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      04-03-2014, 03:08 AM   #1
westphone
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Mercedes A45 AMG Challenge

One of the acquaintances has a A45 AMG. There is no modifications, nor does mine. One of my customer from work actually is responsible for organizing local rallies, as I found a race spec. Subaru Impreza in his factory garage. I have been granted to act as one of the reconnaissance safety cars. I can go as fast as I want, it's closed road, and I have to sign some insurance papers.

The A45 AMG will come along too, I can already see me not being too happy following the A45, granted that I could follow him up. The road is more like Rally de Catalunya, but part of it close to the top look like Rally Corsica. The advantage I find is I am about 10 kg lighter (no help I presume), I have 3 years or so go karting (this group helped me plenty, thanks), and more mountain driving experience.

I guess the M135i torque comes out faster, but that's about it. Any of you gents got any advises on how to beat an A45 in what's going to be a friendly race. Anywhere I can maybe catch the Haldex system napping?
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      04-03-2014, 04:25 AM   #2
ovekvam
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Sounds like fun!

I don't think the type of car matters all that much. It will basically come down to who is braver. In a situation like this, most people will brake way too early, and enter the corners too slowly. What experienced rally drivers are good at, is coming closer to maxmium entry speed and late enough braking. They do this by trusting the pace notes.

I have quite a lot of track experience, and tried to participate in a local rally. I noticed that I lost a lot of time by being a coward coming up to these corners I had not driven at full speed before. It was still great fun.
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      04-04-2014, 09:40 PM   #3
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It will be fun!

Just a reminder that, as a reconnaissance car, you probably have some duties, such as noting any hazards that may have emerged since the route was surveyed (pot holes, wash outs, standing water if it has rained, animals near the road...), and these need to be located quite specifically so drivers can be briefed before entering the stage.

Sweep car is generally more fun, provided there haven't been too many accidents.
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      04-07-2014, 01:23 AM   #4
westphone
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Thanks for the advice. We would catch up to the recon. car, which has jobs to do, if we start 20 seconds after. We decided not to race because we're just not rally drivers. So over the weekend I swapped cars briefly with the A45 AMG to see how it drives.

The A45 interior feels more expensive, but I haven't gotten used to where the buttons are, so I didn't play with it. Maybe because the AC vents and more colors. I think the LCD (or is it LED) screen looks like an after thought, or an item to be decided at the end of a long meeting. Then again, same can be said why our F20 screen cannot fold down like the old Z4. It sounds ok, steering is nice, and it is very fast everywhere.

Strange though it has a little understeer into and coming out of corners, but during the corner it is very stable, almost if I am a passenger only. Yeah I guess that's why the magazines say you can just throw the car into the corner with more confidence. To get it to understeer one has to go kinda fast though. Gear shift is, well, some downshifts it is not as fast as other downshifts, if it makes sense at all. Body roll and stuff magazines describe better. Maybe I am not used to the car. After all I had about 10 minutes in someone's cherished automobile.

I think if we are on a track there is no way factory M135i will win over A45 AMG driven by the same driver. I guess the ZF 8 spd will do better (probably still lose), but the manual will be slower is the same old story.

Afterwards, I would pick manual M135i again and again because driver involvement. Got a video too

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