Monday 16th July 2012

Drive the C63 Black Series!

Sinister Black Series C63 Coupe available for cut-price Brooklands drives for a limited period only

---

Letting a load of hacks, PH included, loose in AMGs around Goodwood last Friday demonstrates Mercedes clearly doesn't subscribe to Friday 13th-style superstitions, theC63 Black Series among them now available (with tyres suitably scrubbed in by PH) to drive at Mercedes-Benz World on infield of the old Brooklands circuit.

A taste - just a taste mind - is yours for £250

You can't blame a bit of swagger, given a 150 per cent year-to-date bounce in UK AMG sales off the back of the newSLK55, continued (and deserved) popularity of the C63 (over 600 sales - see you in the PH classifieds in a couple of years boys!) and arrival of the new SL63, the latter revealing frankly astonishing rates of progress around the Goodwood track. It may not be pretty but by heck it goes.

Having read Chris Harris's recent piece on the Black you're probably keen to see what all the fuss is about and for a limited period Mercedes is offering its Black Series Driving Experience at a specially reduced, if still fairly substantial, rate of £250. Sadly that doesn't quite get you the open Welsh roads enjoyedby Mr Harris, the reality being two 30-minute sessions that, ahem, "indulges raw driving dynamics with roar performance pleasure."

On the fast and flowing Goodwood circuit the Black had space to stretch its legs a little. Whether the same can be said in the confines of the rather tighter M-B World track and with the ESP button out of bounds and instructor's foot hovering over the Jesus pedal in the passenger footwell is another matter, but given that just 66 of the 600 cars due to be built will make it to the UK at all it's as close as many of us can hope to get.

 

 

[CraigyMc]

Do the cars at brooklands have a passenger override brake?

I don't remember one being applied while I was driving an SL63 AMG around the place.

C

[Greg 172]

CraigyMc said:

Do the cars at brooklands have a passenger override brake?

I don't remember one being applied while I was driving an SL63 AMG around the place.

C

You wern't driving fast enough

[Chicane-UK]

Errr.. a link in the article to the driving experience booking would be useful!

[Dan Trent]

Fair point! Here you go!

[Geo22]

yeah..they all have an override brake, i drove 3 different cars there last year and they all had 1.

The instructor took it out when he gave me a ride...good job to as i may have hit when we were on the grass sideways!

[PastorOfMuppets]

Merc have sold over 600 C63s? Pretty sure it's a lot more than that...

[em177]

So Merc let PH play around in some AMG's and then front page advertising happens....

Can I get a shot of one for a month, write a cracking review in general gassing and keep it bumped to the top once a day Mr Mercedes?

[clabcon]

Even reduced from £700/hour to £500/hour, I am not sure how this represents good value when you could rent a supercar for a day for similar money!

[Dave Hedgehog]

clabcon said:

Even reduced from £700/hour to £500/hour, I am not sure how this represents good value when you could rent a supercar for a day for similar money!

do you get to wail it flat out on track with an instructor?

Edited by Dave Hedgehog on Monday 16th July 17:08

[Moog72]

2 x 30min sessions for £250, so £250/hr rather than £500

Seems good value to me to get the chance to drive something most people won't ever see let alone own

[Dave Hedgehog]

Moog72 said:

2 x 30min sessions for £250, so £250/hr rather than £500

Seems good value to me to get the chance to drive something most people won't ever see let alone own

how much are they new? cant find any info on the AMG site

[Tyrewrecker]

Why no sig on article?

[arkenphel]

"roar performance"

For some reason, this is rather nonsensical and deeply offends me....

[Dan Trent]

PastorOfMuppets said:

Merc have sold over 600 C63s? Pretty sure it's a lot more than that...

Year to date! When Mercedes announced the C63 facelift it had sold over 17,000 of 'em globally. Pretty impressive numbers.

[gumsie]

PastorOfMuppets said:

Merc have sold over 600 C63s? Pretty sure it's a lot more than that...

It'll be over 601 if I win the lottery this weekend.

[Digger]

Tyrewrecker said:

Why no sig on article?

Always the case if you read via the forum. If you view via the homepage the author's name is shown. Nope, no idea why either!

[itz_baseline]

This is on my wifes lottery win wish list. I have just text her askin if she wants a drive in it for her birthday. Readin the small print, you only get 30 mins in the black series. Other 30mins are in a standard amg. Plus 5 mins out of each session is for safety and seat adjustment, so its actually 50mins of drivin time.

I still think its worth that to drive a car that you will probaby never even see on tge road, let alone sit in, or even drive.

Awaitin the wifes response

[Hellbound]

MB Site said:

A Collision Damage Waiver (CDW) is available to purchase for £15, which reduces the liability to NIL. This can either be purchased at the time of booking the Driving Experience or on the day itself.

Drivers will spend approximately 30 minutes in an AMG and 30 minutes in the C 63 AMG Coupé Black Series. The Driving Experience includes a safety briefing and seat set up, which takes approximately 5 minutes.

I'm pretty sure if you hire a supercar for the day you have to hand over a hefty deposit and fork out a huge excess if something goes wrong.

£265 for two AMG's, one being a black series, seems tremendous value. Especially considering there are no other charges to worry about.

Wonder if the other AMG is the SLS! :P Now that would be a special 60 minutes!

Edited by Hellbound on Monday 16th July 19:26

[itz_baseline]

Hellbound said:

I'm pretty sure if you hire a supercar for the day you have to hand over a hefty deposit and fork out a huge excess if something goes wrong.

£265 for two AMG's, one being a black series, seems tremendous value. Especially considering there are no other charges to worry about.

Wonder if the other AMG is the SLS! :P Now that would be a special 60 minutes!

Edited by Hellbound on Monday 16th July 19:26

The SLS days are a lot more expensive so I suspect it will be a bog standard C63 AMG....not that they are your average bog standard car!

[North West Tom]

Anyone know exactly what the 2 30-min sessions involve? Not 45 minutes talking and 15 minutes driving I hope!

Also, anyone know when this offer ends, and what the normal price will be?