C63 AMG Challenge

Yesterday I experienced an AMG challenge day at Hampton Downs Motorsport Park. It wasn't free and it wasn't cheap (although Mercedes Benz NZ told us they had covered the majority of the cost) but it was brilliant. This was the first time an AMG challenge event had been run in New Zealand - these events in Australia are usually sold out in about 7 or 8 minutes, and I know why. Not average, not OK, brilliant. And the cars are also brilliant. If I was in this market I would go and buy one right now.


So, what do you get?
Exclusive use of the 2.8km Hampton Downs track for a day, the use of about 25 Mercedes Benz Events C63 AMG's and a lot of fearless instructors. These guys are all race drivers with their race licences. Some are retired, some are racing at a top level (V8 Supercars) and some are still making their way up. But all with plenty of experience. And as it's MB they really turn it on - you also get an AMG vest, AMG cap and a USB stick that looks like an AMG key. The coffee, refreshments and lunch were all pretty good too.


Hampton Downs
In my limited experience, Hampton Downs is a great track. I've been around it once before, so sort of know the ropes. There's several corners that you just can't see until you're on them - the one at the end of the main straight is most important to pre-empt as it's where you've got the most speed on board.


The cars
The vehicles were all brought in from Australia and are stock standard - exactly the same as you could go and buy right now from an MB dealership. They're powered by AMG's 6.2 litre V8 that delivers 336 kW (or 457 hp in old money) and 600Nm of torque via the AMG Speedshift 7 speed sport transmission. Top speed is limited to 250kph. AMG reckon this car will propel you from 0 - 100kph in 4.4 seconds. Smokin'.


The challenges
The day is split into 2 areas; activities in the morning and track time in the afternoon. The morning activities consist of drag racing, a slalom course and the skid pan. These were challenging and great fun, but the track time was best.


Track time
After lunch the track time was split into 3 sessions based around the cars being limited in speed in order to ease the drivers into some real pace in the final session. The first session was limited to 120kph, the second 150kph and the last was unlimited. During the first and second sessions you're getting instruction and just trying to hit the braking points and corner apex markers. And I should mentioned, the track is well marked with cones so you know where to point the car, so you don't need any experience. 
I particularly enjoyed the last session. And you soon realise it's not all about going fast. There's one golden rule to make a fast lap; slow in = fast out (of corners). If you go in or out of any corner too hot, with the tyres howling, you'll be slow and you'll likely miss the race line. And this directly translates to your speed at the end of the next straight.


So how did I go? 
Well, my mission was to go as fast as I could. And I got positive feedback from the instructors. They didn't time the laps, but as a benchmark, several people asked how fast  they might go. The instructors answers were something like "I don't know how well you can drive". They did tell us the fastest speed they managed down the front straight was about 220kph.
Of course when you're driving flat out, you're really concentrating. So apart from an occasional glance at the speedo, you don't really know how fast you're going. Remember I mentioned a USB stick? Some of the cars are equipped with camera gear to record your drive.They simply plug in the stick and it records.
Video playback is cool and shows the main view out the front of the car and in the left corner a smaller video of you driving. The top left corner is overlaid with an active longitudinal and lateral G-Loading matrix and the bottom right corner shows the speed. The top right shows track position, but they didn't have Hampton Downs loaded. I'm fairly satisfied that my top speed down the front straight was 205kph.

If you're in the market for a sedan that can be very sedate but clearly has race DNA click here. For all other Mercedes Benz, click here.