I recently wrote about the launch of the MB Academy in America – we already have one here in the UK. In spite of what Mercedes-Benz might claim (they cynically tried to suggest it is specifically targeted at “distracted driving” in America, even though their plans for launch must have predated the current American crusade against distracted driving by a year), it is aimed at wealthy people. The course is expensive – way beyond the means of normal people.
So I now see that there is one in Canada, as reported in the Montreal Gazette .
I won’t repeat everything I’ve said about the MB Academy. I’ll just quote a few things from that article:
…put through your paces by some of the most experienced and capable driving instructors in the country, you get to do it in all manner of new Mercedes-Benz vehicles, from high-performance AMG models to Smart Cars in a dozen-strong fleet…
…Mastering Performance day event on a racetrack…
Skids are intimidating,.. So we’re going to force you to skid…
After a remarkable demonstration of car control that in Kok’s race-experienced hands saw a 400-horsepower Mercedes in a continuous 34-foot circular skid, he pronounced the slippery surface to be “the same consistency of about three inches of snow.”
Apart from being a blast, particularly on the clay surface and in the big horsepower Benz, these exercises really demonstrated the effectiveness of the Mercedes Electronic Stability Program (ESP).
The content isn’t quite what you’d get on 99.9% of driving lessons around the world. Let’s face it, it’s about fast Mercedes-Benz cars and showing off to people who respond to that sort of thing.
It’s ironic when you consider that last article I posted about teens killing themselves. Somehow, showing off in a 400hp Merc isn’t the way I’d get the right message across.
It also perhaps explains why I see a lot of Mercs cutting me and everyone else up as I conduct my driving lessons each day.