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Mercedes-AMG Driving Academy picks up dates for 2010, adds SLS and Pro-level courses

Jonathon Ramsey — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:01:00 EST

Filed under: Etc., Safety, Mercedes-Benz

AMG Driving Academy at Lime Rock - Click above for high-res image gallery

What do you do after hitting success with a trial product? Bring it back and make it bigger, of course. That's just what Mercedes-Benz has done with its AMG Driving Academy, a program that our own Editor Paukert attended the course last fall at Lime Rock to his great amusement and education.

This year's courses will put participants in the Mercedes E63 AMG, SL63 AMG, C63 AMG, SLK55 AMG and, new for this year, the SLS AMG gullwing. After working your way up through Basic and Advanced courses, you're ready for Top Gun testing in the new Pro level course, which means an "intense curriculum" and open lapping at Road Atlanta. Follow the jump for all that goes on this year's academy including dates and locations, and have a look at what you can be doing in the gallery of high-res photos below.

Gallery: AMG Driving Academy at Lime Rock Park

[Source: Mercedes-Benz]

Continue reading Mercedes-AMG Driving Academy picks up dates for 2010, adds SLS and Pro-level courses

Mercedes-AMG Driving Academy picks up dates for 2010, adds SLS and Pro-level courses originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Drop the Hammer: Getting schooled with AMG Driving Academy at Lime Rock

Chris Paukert — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:58:00 EST

Filed under: Convertible, Coupe, Sedan, Performance, Etc., Mercedes-Benz, Luxury

AMG Driving Academy at Lime Rock - Click above for high-res image gallery

The world's sickly economy not withstanding, selling luxury vehicles is easy. From the suppleness of a swatch of leather to the exquisite graining on a piece of rare wood veneer to having every electronic gewgaw available at one's fingertips, what defines a luxury car is essentially self-evident. To a substantial degree, everyone knows quality and true luxury when they see and feel it. The same cannot be so easily said when it comes to matters of high performance.

Selling luxury may be easy, but as AMG has figured out, selling high-performance is a heck of a lot more fun.

As one of the globe's premiere aspirational brands, Mercedes-Benz would appear to have the luxury selling routine knocked. But the company's AMG performance division has become an increasingly prominent part of its portfolio and bottom line, and these vehicles attract a different sort of customer and require a different marketing approach. Thankfully, as AMG has become increasingly important to Mercedes, its product line has risen in quality and dynamic performance. But while luxury and quality are easily conveyed, how do you sell four-wheeled thrills?

The thing is, as an automotive marketer, you can preach how great your sports car is until you're blue in the face, but until you're able to really show people how superior your vehicle is, you're never going to win them all over. And if you're like AMG, your offerings have become way too fast and capable to be safely exploited on public roads. So what's Mercedes to do? Why, give current and potential owners the chance to explore the dynamic limits of both their automobiles and themselves in a fun, legal, educational, and most importantly, safe environment. Enter the AMG Driving Academy.

Mercedes has offered its AMG driving program overseas for some time now, but this year is the first time they've brought the experience to the States. With events at Connecticut's storied Lime Rock Park, Florida's Palm Beach International Raceway, and California's legendary Laguna Seca, the venues Mercedes has chosen are certainly top-notch. But what about the experience? We had to find out for ourselves.

Gallery: AMG Driving Academy at Lime Rock Park

Continue reading Drop the Hammer: Getting schooled with AMG Driving Academy at Lime Rock

Drop the Hammer: Getting schooled with AMG Driving Academy at Lime Rock originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Coming to America: Mercedes AMG Driving Academy, complete with SLS

Noah Joseph — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 16:31:00 EST

Filed under: Mercedes-Benz, AMG

Cash doesn't equal talent. That's the unfortunate reality, wherein those who have the money to spend on a powerful European performance automobile, for example, don't necessarily possess the skills to drive them like they're meant to be driven. Call it one of the great injustices of auto-dom. Fortunately there are those out there dedicated to righting that wrong. Some of them work at the AMG Driving Academy, but sadly for American enthusiasts, the experience has only been available on the other end of a trans-Atlantic flight... until now. Mercedes' in-house tuning division has announced that its driving school will be - like a Neil Diamond song or an Eddie Murphy movie - coming to America.

Covering the northeast, southeast and west coast, the AMG Driving Academy will be setting up shop - for a limited time, mind you - at Lime Rock, Palm Beach and Laguna Seca with a whole fleet of muscular Germans in three different programs. Among those vehicles in the school's paddock are the C63, SLK55, SL63, CLK 63 Black Series and the new E63 AMG. There are one- and two-day packages available at different levels, all of which you can read about in the press release after the jump, where you'll also find the hidden highlight: the SLS program at Laguna Seca, in which participants will be among the first to drive the new AMG SLS gullwing supercar ahead of its market debut.

Gallery: Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG

[Source: Mercedes-Benz]

Continue reading Coming to America: Mercedes AMG Driving Academy, complete with SLS

Coming to America: Mercedes AMG Driving Academy, complete with SLS originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 24 Jun 2009 16:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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