The Mercedes AMG Safety Cars

Formula 1’s official safety car driver, Bernd Maylanda, walks us through his career and the stable of safety cars he’s driven. All of the cars had been gathered with Bernd in a barn for a photo shoot for German car magazine. The line starts at the 1999 CLK55 and goes all the way to the debut of the new SLS AMG GT safety car for 2013.

 

Here’s some bonus footage of the current Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG Wagon F1 Medical Car testing on track:


Source: Nextgen-Auto.com and 19Bozzy92 on YouTube

Mercedes-Benz S65 AMG vs. Bentley Mulsanne – Motor Trend

I have no delusions in thinking that the DIY auto enthusiast crowd will ever be shopping for $200k-$300k cars like these. It is still interesting to see what’s out there, though. Motor Trend’s Johnny Lieberman pits the Mercedes-Benz S65 AMG against the Bentley Mulsanne after Rolls Royce declined to participate in the showdown. He gets it, too. Johnny ends up showing us what is cool about both cars without taking things too seriously as evident by his joke about the “Peasant Crusher” suspension settings while wearing a tuxedo t-shirt. Even if the fancy luxury stuff doesn’t do it for you, both cars make over 700 ft-lbs of torque. They may not be what we usually talk about here at Flux Auto, but these cars are still extreme ways of expressing the automobile.


Source: Motor Trend on YouTube

1909 Blitzen-Benz

At one point in time the Blitzen Benz was the fastest object on the planet besides a bullet. The 200 horsepower, 21.5 liter (1300 cubic inches) engine propelled this car to speeds higher than the fastest planes and trains of the time. It was also one of the first cars to attempt land speed records at the Bonneville salt flats. The US Mercedes Classic Center displayed the car and started its engine at Pebble Beach. Check it out:


Source: YouTube user EarthAdvocate

Mercedes-Benz SLS Roadster on the Mille Miglia – Motor Trend

The Motor Trend YouTube channel continues to impress me with how well they present truly interesting content. On this episode of Epic Drives, Angus Mackenzie pays tribute to fellow Brit Stirling Moss’s victory in the Mille Miglia in the Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR. He drives some of the same roads in the car from the current Mercedes lineup that best resembles the car that Moss drove, the SLS Roadster. The video takes a look at both cars, the history and significance of the race and why Stirling Moss’s victory was so special. They even get Moss to drive the SLS for part of the course and interview him at the end. I do not envy the writer who has to follow this masterpiece on the next episode of Epic Drives.


Source: Motor Trend on YouTube

Mercedes Benz CLS 63 AMG Shooting Brake – Chris Harris

It still baffles and frustrates me that most of the American consumer population does not like station wagons. This is made worse by the fact that most European car makers produce some serious high performance versions. From what I understand, when men in Europe go through a mid-life crisis they buy really fast autobahn annihilating wagons to get their mojo back. That’s why there are cars like this one, the Mercedes-Benz CLS 63 AMG Shooting Brake. It’s got the new 5.5 liter twin turbo V8 that powers all of the AMG cars except for the C63 (the engineers thought the C63 was too light for the torque of the turbo engine so they stayed with the snarly 6.2 liter NA V8). The wagon / shooting brake body style is more aerodynamic, offers better utility for hauling stuff and I think it looks way better. The fact that somebody can look at this car and still want a lumbering SUV makes me die a little bit inside.


Source: DRIVE on YouTube