AMG Experience- Yas Marina

[TNW]

I did the AMG experience at Mercedes World (Brooklands) in the U.K a few weeks back and it was a great way to lose a morning, anyone done the one at Yas Marina - just wondering if it's worth the trek?

http://www.yasmarinacircuit.com/en/Activities_and_...

[VanquishDubai]

I did the Radical one there and it was pretty pony. Its built for tourists. We paid I think it was about 1,000aed and basically got to go out once for about 8 laps and they were restricted. Was fun, but pretty crap.

If you want a proper experience I would dig deep and do a Radical day with AUH Motorsport in their proper Radicals which are race prepared and fast as....well...you know what. Ok, its aroun 3,500 dizza but I tell you, its better than any experience I have done at the Autodrome or Yas. I did all the Audi ones and the single seater here in Dubai and nothing came close to the Radicals with AUH.

DO IT! : )

[Harris_I]

I'm surprised to hear you say that, Vanquish. At around AED150 a lap, that's not crazy money. I always felt that the Radicals were way too mental to let punters out in and the AUH ones are not that different. Maybe you just needed more than 8 laps?

I've never driven the AMG so can't comment other than to state the obvious which is that it's a road car and therefore bound to be dull in comparison to a Radical or a single seater.

[Asterix]

Some of the packages are completely underwhelming if you've actually done some decent track time.

I did the single seaters at the Autodrome, was thoroughly bored and when offered the chance to pay for 'an advanced' session, I told them to bog off.

Edited by Asterix on Tuesday 27th August 12:24

[Harris_I]

I don't disagree, Asterix. Most are pointless if you're an experienced track day regular, though I thought the single seaters were interesting for the "experience" (in the literal sense of the word), in that you might never otherwise get a chance to sample a real race car. Same with the Radicals - except that you have the chance to drive much faster since you're not tailing a lead car and therefore subject to the whims of the instructor or the group you're with.

Ultimately, there's no substitute for graduating from track days and karting to autocross, time attacks and finally wheel-to-wheel racing. As Vanquish says, the experiences are for the tourists to tick the box.

[TNW]

I'd agree about the track part. It's no substitute for a proper trackday. I got a bit bored on the short circuit at Brooklands, even with a CLS AMG to play with. Without being able to turn the ESP off it turned in to a game of braking as late as possible and trying to straight-line the exits to cut the intrusion of electro-nanny down to a minimum.

I did enjoy the skid pan though, really good opportunity to practice drifting without the risk of own car / wall interface. Would happily spend an hour prating about on that again if they have one at Yas

[Impspeed]

They do have one at Yas - it's the only one in the region.

If you want to drift, they've just launched the 86 Drift Academy, so you can go an hoon a Toyota 86 on the wet.