From the 'It's a tough job but somebody's gotta do it" file, I spent most of Wednesday thrashing a fleet of Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Black Series coupes around WiIlow Springs raceway in California.
Once I figured out how to set the ESC to 'Sport' mode, so it wouldn't turn the 600-odd horsepower into about 250 every time I got a touch of wheelspin, it was huge fun.
Willow is a very fast track, and quite bumpy in spots. We were doing 'lead-follow' with Maxi Goetz, a successful young German race car driver as our Mama Duck, and two of us following in tandem, swapping positions each lap so we could get a closer look at Maxi's line.
After six or seven sessions of five laps each, I thought I was starting to get the hang of it.
Then I went as ballast for a hot lap with Maxi behind the wheel.
Um - still have a lot to learn...
After the track sessions, Reinhold Renger, Chief Instructor for the AMG Advanced Driving School, took an E63 4MATIC sedan out onto a skid pad for a little drifting demonstration.
Think a four-wheel drive car can't spin out? Check out the video here.
Reinhold and Maxi then got into a pair of SLS Black Series coupes, and did a little drifting dance. Watch that one here - that's Reinhold in the red car (and on the left in the photo below), and Maxi in the silver car (and on the right).
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