Mercedes

Pistonheads Sunday Service at Mercedes-Benz World

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My first Pistonheads Sunday Service attended and what better way to start than at Mercedes-Benz World who displayed a variety of AMG Black Series, provided passenger laps in AMG cars and track side parking for the first 600 who registered in advance.

Along with the current model line was a famous owners section including Nigel Mansell’s 560 SEC and my favourite; Britt Ekland’s SL Pagoda.

Mercedes-Benz SL 230 Pagoda

Google search brings up an old advert by Amari advising ‘Supplied new by Normand Mercedes in Park Lane and delivered to Britt Ekland at Pinewood Studios in 1965 So the story goes.’

A great selection of members cars including Porsche Carrera GT, Ferrari Enzo, McLaren MP4-12C, Ford GT, Mercedes-Benz SLS, Porsche GT3 RS (997), Lamborghini Countach among others.

The weeks lead up was particularly exciting with a ride in the new 571 bhp CLS AMG, words cannot describe the savagery and the noise of ‘AlMighty God’ acceleration. 0-60 takes just 3.8 seconds and no doubt the top speed will be over 200 mph with the limiter removed.

Mercedes-Benz CLS 63 AMG

Reviews

Euro Trip, Bruges, Amsterdam, Denmark

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Time to stretch the 911’s legs for 2013 with a road trip to Denmark – 2000 miles in a week!

An epic journey including my first experience of the autobahn and being overtaken at 163 mph. The fastest car point to point on the autobahn being the VW Passat diesel / BMW 320d / Audi A4 diesel.

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Bruges is such a fantastic place to visit for great food and drink and only an hour from Calais.

Bruges

autobahn

Skagen, the north most point of Jutland and the city boy hangout.

Skagen

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The best way to travel across countries must be the Panamera.

Panamera_GTS

Classic part of Amsterdam without the Eurotrash.

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Amsterdam

Thank god for Porsche warranty resulting in new RMS and IMS.

997_rms_ims

Porsche

997 Carrera S Update – 2 Years On

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Two years of ownership is a long time for me on any car, especially one that I have purchased from a dealership and kept watch on the depreciation curve.

Porsche 911 997 Carrera S

As many enthusiasts who frequent the online forums are aware, the 996 and generation 1 997 engines have had issues, which is a reason I opted for purchasing an approved used with the 2 year warranty. In the first year alone this covered over £10k worth of parts and labour including a new gear box, new front suspension and some minor interior cosmetics. Along with the service intervals being every 2 years, I have had zero spend to date other than an MOT. So, major service (40k mileage now) booked for July + warranty top up should see at least another years ownership.

Well that’s the man maths and boring stuff covered, we’ve enjoyed a road trip to St Emilion, Sunday breakfast convoys to Goodwood, open top tour of London, many country road hoons and an August road trip planned to Denmark. Only one use of Porsche Assistance required which was when showing a friend the roof mechanism while standing next to the car with the keys in the ignition…

Porsche 997 Cabriolet in London

Porsche 911 Goodwood Breakfast Convoy Air Cooled Following

Reviews

The Nürburgring Is For Sale

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The Nurburgring is reportedly for sale in the region of £120m.

The Nurburgring is home to the German Formula 1, alternating with Hockenheim, which also has reported to running at a loss from hosting the F1. As noted by the German Tourist Board on my recent trip; “The track costs 17,000 euros per day to hire on non-race days, however Hockenheim must pay 20m euros to hold the F1, which breaks even selling 100k tickets averaging 200 euros.” 125 years of the car

The Ring will also be well known to the audience of Top Gear and often quoted as the testing ground for most performance auto makers with the Nordschleife times providing great marketing power much is the ongoing battle of Porsche 911 Turbo vs Nissan GTR.

Sabine Schmitz has become a national hero and has been providing driver tuition and the Ring Taxi with the BMW M series and Porsche track prepped 911 models. Ring Taxi

Compared to a location such as Goodwood, an investor should be able to see there is scope for improvements. Goodwood hosts the Moving Motorshow, Festival of Speed, horse racing, golf courses, corporate events, hotels, restaurants, yearly memberships and so on.

There are rumours of the pool of bidders having shrunk to 20% so there must be some hidden issues but as a name and grounds the Nurburgring offers a lot of potential.