Power, performance and precision as we rip up the track

NOTHING quite gets the adrenaline pumping like the thought of careering around a track in a car that's specially designed for maximum power and performance.

- Willem van de Putte

It's also pretty impressive to see close to R60 million lined front to back at the Zwartkops raceway in Pretoria.

It’s where the Mercedes-Benz AMG Driving Academy is situated and we had the rare opportunity to throw a horde of them around the track with wild abandon.

Brad Pitt

It was also a precursor to the Apex F1 movie which is due to be released shortly.

Naturally, the Mercedes F1 livery features strongly in the film that stars Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Tobias Menzies and Javier Bardem.

There’s also a couple of cameos by multiple world champion Lewis Hamilton (now racing for Ferrari) which will no doubt leave Mercedes AMG F1 team CEO and Mercedes-Benz Motorsport head Toto Wolff grimacing.

South Africa is one of the world’s top consumers of AMG products and it’s understandable why people with deep pockets want to experience some of the best German technology and engineering.

The thrill of gripping a sports steering wheel, AMG sports seats, hitting apexes on corners and the exhaust notes (either real or piped in) is difficult to explain to someone who sees cars merely as vehicles to get from point A to B.

Bonus

For me, it had the bonus of getting seat and track time around the circuit as we head into the next round of the Toyota Gazoo GR Cup at Zwartkops later this month.

With colleague and experienced racer Mark Jones next to me to give a few pointers, I’m hoping it all pays off on race weekend. He has just returned from testing the AMG GT 63 S E Performance Coupe where he managed an astounding 0-100 km/h in 2.76 seconds.

With three races under my belt, my racing craft has improved considerably, so I wasn’t as hesitant to push the limit as I may have been in the past.

GTR Pro

Which brings me to what I think was the standout drive of the day, the Mercedes-Benz GTR Pro.