Mercedes AMG GT S Track Test Review

I didn’t have much time to understand what all the buttons do, how you use them and what they are for, we just started our journey down the pit lane with Schneider leading the way. So I left them in Race mode, the dampers in full performance setting and I wasn’t allowed to turn the ESP off because it was so dark. I’ll tell you why I was glad that I wasn’t allowed in just a bit.

I’ll take you through the lap, corner by corner around the track. With my headlights at full beam and not a single light on track to illuminate anything, I have never been so grateful for headlights, some things we just take for granted. I had a brilliant experience of what it’s like to be racing in Le Mans at night. Seating position in the GT S is very low and you can get a sense that you’re sitting between the front and rear wheels. Ok so back to the driving.

Turn 1, exit the pit lane at relative speed we turn in hard right and immediately I could feel the back starting to disobey. Turn 2, is a steep climb with a left kink where I could feel the back again trying to step out to brake into a blind right to Turn 3 which it felt quite happy and onto the back straight. Clipped the apex just and full throttle onto the long straight, the acceleration is just staggering, but unlike the SLS, it doesn’t puke all the power over the rear axle, this one is a bit more linear.  I could see nothing but the beautiful tail lights of the CLA in front of me. I was closing in on the CLA as I expected so had to lift off nearly half way onto the straight, I didn’t see the speedometer to know the exact speed I had achieved as I was busy trying not to rear end the car in front, but it was easily over 200kmph. Brake hard into Turn 4 to the 3rd straight that didn’t seem too long in this car and on the brakes extremely quick and drag the steering wheel to the left onto the challenging section of the track Turn 6,7,8 & 9. At full beam, it was so dark, all I could see were the entries up to the apex of the turns, the exit was completely blind. From turn 5, 6, 7, I nailed them perfectly because of the adaptive suspension and the feel of the steering wheel, so I gained some confidence and throttled up to the 4WD CLA to keep up, braked hard and turned in for the Turn 8 and 9. I probably clipped the sausage curb at the apex of Turn 9 and ended up having a massive tank slapper at the exit. If it was up to me without the traction control, I would have definitely spun out and hit something as I have seen this happen countless times in my experience in that very section of the track. Somehow me and the traction control managed to hold on and continue to fight another day, but only just.

Followed by the massive tank slapper, was the long Turn 10 and 11 parabolic. I could see the CLA with its 4 wheel drive just pull away as I struggled to keep up at half throttle throughout the long right hander. I just couldn’t keep up as any more throttle would mean a full slide and I wasn’t ready to take the risk at night in anyway. I could see the lead car already at the next turn while I was still at the exit of the previous one. This time with a lot of runoff area, I went for it just one last time, and managed to hold on for the final 3 corners though thanks to the hydraulic steering wheel I was able to manage the slides better, with an EPAS system, I don’t think id stand a chance. Near to the final corner, I closed onto the CLA and back into the pits.

With this awesome experience I took away 5 major learnings. Firstly, how good that CLA 45 AMG really is with that 4WD system which I didn’t realise at first. Secondly, the AMG GT S is something truly handcrafted by racing driver’s and it truly shows how perfect everything about it is. Thirdly, the SLS would eat up its tyres in less than half the time the GT S ran on that day so the tyres have way more grip and a longer life, though if you do treat it like a lunatic, you will shred them easily. Fourthly, the weight reduction and all the clever weight distribution done in the car is done so beautifully, it handles just so perfectly. And lastly I learnt that most people who say that Germans aren’t funny people, they are more of a serious bunch of people, have no idea what they are talking about. The Germans do know how to have a lot of fun, and how to have a bit of a laugh, the GT S proves my point.