A tuition day at Llandow - fun with the C55

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Charles Morgan

MB Enthusiast
Joined
Feb 2, 2010
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8,206
Car
Mercedes 250CE W114, Alfa Romeo GT Coupe 3.2 V6
Having bought Tudu's C55 AMG a few weeks ago, principally for the purpose of the odd track day and similar fun, it has sat on my drive somewhat un-loved, while the builders have daily added layers of grime, only partially washed off by the recent deluge. One of said builders, Ed, a 16 year old taking a year out of school, turns out to be the son of John Bussell, three times British Porsche champion, regular driving E types and DB4s at Goodwood Revival and a wealth of racing and tuition experience. So to get out of the mess and have a day getting used to the C55, I booked a day at Llandow with John.

Llandow is a small circuit in the Vale of Glamorgan, and the omens were rotten the day before as the drive to Wales was just awful, heavy driving rain and strong winds. My hotel in Cowbridge was comfortable, but with a menu so uninspired I looked through it four times and didn't fancy a thing. The cooked breakfast arrived in less time than it takes to cook a hash brown, which was a pity as it had a hash brown, and the tomato (an under-ripe nasty thing) had been so neglected it would have been burning down Croydon had it been human.

However, the weather brightened, and the sun shone all day (lunch was at a simple beachfront cafe at Llantwit Major, with magnificent views across the Bristol Channel to Exmoor). The Vale of Glamorgan is lovely rolling countryside, a part of Wales I had never been to before.

The first few laps diagnosed that I had no bad track habits and John settled in to teach me his technique of fast in, fast out. I had had little experience of the AMG at that point, and it soon became obvious that it was not going to be a limiting factor. Keen to see how well it braked with uprated C63 brakes on the front and SLK55 performance packs brakes on the back, John was equally keen to teach me not to use the brakes until I had built enough speed from getting the lines and positioning right, and then to use them to the full. Once that happened, it was obvious that the car was massively capable, John commenting the brakes would never be a limiting factor on the car.

Equally important, Tudu had put Bilstein coilovers on the car and this gave it superb body control, flat through corners, rarely unsettled and the combination of that and a very unintrusive traction control system made for little drama, only pulling the rear out slightly on a couple of occasions and then in an entirely controlled way. Having had a C32 the difference felt like chalk and cheese - that had agricultural handling, a traction control that was so nannying it killed the fun, and never gave me confidence except in a straight line. John felt that only the best drivers would gain much from switching off the ESP, and at the price of losing time from the back going wide, he couldn't see the point. So I wonder if the system itself was improved for the C55 or the suspension improvements keep the car so much better controlled the system doesn't need to intervene as much.

Llandow is small, a 1.25 mile circuit, and so the opportunity to build speed in the straights is limited, but it has tons of run off, no tyre walls or nasty corners, and so was a great place to learn. Oh, and we were the only people on the track for the entire day. This meant I had so much track time that learning was limited solely by my endurance. John is a fantastic tutor, patient, experienced and keen to show how to get the best out of the car. He thought the C55 was a super car, with the mods on it an immensely capable thing, the engine superb, and as he said, to get something better you would be looking at a used Porsche 911 GT3, for the price of which you could get 4 of my C55s. He suggested two improvements needed - a racing harness, and if the paddles could be made to operate faster (they are quite slow and as they were added afterwards I suspect the coding required may be an issue). He could not see the case for any more power, so that makes life easier.

By the end my speeds had risen immensely, as had my use of the excellent brakes, and the car just kept on delivering. Lines got better, fluency and control kept on improving, the whole adding up to much more involvement and felt safer as well as faster.

All in all, a great day. If you want to build your driving skills I highly recommend John - details here, Llandow (at £140 a day for unlimited use) excellent, and if any AMG or other track car enthusiasts here fancy a day there with tuition from John I am sure it can be arranged.

I was pretty knackered on the journey home though and there was little danger of being pulled over by plod. Having averaged around 6 mpg around the track, even the 160 mile drive home only got me back to 15!.
 
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Great right up mate and sounds a hoot.

Were Tudu's front brakes not from a CLK63 rather than a C63? Not trying to pick you up, just interested as I did not think C63 calipers fit a W203 chassis.

Terry
 
good report Charles sounds like great fun*
i notice from the website exclusive day hire is possible at considerably less than Goodwood
as you say its a relatively small circuit , what sort of speeds were you achieving on the main straights and how did that compare to Goodwood - i appreciate you had a different car and how twisty is that bit in the NE corner of the circuit ( well i assume NE , lets say top right )

*except the breakfast
 
Sounds like a great day :)

I have been around that circuit in my old W202 as part of a Merc day a few years back. Loved the circuit and the fact that they did not mind us drifting out of the two bus stop corners :D

 
Nice write-up Charles. How do you plan on attaching a 4/5 point harness, especially the upper straps? I've seen some saloons with a rear harness bar that allow extensions to go back that far - they're easily unclipped for when you want passengers in the rear. Just a thought.

Mika - if you're interested there are lots of airfields and sprint circuits around the country available for hire for a modest cost. All it takes is someone to step forward and organise it :) :) I'm off to Curborough in a few weeks time - £30 all day including a packed lunch.
 
The Bear in Cowbridge I assume.

They are missing an opportunity there as the town is OK and the premises should be interesting, there's plenty of locals who would appreciate a good meal (and would be prepared to pay for it).
 
Great right up mate and sounds a hoot.

Were Tudu's front brakes not from a CLK63 rather than a C63? Not trying to pick you up, just interested as I did not think C63 calipers fit a W203 chassis.

Terry

Spot on - the institutional memory of this forum is amazing. CLK 63 brakes indeed. Also with EBC redstuff ceramic pads - no dust and superb stopping.
 
good report Charles sounds like great fun*
i notice from the website exclusive day hire is possible at considerably less than Goodwood
as you say its a relatively small circuit , what sort of speeds were you achieving on the main straights and how did that compare to Goodwood - i appreciate you had a different car and how twisty is that bit in the NE corner of the circuit ( well i assume NE , lets say top right )

*except the breakfast

I got up to about 90 by the end but the moment you are there you are hitting the brakes very very hard. But the succession of corners from the pits is great for your technique and they are very twisty.
 
I'd love to do that at Knockhill but I suspect I would need to three point turn my car around the tight hairpin :D
 
The Bear in Cowbridge I assume.

They are missing an opportunity there as the town is OK and the premises should be interesting, there's plenty of locals who would appreciate a good meal (and would be prepared to pay for it).

It is a pretty town, the hotel is fine otherwise, but it had that sort of mucked about with menu that always invariably misses the spot. Simple food well cooked would work so much better.
 
I'm off to Curborough in a few weeks time - £30 all day including a packed lunch.

I find it hard to picnic for £30, let alone have a track day too..

I'll do some research on harnesses Will, but no danger of rear passengers getting in the way. :)
 
C55 on the track

Hi Charles, great write up! As you know I too have put my C55 around a couple of tracks (Bedford Autodrome, Cadwell Park, Rockingham raceway). It's what our cars were ultimately built for as you can Never really appreciate or understand an AMG car if you only drive it on the public roads and don't have a go on a trackday circuit.

I also had tuition at Rockingham from the ex-BTCC champion Tim Harvey which was very enlightening & I would strongly recommend tuition to any novice or intermediate trackday user like myself. I have fitted the same steering wheel with proper paddle shifts that AMG fitted to their factory F1 C55 (estate) medical cars. It’s the same steering wheel as the standard C55 one but with proper large metal Alloy AMG paddles. The steering wheel was also fitted to the 2005 onwards AMG SLK55’s & Most importantly - it doesn’t require any Star coding!! I can report that the shifting is much improved from the old button control however, it’s not as fast as proper DCT/SMG or double clutch systems in other German performance cars. In fact, AMG used to offer a TCU (Transmission Control Unit) software upgrade for our cars that gave a 30% faster gear change – unfortunately this was only offered at the AMG factory in Germany when the cars were new.
There are “other aftermarket” companies that now offer similar TCU upgrades though such as Kleenman however, they will not carry this work out in the UK & you have to send your car to Denmark! The only option I came across that didn’t involve having to take the car overseas was the TCU upgrade by Eurochared in the States– www.eurocharged.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.pbv.v1.tpl&product_id=401&category_id=10&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=99

They will upgrade the TCU if you disconnect it yourself & post it to them in the US. I believe Alps with his E55 on this forum met with them at SEMA last year in the states & took along his TCU which they upgraded. So far I haven’t gone down this road any further as my brakes or suspension would be the next sensible mod.

BTW - I am about to book an evening session with some friends at Brands Hatch - Indy Circuit in June or July with club MSV (best trackday company in the UK), if you either you or Terry are up for it let me know.
 
Very interesting Justin, thanks. Another outing would certainly be fun! I know that the paddles/steering wheel were added and coded by Comand for Tudu, so I am unsure really whether a meaningful upgrade can be achieved, and as the response time is well over a second, I think I'll live with it in sport mode. I am not someone who is ever going to trouble a track record..Losing weight (both car and me!) might be a more advantageous upgrade.
 
Hi Charles, great write up! As you know I too have put my C55 around a couple of tracks (Bedford Autodrome, Cadwell Park, Rockingham raceway). It's what our cars were ultimately built for as you can Never really appreciate or understand an AMG car if you only drive it on the public roads and don't have a go on a trackday circuit.

I also had tuition at Rockingham from the ex-BTCC champion Tim Harvey which was very enlightening & I would strongly recommend tuition to any novice or intermediate trackday user like myself. I have fitted the same steering wheel with proper paddle shifts that AMG fitted to their factory F1 C55 (estate) medical cars. It’s the same steering wheel as the standard C55 one but with proper large metal Alloy AMG paddles. The steering wheel was also fitted to the 2005 onwards AMG SLK55’s & Most importantly - it doesn’t require any Star coding!! I can report that the shifting is much improved from the old button control however, it’s not as fast as proper DCT/SMG or double clutch systems in other German performance cars. In fact, AMG used to offer a TCU (Transmission Control Unit) software upgrade for our cars that gave a 30% faster gear change – unfortunately this was only offered at the AMG factory in Germany when the cars were new.
There are “other aftermarket” companies that now offer similar TCU upgrades though such as Kleenman however, they will not carry this work out in the UK & you have to send your car to Denmark! The only option I came across that didn’t involve having to take the car overseas was the TCU upgrade by Eurochared in the States– www.eurocharged.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.pbv.v1.tpl&product_id=401&category_id=10&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=99

They will upgrade the TCU if you disconnect it yourself & post it to them in the US. I believe Alps with his E55 on this forum met with them at SEMA last year in the states & took along his TCU which they upgraded. So far I haven’t gone down this road any further as my brakes or suspension would be the next sensible mod.

BTW - I am about to book an evening session with some friends at Brands Hatch - Indy Circuit in June or July with club MSV (best trackday company in the UK), if you either you or Terry are up for it let me know.


Hi Charles, excellent write up, sounds like a fun day and alot of learning :)

It was actually Acid (BrabusK8) who met with Eurocharged at SEMA and got the TCU upgraded, but has not finished his engine build to comment if it has made a difference, guys in the US love it.

AMG had an option for the TCU upgrade and it was in the £3K mark when ordered from factory! I have only seen one E55 with the additional TCU button ever!

I tend to keep the car in sports mode even for track days as i also find the shift too slow.

speka soon

Alps
 
Very interesting Justin, thanks. Another outing would certainly be fun! I know that the paddles/steering wheel were added and coded by Comand for Tudu, so I am unsure really whether a meaningful upgrade can be achieved, and as the response time is well over a second, I think I'll live with it in sport mode. I am not someone who is ever going to trouble a track record..Losing weight (both car and me!) might be a more advantageous upgrade.

Ok Charles, i've got a date in mind - Thursday 21st June at Brands Hatch (Indy Circuit). It's a novice afternoon/evening session, PM me if you are interrested.
 
...The cooked breakfast arrived in less time than it takes to cook a hash brown, which was a pity as it had a hash brown....

Thankyou Charles - this line has made my day, so much so that I've forgotten the point of the thread...

Now where was I?
 

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