AMG Basic Training event at Brooklands

[DuncS3]

Hi guys - today I completed the free AMG Drivers Academy Basic training that all new AMGs get as part of the car purchase.

The event was at Brooklands - its about 3 hours in total - maybe an hour of talking and 2 hours in the cars. It uses the handling circuits, wet circle, wet road etc that most people are familiar with from the rather excellent Brooklands site.

There were 3 of us attending, chap with a A45 and lady with an Edition 1 C63S. We had 1:1 tuition, each of us with our own instructor. The goal is to get you in the same car as you own, within reason, so I was expecting to be in the C63 but there was only 1 C63 available so I did 1 hour in an E63 saloon and then we swapped and I did the same in the C63.

It was amazing fun, the instructors and all staff at Brooklands were very professional and treated us splendidly. At first I wasn't overly keen to drive the E63 but actually it was good to compare the two cars - C63 felt more agile (obviously I guess), less understeer and felt a bit faster on the short areas of circuit we used. I loved the wet circle, that was cool and I did pretty well there so that was a lot of fun.

The C63 was a standard non S car, without the Perf exhaust so at least I was able to compare with mine - the car without the Perf exhaust, imo, is louder than my Perf exhaust car when my exhaust is OFF - just slightly but enough - but the Perf exhaust is louder when ON. The standard C63 still sounded great - no way did I feel short changed in any way in terms of exhaust note and I wouldn't if I didn't have the Perf exhaust. Also I couldn't really notice any discernible difference in terms of speed differences between S and non S - although I am running mine in atm so not really apples to apples comparison.

Overall - fantastic brand exercise by Mercedes - so get booked up guys - its a lot of fun (especially for me as I am fairly local).

Dunc

 

[acej]

Great day I went on one and had 4hrs in the GT S. Really rainy day which was great as I have never pushed so hard in Sh!t conditions.

 

[DuncS3]

Yes was wet today also but that doesn't detract from the experience.

 

[BIRMA]

When I did the three hour driving course in the SL63 I wanted it to be a very wet day and it was, this enabled me to find the limits of the handling around sharp corners in the wet.
Although I paid for my three full hours of driving I considered it to be money well spent, because when I drive my car like I did there I only get about 10 MPG and I understand they go through sets of tyres very quickly too.
I would say to anyone who is considering any model AMG to book a few hours at Brooklands because if you have any doubts about the car you want you can sure as hell find them on the driving course. I came away even more convinced I'd made the right choice.

 

[nico2014]

Great info thanks everyone. I have done the AMG Brooklands half day experience back 2 years ago and I absolutely loved it! Best thing ever for anyone who is considering owning an AMG car.

Now that I have been driving my E63 for the past few months and I want to see what the car can do on a race track (as obviously this is not possible on the main roads). I decided and booked the AMG experience at Silverstone (for a change) which is going to take place on the 13th Oct. I am looking forward to this day and I am counting the days!! Will post my impressions and feedback if you are interested.

 

[Palmball]

I'm all booked in ....for Christmas week (was the next realistic time I could do).

I'm in the GT, the missus is in the E63. They were going to source an ML for her because it related to the GLE purchase, but when I told them it's already been swapped for an E63 they were fine putting her in the E (once they'd got over their bemusement).

 

[rsk21]

Great info thanks everyone. I have done the AMG Brooklands half day experience back 2 years ago and I absolutely loved it! Best thing ever for anyone who is considering owning an AMG car. Now that I have been driving my E63 for the past few months and I want to see what the car can do on a race track (as obviously this is not possible on the main roads). I decided and booked the AMG experience at Silverstone (for a change) which is going to take place on the 13th Oct. I am looking forward to this day and I am counting the days!! Will post my impressions and feedback if you are interested.

Silverstone experience is brilliant Nico, allows you to use the car's capabilities much more than at Brooklands albeit you don't get the fun of the skid pan. I've done two sessions there one with an E63 and another with a GTs I guarantee you will enjoy it !

 

[DuncS3]

Another thing, the guys who ran this at Brooklands were keen to position themselves as the 'AMG Driving Academy'.

When you buy a car with the Drivers Package you get a 'Power and Passion' event thrown in and up to the end of last year there was no UK operation for the Academy so all the events were in Europe - mostly Germany - but now there is a UK arm - so they do talk about that in the briefings as they are trying to build/sell the Drivers Academy brand and all the different levels you can progress through.

 

[nico2014]

Silverstone experience is brilliant Nico, allows you to use the car's capabilities much more than at Brooklands albeit you don't get the fun of the skid pan. I've done two sessions there one with an E63 and another with a GTs I guarantee you will enjoy it !

Great I will keep you updated of this! Cannot wait to be there....

 

[BIRMA]

The main reason I opted for Brooklands was because I read somewhere that the track was designed by MIRA to replicate a twisty A road. My intention was to find the handling limits of the SL in an everyday road situation in the pouring rain .