Visit update, if you're interested...
Friday 25th July - 270 miles, 5hrs 50mins. The crash that closed the M11 in both ways was a good start, sat for an hour, wishing I'd left earlier. But got to Felixstowe and got a slightly later tunnel crossing, and then onto Leuven, Belgium for a 2 night stop over - nice city and could have stayed longer. Decent hotel in the right part of town with a secure underground car park - Martin's Klooster Hotel.
Stella Artois tour on the Saturday was a bit disappointing, and ended up in a bar watching the Belgium GP qualifying with Flemish commentary. Confusing. Good beer.
Sunday - 330 miles, 6hrs, 20mins. The torrential rain that delayed the grand prix, was what I was driving through on the way to Stuttgart, so my first experience of the unrestricted Autobahn was having my windsreen wipers running flat out and spray/rubbish visibility for nearly the whole drive from Leuven. Should have been 4.5 hours according to Google, and I'd anticipated roof down, sunny July weather, maybe a bit of sun burn, and half an hour off what Google predicted. I felt betrayed by the weather.
Royal Hotel in Stuttgart - not so royal, but good location - had 8 off street parking spaces around the back of the hotel and I always got a space. Roads of Stuttgart are a bit treachourous for newly visiting drivers - Waze was the only thing keeping me on track. I did end up taking detours when I couldn't get into the right lanes in time.
Tip - Didn't realise I needed a low emissions sticker for Stuttgart - got one from a TUV centre for €6. Apparently a €100 fine for not having one, and every car needs it.
Quickly realised on my walkabout that Stuttgart is a petrol head paradise. Huge number of
AMG's, Porsche's, RS
Audi's,
BMW's - lots of serious exhaust notes. I saw two ABT Audis that looked rather menacing. You know how they say some of these people get big sports cars as an extension to their 'personalities' - I can only say I felt understated in my
SLK55.
Monday morning, got to Affalterbach nice and early for my 10.30 factory tour. Spotted two camo cars on the way there - I'm guessing a GL something and a C class something. No photos as I was driving at the time.
The tour was great - it was just me and the guide, and started off in the
AMG showroom - talked about the history of the site and their early cars, surrounded by some of their new models and a Red Pig. My guy was very knowledgeable and think he said he was ex-engineer. Then a short walk to the factory and upstairs to start. There was a cool little display with all the engineers signed engine badges mounted on the wall.
First stop was the Pagani engine building area, and I met Michael Kubler - one of their engineers I've followed on Twitter for ages. Very cool chap - he takes 3 days to build one of their engines. He was working away, so didn't want to bother him too much with banal questions, but couldn't help myself. If there is any one guy more synonymous amongst
AMG engines, it's him.
In the same massive room is their new
AMG engines lines, being the smaller turbo engines and the likes. Very clean, meticulous standards, everything tracked and recorded - one engineer, one engine, and between 2 or 3 hours to put together.
Downstairs was the older manufacturing lines with the V8's. Same ethos, but felt a bit more down to earth workshop vibes, and the bigger lumps will always be my faves.
Upstairs at the showroom was the Private Lounge - nice little cafe like area with books, racing mementos and stuff - very nice coffee. Picked up obligatory gift shop purchases of an
AMG coffee mug and tshirt.
There was a new light blue S class in the car park - a test vehicle with new ceramic brake technology apparently.
Thoroughly recommend the tour - just contact them with your
AMG private lounge user ID and VIN number. If anyone wants the email address, let me know.
On Tuesday, I did the
Mercedes museum which was excellent. Very cool building - You start at the top of the museum and walk a lazy spiral around some marvellous cars. They had a
R171 SLK55 in the celebrity section, with plenty of carbon fibre that used to belong to some local footballer. I particularly liked the concept cars at the end of the museum.
Porsche Museum was also cool, but won't go on about that. Mercs have always been my fave.
Wednesday, 310 miles, 6hr 10mins - was the drive to Amsterdam and back into some unrestricted Autobahn malarkey. Traffic was still being unkind with caravans and trucks doing their thing. I managed 145mph at one point, which was plenty fast enough. Saw a German plate DeLorean being driven on the road, which was cool to see it being used.
I'm sure nobody is interested in my Amsterdam experience, and I'm sure you just want to know about the car parking. I prebooked a space at Q Park in the museum quarter - €75 for two days, but very secure. ANPR picked up by number plate, and heavy gates opened. Then had to scan my QR code on the booking confirmation to get foot access back into the car park. There was a rust free Rover 3500 parked on the street outside my hotel all the time I was there - brilliant red with black vinyl roof, and decent enough to catch your eye.
Friday - 8hr travel back to the UK was uneventful and slow. Back to UK traffic snarling up the M25 and a good half an hour in standstill for the Dartford crossing.
But the end of a fab tour, and definitely the most miles I've put on my car in one week. 1410 miles over all.
