Mercedes-AMG Snow Experience

As the sun crests the tall mountain peaks of the Crown Ranges on New Zealand’s South island, I'm not the only person who's buzzing like a power board on the fritz. The weather is crisp and clear – if a little chilly at six degrees below zero – there’s plenty of snow on the ground and we're about to cut loose in a horde of high-performance Mercedes-AMG turbo V6 and V8 weapons.

The reason for the snow driving? Entertainment mostly, but there's also an element of driver education here, focussed on car control and understanding your limits.

Currently open to around 80 individuals annually, the AMG snow driving experience has been running for seven years at the Southern Hemisphere Proving Grounds not far from the acclaimed adventure destination town of Queenstown.

Outside of Europe, this is one of the few places AMG owners can engage in full-noise snow driving. It costs roughly $4500 per head and to punch a docket, you must own a modern AMG vehicle.

Rules and regulations
Before we're let off the leash, like a pack of braying Husky dogs, there's a driver briefing to instil the fear of God within each of us. I'm half listening to Mercedes-AMG chief drive instructor and factory GT3 race driver Peter Hackett… then my heart drops.

"Maximum speed on the ice will be three-point-five kilometres an hour," he says.

Did I hear correctly? Is the part of my brain responsible for hearing having a minor malfunction and perhaps feeding me inaccurate aural data? Was last night's burger somewhat rancid?

With more than $4 million worth of Mercedes-AMG weaponry on hand – including a quartet of beastly AMG GT S coupes priced at $300,000 a pop – maximum speeds of 3.5km/h would seem, I don't know, improper?

Thankfully the 3.5km/h ‘ice-block’ challenge is one of only nine undertakings, and it's bewilderingly brutal. Thankfully, (spoiler alert) speeds reach triple digits by days' end which, on snow, is scary and fun in equal measure.

If you like adrenaline, the snow experience is your jam.

Getting stuck in the snow drift
"This challenge will not be easy," intones Hackett. I remember thinking to myself "whatever mate" but in hindsight it turns out he was telling the truth. As a wise old granny once told me, overcoming a difficult challenge will deliver rewards far more valuable than a purse full of doubloons.

The first trial is easy – accelerate as fast as possible to the marker then brake. This exercise exposes the delayed vehicle responses when driving on low-friction surfaces and, despite being lumped with the slowest car at the event, my Mercedes-AMG SLC 43 makes all the right noises.

Some of the other trials include slalom runs which at first are incredibly tricky, as you're encouraged to string all the turns together in one giant Ken Block-esque fishtailing extravaganza. However, after a bit of practice even the AMG GT S becomes your friend. Initially it seemed the throttle was on a knife's edge, but after a few runs the GT S is just as approachable as the SLC 43.

The key to smooth snow driving is having ‘soft’ hands and feet. Subtle inputs, especially coming off the throttle, produce the best results. It's about finessing the cars, and at the conclusion of the handful of runs where I managed to ‘ace’ the slalom, the sensation of triumph was unbeatable. On the other hand, there's no denying the unadulterated joy in nailing the throttle, spinning the car on its axis and firing plumes of powder snow metres into the air.

There are several 'controlled' doughnut exercises where your task is to simply power slide an AMG C 63 around rings of various diameter. Sounds straight-forward so let’s be ‘crystal’ here: perfecting the high-speed drift around a large 800 metre loop is one of motoring's special moments.

All-wheel drive (AWD) doughnuts in the 2.0-litre turbo AMG A 45 and CLA 45 models, as any World Rally Championship fan will tell you, require a completely different approach to get the best drift angles.

Two exercises involve the AMG G 63, or ‘Gelandewagen’. One was a short and bumpy ascent to highlight the all-terrain traction.

The other, the "ice block" trial, is best described as frustrating. Grip levels are non-existent on the transparent ice, and the snow bank to either side encroaches very quickly when you're spinning wildly out of control. Manic bursts of sustained full throttle almost bring order to the chaos (and make a sweet melody), but wrecking $233,000 worth of luxury SUV makes this test about as appealing as rubbing grated onion into your eyes.

AMG Snow Experience exercises:
- Go to ‘woah’ (SLC 43, GT S)
- Figure eight (SLC 43, GT S)
- Doughnuts (A 45, CLA 45)
- Slalom (C 63 S coupe)
- Circle work (C 63 S sedan)
- Giant slalom (SLC 43, GT S)
- Summit drive (G 63)
- Ice block sliding (G 63)
- Hot lap with Peter Hackett (E 63 S)
- 800m circle high-speed drift and slalom (C 63 S sedan & coupe)

Weapon of choice
The only AMG engine missing here is the twin-turbo V12, but with four-cylinder, six-cylinder and eight-cylinder turbo powerplants on offer, the hills are certainly alive with the sound of anger.

Ranging in power from 270kW to 450kW, including all-wheel and rear-wheel drive, the smorgasbord of AMG machinery on offer is unquestionably appetising.

As Hackett explains, all the cars are stock standard, as you buy them from the showroom floor, except for the fitment of winter tyres. "We try to bring to them to extreme conditions. The diffs and gearboxes are going to be punished," he says. They were, all day, and none ever missed a beat.

The winter tyres are not equipped with studs or chains. They’re simply a different (softer) rubber compound with unique tread patterns, in this case Continental ‘ContiWinterContact’ TS 803P items.

Where regular tyres tend to harden and get stiffer when it's cold, these kickers remain soft and malleable even when the ambient dips below seven degrees centigrade. They also have ‘sipes’ which are horizontal grooves designed to attract snow. Sounds a bit weird when regular tyres use channels to expel water, but when snowflakes clump together, they generate more grip.

"It's the complete opposite to mud," shrugs Hackett. "The tyres will be completely coated in snow, the snow surface is a living surface, it's always changing. For grip, you need to find the softest clumps of snow."

Not vanilla, but plenty of ice
Since Karl Benz started testing his first automobile on Germany’s horse tracks in 1885, cars have been designed to grip the road, be safe and predictable. After all, we'd be sliding off the road like a fast-moving watermelon on a ‘slip-n-slide’ if this wasn't the case.

As we know, these days, computer controlled suspension, tyres, brakes and steering systems are so sophisticated, cars can - and some do - drive themselves. But what if you threw a knuckle ball in there? An off-spinner to undo a century of ‘straight bat forward defensive’ engineering?

You'd have the Mercedes-AMG snow experience.

The high-performance car brand from Affalterbach in Germany offers a range of ‘drive experience’ packages for customers, most of which include smashing out hot laps at some of the world's most famous race tracks.

But the snow experience is unique. Sure, it'll be about as useful to most Aussie drivers as a spare wheel without a jack, but there's no denying the adrenaline rush of sliding an AMG C 63 through a tight corner at 120km/h. A hot lap with Hackett in the all-wheel drive E 63 S is seriously entertaining too.

Sure, it can get frustrating when you hit a slick patch of ice and spin out of control like a torn hang glider, but the sense of satisfaction you get when you ace one of the exercises is unbelievable.

As the sky turns a russet red, the sun sets dips behind the mountain peaks and participants start coming down from their adrenaline highs, I think about what I've learned. Gazing wistfully at the snow-covered alps and pristine environment, Hackett wanders over and whispers "The best way to learn is to fail."

Half race-driver, half Jedi master, he knows his stuff.