Heidelberg, Germany, April 23 2010, 2 pm.
The 11th annual meeting of Mercedes-Benz Club presidents begins just as planned in spite of the threatening volcanic ash shadowing the European sky. We parted towards Gaggenau, visiting the Unimog Museum. It’s Director shared with us all his vast experience on the matter and the vehicle’s innumerable virtues.
Saturday 24. We left for Hockenheim’s racetrack where we met the authorities, were presented with the current and future projects focused on optimization of fuel, improvement of the relation with the environment and improvement of vehicles’ security without losing efficiency - a must of the company.
We then visited the boxes and were present at the AMG preparations previous to the classification. As fans of THE brand of cars, we felt we were touching the sky with our hands being beside the real stars.
We then moved on to the trial race tracks where we enjoyed the power if the C63 and the SLS’s incredible acceleration, assisted by the expert pilots such as Bernd Schneider (ex DTM).
Camaraderie and passion for the brand were shared by all at every moment. The sensation that we all knew each other from before and the fact that we shared ideas and projects were common feelings among the participants.
Sunday 25. The moment to demonstrate all the effort made by the Mercedes-Benz team had finally arrived. We left for the racetrack at 8.30 am and we had the chance to try out the saga of classes E, G and M during the morning and of watching a demonstration of the active and passive systems used nowadays in vehicles.
At 2 pm, the race starts. After an excellent performance, Gary Paffett (AMG Mercedes C-Klasse) manages to beet Audi, its principal opponent.
With the satisfaction of having been present at an impeccably organized event, we arrived at the Hotel Crown Plaza of Heidelberg where we were staying. The relaxed dinner that followed was the closing event of this meeting of clubs.
I would like to thank the members of the directing committee of the Juan Manuel Fangio Mercedes-Benz club in the first place, who trusted me as their sole representative and last but not least, to all the organizers who with great effort coordinated such an impeccable and warm reception.
Daniel Mancusi |
