maneuvering that's most interesting. I really liked autocross, the skidpad was annoyingly dizzying but it helped as the first event (low speed) for my group to show you that they were totally OK with you flogging the cars as long as you didn't lose control and go off road.
You MUST leave the computers on at all times, but that won't stop you having fun. Some smartass BMW driver was ragging on the SL55 for not having a 6 speed manual - right before he put all 4 wheels offroad and landed in the infield grass on the autocross. It was a low speed event, but it straightened him out.
They'll know if you turn off the ESP - the wheels spin. Most everything is done at full throttle launch and full braking stop, so you see how effective the technology is at keeping the car from spinning its wheels or locking them up. Note that much of the work is about smoothness and finesse, so full throttle is not the *normal operating* mode, just how you accelerate off the line and up onto the high bank - you need to use appropriate power to control the vehicle. No sudden surge, sudden brake, sudden yank of wheels. The classroom will help explain it in a really sensible manner - the contact patch can only do so much at one time, and if you're at full brake, there's nothing left to steer - ditto full accelerate. Under full-steer, there's little or nothing that you can do to accelerate or brake. So use the contact patch wisely and you'll have fun.
As I said, instructors are in the right seat in every event except the slalom and autocross (low speed low risk).
The Sl55 was really a lot of fun, and nimble on the autocross. But the E55 was the fastest it seemed during instructor hot laps - the SL55 was darn close, but the E55 has a better thrust to weight ratio I think. The MB AMG guys seemed to think it was the quickest.
MB AMG division staff will be on hand to answer questions, including embarassing ones about NAV or anything else. They're very friendly, eager to chat people up.
It's much more fun than I thought it would be, as I'm not a real gearhead or speed freak. I could care less about roller coasters but this was a lot of fun. The AMG folks really engineered some amazing machines.
-james
So you get a couple of hours, in the aggregate, though usually it's 10 laps or 20-30 mins or so at a stretch.
In virtually all cases there is an instructor in the right seat and you're driving. If you're not driving, you're standing with the group waiting to rotate (lead-follow laps we had 9-10 cars and 18 students, so we loaded up half the students, half hung out and watched (where I shot those pix), then we changed out after 15 minutes or so.
No idea about the speed really, I didn't get a chance to look... maybe approaching 90 on heading up onto the high bank - you really can't go heads-down what with the helmet and the course constantly changing. Add about 15mph or so during instructor hot laps, when they drag you around the course to show you how it's really done in the last session of the day.
Its the maneuvering that's most interesting. I really liked autocross, the skidpad was annoyingly dizzying but it helped as the first event (low speed) for my group to show you that they were totally OK with you flogging the cars as long as you didn't lose control and go off road.
You MUST leave the computers on at all times, but that won't stop you having fun. Some smartass BMW driver was ragging on the SL55 for not having a 6 speed manual - right before he put all 4 wheels offroad and landed in the infield grass on the autocross. It was a low speed event, but it straightened him out.
They'll know if you turn off the ESP - the wheels spin. Most everything is done at full throttle launch and full braking stop, so you see how effective the technology is at keeping the car from spinning its wheels or locking them up. Note that much of the work is about smoothness and finesse, so full throttle is not the *normal operating* mode, just how you accelerate off the line and up onto the high bank - you need to use appropriate power to control the vehicle. No sudden surge, sudden brake, sudden yank of wheels. The classroom will help explain it in a really sensible manner - the contact patch can only do so much at one time, and if you're at full brake, there's nothing left to steer - ditto full accelerate. Under full-steer, there's little or nothing that you can do to accelerate or brake. So use the contact patch wisely and you'll have fun.
As I said, instructors are in the right seat in every event except the slalom and autocross (low speed low risk).
The Sl55 was really a lot of fun, and nimble on the autocross. But the E55 was the fastest it seemed during instructor hot laps - the SL55 was darn close, but the E55 has a better thrust to weight ratio I think. The MB AMG guys seemed to think it was the quickest.
MB AMG division staff will be on hand to answer questions, including embarassing ones about NAV or anything else. They're very friendly, eager to chat people up.
It's much more fun than I thought it would be, as I'm not a real gearhead or speed freak. I could care less about roller coasters but this was a lot of fun. The AMG folks really engineered some amazing machines.
-james
Originally posted by Dr Chill
I'm getting excited for this coming Wednesday at Daytona. Hey James, please describe the AMG challenge-
1) How much time in the classroom
2) How much time as a passenger and at what speed
3) How much time behind the wheel and top speed?
4) Which was your favorite car to drive? I hope it was the E55!!!!!!!!
Thanks
I'm getting excited for this coming Wednesday at Daytona. Hey James, please describe the AMG challenge-
1) How much time in the classroom
2) How much time as a passenger and at what speed
3) How much time behind the wheel and top speed?
4) Which was your favorite car to drive? I hope it was the E55!!!!!!!!
Thanks
Last edited by jposhea3; 05-17-2003 at 11:10 PM.
05-18-2003, 09:10 AM
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Your meticulous description is very appreciated. Hopefully I can do some aggressive maneuvering in an E55. What were your impressions of the SLK32 and the C32? Yhey seem to have very favorable wt-hp ratios.
05-18-2003, 11:44 AM
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2003 E500
amg challenge sample schedule of events
Didnt get to drive the SLK, there was only one (as theyre being replaced next year). The instructors liked it, said it was the most neutral handling car of the bunch.
I was in the right seat of a C32 in the slalom, and it just didn't have the *go* off the line that the CL had (duh), so it wasn't really a fair comparison.
The small engines definitely suffer when placed head to head with the big 8s
On the plus side I did learn what the "K" stands for in these cars - not Kompressor, because that's not consistent nomenclature - K is the first letter of the German word for "short" (kurt?). A Mini Cooper owner friend of mine wanted me to solve the "what the heck does the K mean" mystery for him. The L stands for Luxury, didn't ask about the S (hard to match up the S and the SL by those criteria).
Ah...found my schedule book...the times are the same for all teams, just the order of events differs.
The events listed are for group 2 to give a feel for what's what
7am-745 arrival/registration/pick a helmet size, sign your life away
745-815 opening pitch, loud AMG video, rah rah from the event guys, instructor introductions
815-830 - divide into 4 groups of 18 (color coded wrist bands in the registration packet you got at 7am determine what group you're in)
5 minutes of getting out of the tent
835-905 first event (skidpad/photo of you in front of an SL55 that they present at day's end in the big exit)
5 minutes to drive/walk to the next event (classroom is a walk, everything else you hop into a set of cars and drive to/from, just makes it quicker, sometimes the shuttle when they're short of seats - 3 Sclasses can't fit 18 people plus 3 instructors)
910-950am event 2 (classroom
5 min
955-1035 event 3 (lead follow laps - instructor in lead car and tail car, they drive you round the course and you stay 3-4 car lengths behind right in their tracks to learn the line - instructor in the right seat. Do a few laps then change out with the other students, about 9 cars used in this event for students)
5 min
1040-1120 event 3 (individual autocross - SL55. each driver gets 2 passes round the course to get used to the event - later in the day you come back for team autocross where they time you - also 2 passes). They had a gorgeous Firemist Red SL55 and a black sl55 for this event. Finesse is the important part, along with a fast start and a hard stop. Brake stands are your best bet for max power off the line, but stay in control.
5 min
1125-1230 lunch (pretty tasty buffet), some chat by David Hobbs of speed channel, probably the Sirius guy talking abt satellite radio. Feel free to ignore and climb around all the cars parked outside the tent, so you can see the ones you haven't yet driven)
1230-110pm event 4 (open lapping - like lead follow, but you don't have the instructor in the lead car/trail car - its unstructured. Instructor in the right seat, you drive, and they guide you to get the car faster around the track/road course mixture. Don't expect to run the whole oval - they probably will have just one corner of the oval and a twisty road course connecting the ends of the high bank arc). Same as lead follow in that the students go in 2 sets. So again there's some more standing around, but that's ok - you get to listen to the cars :-) Open lapping is where I shot some of those pix above.
If I remember right, we changed out 2 times, so you get to race around for 10 mins, stand for 10, race around for 10, stand for 10.
5 mins
1:15-155pm event 5 ('evasive'). This is sort of the silliest and most "lets fill the time here and demo some obscure feature" part of the event. The skidpad S55s were used and its "ok. accelerate hard down this straightaway then slam on the brakes when you hit that cone". basically an ABS demo....then you do the same back the other way and it's braking-turning instead of straight-line. Sort of a time kill event.
5 mins
2:00-2:40pm event 6 (slalom/car control) - everyone piles into cars, 9 or 10, and drives to the slalom. 2 students, no instructor, in car. Cones are laid out down the road getting farther apart, so on the outbound leg you accelerate faster and faster as you maneuver around them. Learn to treat the cone like the apex of a track turn, don't slide up beside them but instead attack them at a steep angle from the side. When you get to the far end of the line, turn around and line up, wait for the other cars to come through. When everyone is lined up at your end, go back down the slalom course with the cones getting closer and closer together - in this part you want to go in hard and then mostly coast the rest of the way down. You shouldn't really need much brake if you hit it right, letting the slalom bleed energy. After everyone has gone up-and-back, you get out of your car, move up to the next car in line, and the driver and passenger switch. So you drive this car up and back, pax drives the next car up and back, you drive the 3rd car up and back etc. You should get about 3-4 cars/cycles (so you drive 2, ride 2), depending on how organized things are.
5 mins
245-325 event 7 (team autocross) same as before, only timed. Best time on the course we used was 28.5sec (so you can tell it's not a huge oval). Autocross is like a slalom along an oval(roughly) track, a few hairpin turns, some side to side, then a quick grunt for the finish. You *must* stop inside the box - a full STOP (people tended to roll thru into their next run - technically disqualifying). Here's where the BMW guy ran off the track onto the grass, so they'll keep pushing you back from the edge of the road :-)
5 mins
330-430 event 8 common to all - participant hot laps. Like open lapping and lead-follow, student drives instructor in right seat guides. This time you can pass and the instructors are helping you to go faster and harder than before.
no break, everybody pulls over and then the instructors get their shot
430-455 event 9 pro driver hot laps aka 'instructors revenge'. They've been scared in the right seat all day, now its their turn to scare you. They load the cars up (driver +1 in CL, SL, driver +3 students in E, S55, maybe even C32) and the drivers show you how fast you can *really* take these cars. There's some changing out and swapping people since there are about 75 students and about 40-50 cars, not all of which are on the track, so you'll get a rest in here too.
By the end of the day I was pretty tired (got out there late the night before) so I passed on the hot laps part and instead spent my time beating on the AMG/MB people about NAV, MP3 cd reading, Satellite radio, etc. So you can take a break whenever you want, though it confuses the instructors when there are open seats so tell yours "hey, I'm gonna sit this part out".
Stu Hayner did my classroom and slalom and he was a great instructor - the hot laps folks said he was really sharp on the track and very insightful on improving technique.
My team instructor was Andy Lally and he was a lot of fun, encouraging the students to really run the cars up.
Have fun!
I was in the right seat of a C32 in the slalom, and it just didn't have the *go* off the line that the CL had (duh), so it wasn't really a fair comparison.
The small engines definitely suffer when placed head to head with the big 8s
On the plus side I did learn what the "K" stands for in these cars - not Kompressor, because that's not consistent nomenclature - K is the first letter of the German word for "short" (kurt?). A Mini Cooper owner friend of mine wanted me to solve the "what the heck does the K mean" mystery for him. The L stands for Luxury, didn't ask about the S (hard to match up the S and the SL by those criteria).
Ah...found my schedule book...the times are the same for all teams, just the order of events differs.
The events listed are for group 2 to give a feel for what's what
7am-745 arrival/registration/pick a helmet size, sign your life away
745-815 opening pitch, loud AMG video, rah rah from the event guys, instructor introductions
815-830 - divide into 4 groups of 18 (color coded wrist bands in the registration packet you got at 7am determine what group you're in)
5 minutes of getting out of the tent
835-905 first event (skidpad/photo of you in front of an SL55 that they present at day's end in the big exit)
5 minutes to drive/walk to the next event (classroom is a walk, everything else you hop into a set of cars and drive to/from, just makes it quicker, sometimes the shuttle when they're short of seats - 3 Sclasses can't fit 18 people plus 3 instructors)
910-950am event 2 (classroom
5 min
955-1035 event 3 (lead follow laps - instructor in lead car and tail car, they drive you round the course and you stay 3-4 car lengths behind right in their tracks to learn the line - instructor in the right seat. Do a few laps then change out with the other students, about 9 cars used in this event for students)
5 min
1040-1120 event 3 (individual autocross - SL55. each driver gets 2 passes round the course to get used to the event - later in the day you come back for team autocross where they time you - also 2 passes). They had a gorgeous Firemist Red SL55 and a black sl55 for this event. Finesse is the important part, along with a fast start and a hard stop. Brake stands are your best bet for max power off the line, but stay in control.
5 min
1125-1230 lunch (pretty tasty buffet), some chat by David Hobbs of speed channel, probably the Sirius guy talking abt satellite radio. Feel free to ignore and climb around all the cars parked outside the tent, so you can see the ones you haven't yet driven)
1230-110pm event 4 (open lapping - like lead follow, but you don't have the instructor in the lead car/trail car - its unstructured. Instructor in the right seat, you drive, and they guide you to get the car faster around the track/road course mixture. Don't expect to run the whole oval - they probably will have just one corner of the oval and a twisty road course connecting the ends of the high bank arc). Same as lead follow in that the students go in 2 sets. So again there's some more standing around, but that's ok - you get to listen to the cars :-) Open lapping is where I shot some of those pix above.
If I remember right, we changed out 2 times, so you get to race around for 10 mins, stand for 10, race around for 10, stand for 10.
5 mins
1:15-155pm event 5 ('evasive'). This is sort of the silliest and most "lets fill the time here and demo some obscure feature" part of the event. The skidpad S55s were used and its "ok. accelerate hard down this straightaway then slam on the brakes when you hit that cone". basically an ABS demo....then you do the same back the other way and it's braking-turning instead of straight-line. Sort of a time kill event.
5 mins
2:00-2:40pm event 6 (slalom/car control) - everyone piles into cars, 9 or 10, and drives to the slalom. 2 students, no instructor, in car. Cones are laid out down the road getting farther apart, so on the outbound leg you accelerate faster and faster as you maneuver around them. Learn to treat the cone like the apex of a track turn, don't slide up beside them but instead attack them at a steep angle from the side. When you get to the far end of the line, turn around and line up, wait for the other cars to come through. When everyone is lined up at your end, go back down the slalom course with the cones getting closer and closer together - in this part you want to go in hard and then mostly coast the rest of the way down. You shouldn't really need much brake if you hit it right, letting the slalom bleed energy. After everyone has gone up-and-back, you get out of your car, move up to the next car in line, and the driver and passenger switch. So you drive this car up and back, pax drives the next car up and back, you drive the 3rd car up and back etc. You should get about 3-4 cars/cycles (so you drive 2, ride 2), depending on how organized things are.
5 mins
245-325 event 7 (team autocross) same as before, only timed. Best time on the course we used was 28.5sec (so you can tell it's not a huge oval). Autocross is like a slalom along an oval(roughly) track, a few hairpin turns, some side to side, then a quick grunt for the finish. You *must* stop inside the box - a full STOP (people tended to roll thru into their next run - technically disqualifying). Here's where the BMW guy ran off the track onto the grass, so they'll keep pushing you back from the edge of the road :-)
5 mins
330-430 event 8 common to all - participant hot laps. Like open lapping and lead-follow, student drives instructor in right seat guides. This time you can pass and the instructors are helping you to go faster and harder than before.
no break, everybody pulls over and then the instructors get their shot
430-455 event 9 pro driver hot laps aka 'instructors revenge'. They've been scared in the right seat all day, now its their turn to scare you. They load the cars up (driver +1 in CL, SL, driver +3 students in E, S55, maybe even C32) and the drivers show you how fast you can *really* take these cars. There's some changing out and swapping people since there are about 75 students and about 40-50 cars, not all of which are on the track, so you'll get a rest in here too.
By the end of the day I was pretty tired (got out there late the night before) so I passed on the hot laps part and instead spent my time beating on the AMG/MB people about NAV, MP3 cd reading, Satellite radio, etc. So you can take a break whenever you want, though it confuses the instructors when there are open seats so tell yours "hey, I'm gonna sit this part out".
Stu Hayner did my classroom and slalom and he was a great instructor - the hot laps folks said he was really sharp on the track and very insightful on improving technique.
My team instructor was Andy Lally and he was a lot of fun, encouraging the students to really run the cars up.
Have fun!
05-20-2003, 03:56 AM
#17
L in SL
The L in SL does not stand for Luxury, but for Leicht, which means light in German. It still held true in the 50's! The L in the S-class stands for Lang, which is German for long, used to describe thwe long wheelbase versions.
SL= super leicht
SLK=super leicht kurz
SL= super leicht
SLK=super leicht kurz
05-28-2003, 09:28 AM
#19
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'08 SL550 Sport, '11 BMW 550ix M sport
AMG Challenge Schedule?
What a great write up JPO!
I'd like to give it a try myself while I wait for my E55!
I'd love to know if an AMG challenge will be held anywhere in the midwest this summer. Do you know where I can get a schedule of appearances?
Thanks again for taking the time for such a great write up!
I'd like to give it a try myself while I wait for my E55!
I'd love to know if an AMG challenge will be held anywhere in the midwest this summer. Do you know where I can get a schedule of appearances?
Thanks again for taking the time for such a great write up!
05-28-2003, 10:06 AM
#20
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Honda Accord EX V6
sounds like you really having fun jposh....
but i'm not gonna spend that much money just to learn and test drive all those car.. it's too much money i rather spend it somewhere else..
but i'm not gonna spend that much money just to learn and test drive all those car.. it's too much money i rather spend it somewhere else..
05-28-2003, 12:41 PM
#21
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Porsche Turbo Stage 4, Cayenne S ... gone C43, C32, ML55 & Ducati 999.
Sounds really fun, and thank you very much for the accurate information!! thus, I am thinking really seriusly to go one of these challenge, the problem is ...which is the clostest from Colorado.
Finally, I love the S55 black, LOOK
specially when the whells are dearty
Finally, I love the S55 black, LOOK
specially when the whells are dearty
