***Insane experience in a MB C63 AMG, Lotus Elise, Porsche 997 Carrera S etc***

[cawimmer430]

I'm the official photographer for the Besser Sportlich Fahren performance driving training events in this region. This enables me to meet a lot of interesting people and their interesting cars.

Last weekends participants were:

















I got to ride in the Mercedes C63 AMG, Lotus Elise, Porsche 997 Carrera S and the BMW 120i Coupe.

Of these, the Mercedes C63 AMG was by far my favorite. Here is why. The good news begins with the engine sound: wow. Holy fucking shit. This thing snarls and growls and sounds badass. Every other car here today sounded like crap compared to this thing. Then, I rode with the C63 AMG driver while he did some moves. He intentionally oversteered in corners in order to get the car to drift, then he hammered it and slid sideways or in circles depending on whether or not the maneuver worked. But the best part of all? That insane power from the V8. The car was so much fun to ride in that several of the participants wanted to hitch a ride with this dude. On one of these, I sat in the back of the car. Here's where the fun starts. First off, I was surprised how much space I had in the back given my 6'4" height. The guy sitting in front of me had the seat placed somewhere midrange, which left me with ample leg and head space back here. Anyway, when the driver hammers it, and I mean really hammers it, you can, as a rear passenger, feel that boatload insane amount of torque and power passing through the transmission tunnel via the drifeshaft to the rear wheels. Completely insane shit I tell you. You feel that power surging towards the rear wheels, then you feel and hear the rear wheels scream and loose traction and the whole car shakes and vibrates. It felt like a fucking earthquake back here! HOLY SHIT! HOLY FUCKING SHIT that was intense! My videos will feel and look tame, but the actual experience was so mind-blowing. Hence you can hear me and the other occupant giggling like little girls when the power and hardcore turn maneuvers and tire-screaching sounds pop up. What an insane car! A total monster and total badass car. Holy shit!


Video 1: Me riding in the front passenger seat...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5CGXeHDP3o

Video 2: Mercedes C63 AMG in action, nice engine sound!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hlyzzedh0o

Video 3: Me riding in the rear passenger seat 1. The front passenger is the BMW 120i Coupe owner and we're both amazed at the insane performance and engine sound and power of this car! Holy motherfucking god damn shit!!! 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONoG6rzIwFU

Video 4: Me riding in the rear passenger seat 2. This one is even more intense. More engine sounds, more tire screeching and more visible steering wheel maneuvers!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2CQA4N5RnQ

Video 5: Me riding in the rear passenger seat 3. Lots of sideways spinning in this video! Awesome sounds!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zwzy98oKEl0



The Porsche 997 Carrera S was also nice. Quick, comfortable and sporty. Can't say much about the engine sound from within the car, as it sounded pretty muted. Outside, however, it sounded raw and throaty when pushed. This car had either an automatic transmission or the PDK, but the shifts were quick and couldn't be felt. The car felt tame and well-behaved, though, when compared to the C63 AMG.

Video of me riding in the Porsche...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfSo0RDk6wU


The Lotus Elise was fun. It feels like a go-kart from the moment you enter it. And trust me, getting into this thing is an artform. The car is so cramped and uncomfortable. I was wondering how the driver even managed to shift gears given how cluch and brake and gas are so close together. I am 6'4" and have big feet and I could never drive this thing. Anyway, it has the transversely-mounted Toyota engine in the back which makes great noises and seemed to have a superb engine response. The Elise accelerates like hell and in a hard corner there is very little body roll that can be felt inside the car. It drives like a go-kart. The suspension is hard and back-breaking. A very uncomfortable car, but that's not the point of these things anyway. Interestingly enough this car had an A/C onboard, which must have increased the weight! The video looks tame to how the experience actually felt like. But man, getting in and out of this car is really a pain in the ass. No wonder 90 year-olds don't buy these things.

Video 1: Lotus Elise driving...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7N5aDWqxAM

Video 2: Me riding in the Elise...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpRYFIXmdrY














The BMW 120i Coupe experience was ok. The engine, N43, is related to the one in my BMW 118i. It's nothing special but here it makes 170-horsepower so it has a bit more agility and unlike mine doesn't sound like a diesel! The car accelerates nicely and the suspension, which was tuned, copes nicely with the dramatic driving.

Video: Me riding with the BMW 120i Coupe
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmW_lRsVWac


I didn?t ride with the other cars except the 328i sedan when we went as a group to eat somewhere. The guy with the 328i uses it as his ? get this ? winter beater. He bought it for 3,000 Euros and it has over 200,000 km on it and still looking great inside (suck on that, Consumer Reports!). His main car is ? an Audi S4, which I?ll hopefully be shooting soon. He?s friends with the Lotus, Porsche and MB drivers.

Video: BMW 328i E46 - Lotus Elise - BMW 135i Coupe and Porsche 997 Carrera S
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6y0N1iFtiU


The BMW 135i Coupe...seems like there are a lot of these showing up at these driving events. I?m getting bored of them. This one didn?t have much flair to it. The color was nice but he never oversteered (I think he kept DCT on at all times).


The most boring car of all that day was the 335xi. Yep, it had AWD which meant that he never could oversteer so there was never any drama in the photos I took of this car. The owner is a driving enthusiast who regularly tracks it but he opted for AWD over RWD because of everyday practicality, not to mention the winter months here require AWD as many roads are not cleared of snow and ice.

Video of the BMW 335xi in action...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcFonI8wG7Q



Some more videos of the Mercedes C63 AMG  taken with my Nikon D3s and 70-200mm lens.
1) www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmGDvdL6SSQ
2) http://youtu.be/UPWkUvdd6PQ
3) http://youtu.be/4RozL4j1FRk
4) http://youtu.be/0LM-0c8GPrs


Awesome day. Early August I'll be attending a drifting event near Austria with the same company.


I'll end this thread with a C63 AMG sideways slide photo. What a beautiful engine sound and tire-screaching noise!