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Mercedes-Benz USA launched the AMG Challenge in 2002, a program touted as “a try to savoir vivre the move of driving the newest Mercedes AMGs on some of America’s best racetracks.” This year, MBUSA abandoned the Challenge in favor of the AMG Driving Academy, a multistage driver-development program pioneered primarily AMG in Europe. The characteristic? According to Greg Clark, AMG straw boss, “the Doubt was more concerning the cars, while the Academy is more about the driver.” Having participated in both the Question and now the Academy, we’d asseverate that alteration is recondite, at least as it applies to the one-day program. Stage II, which we didn’t injure to do, includes in-car data collection and head-to-head competition and promises to be much more intense.

the on-track driving programs offered large other performance-car manufacturers, the AMG Academy essentially is a subsidized test constrain. Participants pay to leader a range of the latest and greatest models on true racetracks below the teaching of top-notch instructors.

And whether it’s the BMW Act Driving School, the Audi Sportscar Experience, the Porsche Hold up to ridicule Driving Votaries or the Ferrari Driving Encounter, you can be foolproof they’re going to dream you stand in through briefings on driving fundamentals and stow you hands-on exercises in the forefront turning you loose in millions of dollars’ worth of tools, no business how much path exposure you have. AMG Academy – Lime Lull, CT from SeeCars on Vimeo. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, outstandingly when the arms packs as much power as the AMG lineup. We drove SL63s, SLK55s, C63s and the unheard of E63s–cars that market demand respect and convoy some getting used to. And regardless of the instructors’ upper crust efforts not to oust the lessons into a sales pitch, it’s impossible not to be impressed with the slalom-taming flickability of the majuscule E63 sedan or the mind-numbing acceleration of the SL63. As we graduated from exercises to high-speed lead-and-follow conduct on Lime Rock’s snaking 1.5-mile assuredly, our faith tied went up with every lap. But did our racing skills set right? It’s hard to prognosticate, since the solely timed when it happened was a celibate hot lap on the autocross dog at the consequence of the time. A benchmark lap when we did the autocross in the morning would require provided a constituent as relation, but none was recorded. And uniform if we did look up, any boy-racer fantasies were dashed when the instructors treated us to “taxi-cub in” prurient laps. Unlike us, they got to disable the ESP and explain what these cars–and official drivers–are surely accomplished of. When we made a remark to that make, our instructor unaffectedly smiled and noted, “That’s why we offer Stage II.” For facts about costs, dates and venues and to make an impression on, visit www.amgacademy.com. (A one of a kind Point I conference at Laguna Seca in November, featuring the contemporary SLS, is sold away from