DuncS3
Active Member
- Joined
- Sep 26, 2012
- Messages
- 771
- Location
- Surrey, UK
- Car
- 2017 C63S Coupe, 2005 E46 M3, 1988 Audi quattro
Long post but here goes...
Some of you may know that the 507 comes with the 'Drivers Pack', which means the car is derestricted from 155 to 174 mph (more on that later…). As part of this pack you also get a voucher for the AMG Driving Academy day - called Power and Passion. The events are hosted at various race circuits around the world (US/Asia and Europe) and for UK owners the voucher is for a European event. I used my voucher and attended the recent event that was held at Spa in Belgium.
The itinerary is you turn up the night before at the hotel - in this case the rather good Hotel de la Source that is literally overlooking the Spa circuit and you are treated to a briefing at 7pm followed by a dinner. You are put into groups - there were quite a few people there - maybe 30-40, mostly Germans but I was put into an English speaking group, there were 8 of us, 2 guys from UK (Simon and Gary) and some guys from Belgium. Hotel and food were top quality and the instructors who look after you were excellent guys and all were ex racers. There are a few ‘stars’ who are part of the AMG team – such as Karl Wendlenger who was also there.
The next morning we met at the circuit - all manner of AMGs were there, from SLS Black Series, Final Editions, GTs to standard SLS (they look quite standard next to the trick versions) – plus of course many C63s, CLS 63 and A45s. Most people used their own cars but you could hire a car. All hire C63s were 507 coupes. There is full technical backup for tyres and so on and upon arrival when they checked over my car they said my front pads would not last the event (opps!) – the car had only done 6000 miles but two track events in that time. They were legal and no warning lights but obviously we were going to be pushing the limits of the brakes, so what they did was change my pads during lunch - very kind of AMG.
Then we proceeded to go through the events. The first event was a follow the leader exercise lapping Spa - which in itself was amazing - Eau Rouge is truly a special corner on what is probably the best race circuit in the world - we did about 5 laps using walkie talkies for instruction on the right lines and so on. Loved that.
Then we did an event whereby you accelerate to a set speed, say 100 kmh then have to break when you see a red light, stop in a box of cones and then take an evasive maneuver depending on which way the lights directed you (left or right) - actually didn't really like that event too much.
Then it was more laps of Spa - basically the day felt like a half track day which for me was perfect. Then we headed for another very good lunch before heading back out in the afternoon. The next event which was a lot of fun, was a drag race against someone else in your group - down the pit straight - and having to brake and stop in a coned box - winner was first person in the box and stopped. You started by using a proper race light system - orange then green to go - lot of fun. We finished up with more laps of the circuit before probably the highlight of the day, which they called ‘Race Taxi’ is a lap of Spa with Karl Wendlenger driving. They have a C63 saloon with bucket seats in front and rear, full harnesses and off you go as a passenger. I think seeing Karl take the C63 through Eau Rouge, thinking there is no way the car is going to make this, and it does was just awesome – the man can drive that’s for sure ☺ Just in case anyone was wondering, he drives with traction fully off and was using manual mode – quite an experience. Oh and he was doing these laps on road tyres - Conti Sport 5Ps – just for those who maybe don’t think it’s a good tyre – it definitely grips well…Also – no overheating/limp issues with any car whatsoever…
Once we all said our goodbyes, I headed off to Bonn to meet some friends and spend the next day at the Nurburgring – did a few cheeky laps in the C63 – I love that place, absolutely awesome as long as you keep your car out of the Armco. My friend races there in an amateur race series, he took me out in his race prepped E34 M5 – mental! There was a UK C63 Black Series there also.
Finally tested out the Autobahn when I hit a clear 3 lane stretch on the way home – 181 mph shown on the clock – I think this was the limiter because it wasn’t hard to get to 181 but once it got there it didn’t feel like it was going to change – this was about 5-6k rpm in top gear I think.
Some pics:
Getting ready:
One of the hire 507s:
Instructors SLS:
Race Taxi:
Not sure if its clear here but the race taxi has a different front grill/valance – it is a mesh and doesn’t have the DRLs etc – might be a cooling thing?
Obligatory Nurburgring car park shot:
Cheers.
Some of you may know that the 507 comes with the 'Drivers Pack', which means the car is derestricted from 155 to 174 mph (more on that later…). As part of this pack you also get a voucher for the AMG Driving Academy day - called Power and Passion. The events are hosted at various race circuits around the world (US/Asia and Europe) and for UK owners the voucher is for a European event. I used my voucher and attended the recent event that was held at Spa in Belgium.
The itinerary is you turn up the night before at the hotel - in this case the rather good Hotel de la Source that is literally overlooking the Spa circuit and you are treated to a briefing at 7pm followed by a dinner. You are put into groups - there were quite a few people there - maybe 30-40, mostly Germans but I was put into an English speaking group, there were 8 of us, 2 guys from UK (Simon and Gary) and some guys from Belgium. Hotel and food were top quality and the instructors who look after you were excellent guys and all were ex racers. There are a few ‘stars’ who are part of the AMG team – such as Karl Wendlenger who was also there.
The next morning we met at the circuit - all manner of AMGs were there, from SLS Black Series, Final Editions, GTs to standard SLS (they look quite standard next to the trick versions) – plus of course many C63s, CLS 63 and A45s. Most people used their own cars but you could hire a car. All hire C63s were 507 coupes. There is full technical backup for tyres and so on and upon arrival when they checked over my car they said my front pads would not last the event (opps!) – the car had only done 6000 miles but two track events in that time. They were legal and no warning lights but obviously we were going to be pushing the limits of the brakes, so what they did was change my pads during lunch - very kind of AMG.
Then we proceeded to go through the events. The first event was a follow the leader exercise lapping Spa - which in itself was amazing - Eau Rouge is truly a special corner on what is probably the best race circuit in the world - we did about 5 laps using walkie talkies for instruction on the right lines and so on. Loved that.
Then we did an event whereby you accelerate to a set speed, say 100 kmh then have to break when you see a red light, stop in a box of cones and then take an evasive maneuver depending on which way the lights directed you (left or right) - actually didn't really like that event too much.
Then it was more laps of Spa - basically the day felt like a half track day which for me was perfect. Then we headed for another very good lunch before heading back out in the afternoon. The next event which was a lot of fun, was a drag race against someone else in your group - down the pit straight - and having to brake and stop in a coned box - winner was first person in the box and stopped. You started by using a proper race light system - orange then green to go - lot of fun. We finished up with more laps of the circuit before probably the highlight of the day, which they called ‘Race Taxi’ is a lap of Spa with Karl Wendlenger driving. They have a C63 saloon with bucket seats in front and rear, full harnesses and off you go as a passenger. I think seeing Karl take the C63 through Eau Rouge, thinking there is no way the car is going to make this, and it does was just awesome – the man can drive that’s for sure ☺ Just in case anyone was wondering, he drives with traction fully off and was using manual mode – quite an experience. Oh and he was doing these laps on road tyres - Conti Sport 5Ps – just for those who maybe don’t think it’s a good tyre – it definitely grips well…Also – no overheating/limp issues with any car whatsoever…
Once we all said our goodbyes, I headed off to Bonn to meet some friends and spend the next day at the Nurburgring – did a few cheeky laps in the C63 – I love that place, absolutely awesome as long as you keep your car out of the Armco. My friend races there in an amateur race series, he took me out in his race prepped E34 M5 – mental! There was a UK C63 Black Series there also.
Finally tested out the Autobahn when I hit a clear 3 lane stretch on the way home – 181 mph shown on the clock – I think this was the limiter because it wasn’t hard to get to 181 but once it got there it didn’t feel like it was going to change – this was about 5-6k rpm in top gear I think.
Some pics:
Getting ready:
One of the hire 507s:
Instructors SLS:
Race Taxi:
Not sure if its clear here but the race taxi has a different front grill/valance – it is a mesh and doesn’t have the DRLs etc – might be a cooling thing?
Obligatory Nurburgring car park shot:
Cheers.
