Climbing my Sacred Mountain

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Sacred mountains feature heavily in many cultures and religions as they seen as being closer to Heaven. In Australia the sacred mountain for followers of the Petrolhead religion is Mt Panorama in Bathurst. Conceived as a scenic driving route in the mid-1930s, the first race was held there in 1938. Ninety years later in February 2018 the latest installment of the Bathurst 12 hour was held.

For about 200 lucky Mercedes-AMG owners the weekend’s action was watched from the top floor of the Rydges Hotel located on the outside of Caltex Chase. This vantage point enables you to see the cars both going up and coming down the mountain. Guests were also treated to exclusive pit lane tours and guided tours to the top of the mountain over the race weekend.

But this year the Bathurst 12 hour action was just the opening ceremony before the main event. On the Monday and Tuesday after the race weekend Mercedes-AMG owners were invited to drive the sacred Mt Panorama circuit themselves in a 60 car line-up of Mercedes-AMG metal.

Models driven included Mercedes-AMG A 45, Mercedes-AMG CLA 45, Mercedes-AMG C 63S Coupes, Sedans and Wagons, the new Mercedes-AMG E 63S, and Mercedes-AMG GT S and GT R. Plus a couple of lucky owners also got treated to a hot lap in the Mercedes-AMG GT3 race car.

For me driving around Mt Panorama at speed in any car, let alone a Mercedes-AMG was bucket list material and when the email came through with the offer all I could say was “shut up and take my money!”

The AMG Drive Day experience started with light refreshments back on the top floor of the Rydges Hotel and an introduction to how the day was going to operate by head AMG driving instructor Peter Hackett. In the morning we would be learning parts of the track and the afternoon would be spent gradually increasing our speeds while doing full laps of the circuit. Oh goody!

I started out in the Mercedes-AMG C63 S group learning the circuit from Griffins Bend to the top of the mountain at McPhillamy Park. Which is actually a park with a playground that my children enjoyed playing at throughout the weekend and while they watched mum driving around the circuit. This is a fantastic part of the track and very enjoyable to drive.

We then moved on to Mercedes-AMG A45s and learnt how to go down the mountain from Brock’s Skyline, through The Esses, The Dipper and Forrest’s Elbow. All of this part of the track is great fun, but I particularly enjoyed the sprint between The Dipper and Forrest’s Elbow. I also had a near miss coming out of Forrest’s Elbow when a kangaroo decided to hop across the track. Thankfully it soon made its way down Conrod Straight and back into the adjoining paddock.

Next stop was halfway down Conrod Straight and a meeting with some Mercedes-AMG GT S and GT Rs. I quickly eyed off the two GT Rs and made a b-line to one when we were told to choose our car for this part of the exercise. The acceleration of the GT R and the way it puts its power to the ground is amazing! Next to no wheel spin compared to the GT S and just sounds mega! We had to slow before exiting Caltex Chase because the ‘pit complex’ for the day was set up under the AMG Bridge in front of the Rydges Hotel. After a couple of goes doing this and sampling the GT S as well we moved onto the last activity before lunch.

On the main straight in front of the pits we were greeted by about 10 Mercedes-AMG E63S cars lined up two abreast. It was time for some drag racing! Owners of current Mercedes-AMG models will most likely be aware that to engage launch control involves a couple of steps. Well not any more, in the E63S all you have to do is put your left foot firmly on the brake, hold your right foot flat to the floor and when you’re given the signal take your foot off the brake and hold on tight. These things are insanely quick, 0-100km/h in a four door sedan that comfortably seats five adults in 3.4 seconds! By the time you are being told to brake for Hell Corner you are easily doing over 150km/h and then you trundle the wrong way back down the pit lane and line up for another go. So much fun, I won four out of six of my drag races and went to lunch with a mile wide smile!

After a lovely lunch we headed back down to the track and collected our helmets for the best part of the day, lapping Mt Panorama at speed! Just to build the tension a little more we had a slight delay while all of the resident access gates were locked. Because Mt Panorama is a public road for the majority of the year with a speed limit of 60km/h. Once the place was secured we were doing a whole lot more than that!

My first lap at speed was in a Mercedes-AMG C63S Coupe; such a beautiful car to look at and equally plush inside. The one thing I did notice was with the helmet on my head was hitting the roof, so if you are more than six foot tall you may not fit in the car comfortably.

Here’s my description of a lap of Mt Panorama. Out of Murray’s Corner hard on the gas along the pit straight and then hard on the brakes into Hell Corner. Which I can attest is a bugger of a corner to get right, I think I only managed it a couple of times the whole afternoon.

Then hard on the gas again up Mountain Straight, feeling the car get a bit light as you go over the hump before Griffins Bend. Brake, hit the apex and feed the power on as you straighten the wheel, then hard on the brakes again as you turn through The Cutting, let the car flow out a bit through Reid Park, clip the drain grate through Sulman Park and then brake a small amount through McPhillamy Park.

As you go over Brock’s Skyline you want to be on the right hand side for the apex and brake hard as you go through The Esses, trail the brake as you exit The Esses and then brake hard for The Dipper and then on the power and straight line toward Forrest’s Elbow. A small dab of the brakes as you approach Forrest’s Elbow and then hard braking before your turn in. Let the car drift to the right on exit and then foot to the floor as you negotiate the kink at the beginning of Conrod Straight. Feel the car go light again as you go over the hump, slight braking before entering Caltex Chase and then hard braking as you turn left through the chase. And slow to 40km/h as you drive through the make shift pit lane. Repeat.

All up I did about 16 laps of the circuit. After the Coupe I drove a C63S wagon, which was very ‘squirrelly’ under brakes and not as much fun as the Coupe. The Mercedes-AMG GT S was immense, but wanted to track in the tyre grooves on the road, the E63S didn’t want to automatically change up a gear all the time so I had to do this for it a couple of times. Yes, we were driving the cars in automatic, considering many of us had never driven the track before we weren’t about to learn the correct lines for the corners and what gear to be in with just the handful of laps we had.

But by I had the most enjoyment driving the Mercedes-AMG A45. It might not have the theatre of its V8 siblings, but its acceleration is basically just as quick. Its combination of 4Matic and a nimble little chassis meant it was by far the most fun over the top of the mountain and back down the other side. In the survey after the event we were asked which car we would most likely buy out of the range driven and I answered the A45.

Amidst all of the driving excitement we were also treated to hot laps in the Mercedes-AMG GT R driven by either Bernd Schneider or Mick Doohan. I got Bernd and had the ride of my life! Seeing and feeling these AMGs being driven at their full potential is eye-opening to say the least. Knowing what they can really do in the hands of a professional and that these are ‘family cars’, insane!

Mercedes-AMG is in a real purple patch and you can see why, they really are awesome machines. Don’t believe me? Well go and test drive one for yourself, even the baby of the range will leaving grinning like a Cheshire cat every time you drive it. As an added bonus you will also get invited to once in a life time events like driving Mt Panorama. Thank you Mercedes-AMG for the opportunity to climb my sacred mountain.

For more information about the Mercedes-AMG range visit your local dealer or the Mercedes-Benz website.

Photographs by Mercedes-Benz Australia.