AMG Driving Academy in USA

Press release

The AMG Driving Academy is expanding its activities: from now on, American sports car enthusiasts can also take part in AMG events in their home country. Driver training on the Laguna Seca racetrack in California is a very exclusive opportunity to take extended test drives with the brand-new SLS AMG super sports car.

The AMG Driving Academy is offering an experience of a very special kind from 17 to 20 November 2009, when American AMG fans will be able to test-drive the new Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG as part of a dedicated driver training event on one of the world’s most exciting racetracks - the Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey, California. Once the participants have experienced the incomparable dynamics of the gullwing for themselves, there will also be an opportunity to take a fast taxi ride with two experienced racing professionals: DTM driver Susie Stoddart and Bernd Mayländer, the driver of the Official F1™ Safety Car, will show them what the SLS AMG is really capable of.

By extending its activities to the USA, the largest and most important market for AMG, the AMG Driving Academy is responding to the constantly growing demand for emotional events and driver training. AMG fans have a choice of two programmes with different degrees of difficulty, both perfectly tailored to the skills and wishes of the participants. Racetrack training is available in the new E 63 AMG, the C 63 AMG, SL 63 AMG, SLK 55 AMG and the CLK 63 AMG Black Series – with the new SLS AMG reserved exclusively for the event on the Laguna Seca Raceway.

The individual events are organised and held in close collaboration between the AMG Driving Academy in Affalterbach, Mercedes-Benz USA and the highly acclaimed Skip Barber Racing School.

Five tailor-made programmes and a celebrity instructor

The programme of events of the AMG Driving Academy founded in 2007 is divided into five different skill levels: EMOTION, BASIC, ADVANCED, PRO and MASTERS. The choice extends from lifestyle-oriented events and race training events where the participants take their first steps towards the physical limits, right up to intensive racetrack training of a competitive nature – all tailor-made to the individual needs of the participants. In the MASTERS Sports Trophy, participants domiciled in Germany have the opportunity to achieve a national Class A DMSB driver’s licence. The programmes of the AMG Driving Academy start from as low as 285 Euro.

On legendary racetracks such as the North Loop of the Nürburgring or the Grand Prix circuit in Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium, AMG drivers and enthusiasts learn to approach the physical limits in graduated stages. In this way each participant automatically improves his active driving safety. Licenced, highly experienced instructors pass on their extensive knowledge in a professional manner, so that the learning effect is directly combined with the fun and passion of fast driving.

Since 2009 the team of instructors has been augmented with Bernd Schneider: with five DTM championship titles and one each in the ITC and FIA-GT championships, Bernd Schneider is considered to be one of the most successful German racing drivers of all time.

Icy driving enjoyment in Swedish Lapland

One special event is the AMG Winter Sporting in Arjeplog (Sweden), close to the Polar Circle: the high-performance AMG cars provided are driven exclusively on surfaces of solid ice. All the cars are fitted with special spiked tyres that ensure a precisely defined amount of traction. The AMG Winter Sporting programme starts on 15 January 2010 and has a total of nine events.