AMG on track

Albert Park paid tribute to another Albert this week -- one Albert Einstein. The great man's theory of relativity was tested by Mercedes-Benz's hottest models blurring time and space as they blasted around the street circuit for the Australian Grand Prix. Benz and in-house tuner AMG organised the day to promote the motorsport credentials of both companies.

Open to local dealers, customers and motoring media, the drive day threw together AMG-modded cars like the C 63, CLK 63 Cabriolets, SL 63 and S 63, as well as 'regular' Benz models like the SLK 55, SLK 350 with the V6 Sport engine, the CLS and the turbodiesel C 320.

All cars were fitted with the maker's 7G-tronic seven-speed automatic transmission, "of varying levels of tune". The SLK 350's 7G featured double declutching (throttle blipping) on downshifts, while the SL 63 was equipped with AMG's Speedshift wet-clutch transmission.

It's the first time road-registered cars have been allowed non race-related track time at Albert Park during a Formula One GP event, according to M-B Australia. The company spent considerable time negotiating with AGP organisers for the privilege.

The Albert Park appearance follows the company's promotional event at Bathurst in March last year, held over four days and featuring the AMG C 63.

"This is a natural progression for us," says Mercedes-Benz Manager of Communications David McCarthy.

Mercedes-Benz will spend five days at Albert Park for the GP, hosting guests at its 'Star Lounge' facility nearby the track.

Customers of the brand were assembled by 6am on the rainy Wednesday to take part in the track drive experience, according to M-B Australia's managing director Horst von Sanden.

"You can see adrenalin woke these guys up," said von Sanden. "When they started it was pouring down but that didn't stop them... They were obviously all very excited.

"The event is special because it gives us a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to share [the product] with our customers. If you offer things that everyone else offers it's not that special... That's what the experience at Bathurst was about.

"It was hard to top that, and that's why we're happy that we had the idea and, most importantly, the support from the [Australian] Grand Prix Corporation. The negotiations were not that easy. The first time we asked for it, the answer was 'no'; a very clear, distinct 'no'," said von Sanden.

The company would not reveal details of the costs involved with the arrangement of the track time for guests.

AMG has a long-held involvement with racing and the Formula One championship. The company has supplied track medical and safety cars for 11 years. Current FIA safety cars, the SL 63 AMG models, were on display, along with a customer-order SL 65 Black. -- one of only 10 destined for here and NZ this year.

The SL 65 AMG Black Series (more here) boasts a 0-100km/h sprint time of 3.8sec and 320km/h top speed via the bi-turbo V12, good for 493kW and a monstrous 1000Nm.

Unfortunately, the car being 'owned' by someone, it was not available for a drive. Perhaps some other time...