Mercedes-Benz Driving Experience 2011

“One down! You’re a cone murderer!” That was the sentence that was echoing the Mercedes-Benz B160’s cabin as I floored the pedal through a series of narrow cones and forced my way through a right bend only to find myself unable to get the car back on track due to a massive under steer. “It’s the heavy right foot. Too much speed causes under steer,” said Peter Hackett, Chief Instructor, Mercedes-Benz Driving Academy.

Currently in its 8^th year, this is the annual Mercedes-Benz Driving Experience which was held at the Change Exhibition Centre from the 28^th of July to the 7^th of August. Led by the Chief Driving Instructor, Peter Hackett, and his team of professional drivers and instructors, participants had to go through a series of exciting but no less comprehensive exercises to better understand the art of driving safely.

The wide range of Mercedes-Benz cars included the newly launched CLS, SLK, C-Class Coupe and the C-Class sedans.

Dynamic Handling Course

Led by an experienced driver and instructor, the aim of this exercise is not about how fast you can cover the course. Apart from demonstrating the importance of controlling the steering wheel and the acceleration of a car, driving the different range of Mercedes-Benz cars showed and reminded us just how exciting Mercedes-Benz cars can be. And with the cones placed closed together, participants were forced to manoeuvre the cars in tight constraints, giving them a better understanding and judgement of when to apply the brakes and acceleration accordingly.

Accelerating on a different surface

Teaching participants how to handle the different cars in wet road conditions, second in line was where things got a tad more exciting. Splashing the tarmac with soap and water was the usual simulation for wet conditions. The icing on the cake, rather, was when participants were instructed to switch off the Electronic Stability Programme (ESP) function. This immediately cuts off the brake assist from the technology, causing the car to over steer when power is emphasised.

Although some may say that the exercise isn’t relevant to our tarmac conditions, it’s a lesson to be learnt and remembered, especially when driving overseas on muddy or ice slippery conditions.

ESP skid tyres and figure 8

Mercedes-Benz Singapore, for the first time ever, has brought in special skid tyres (the orange ones that you see in the pictures below) as part of the driving experience. These skid tyres simulate how it feels like when driving on ice. Although it seems like a dangerous exercise on first glance, you’ll realise that isn’t the case once you floor the pedal.

Completing a figure of 8 with skid tyres lets participants experience the new chassis dynamics and to better understand how the use of ESP saves lives. Once you get the hang of controlling the car to prevent under steer and correcting the steering when over steer happens, this seemingly “dangerous” exercise is nothing but vast amounts of great fun.