We were lucky: in spite of the snowfall, temperature was above zero – so we had a wet track and two super-sedans - Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG and Lexus IS-F. More than 400 hp and RWD is not a good mix in such conditions, but there was no way back.
Lexus was the first to tackle this test. The only thing we got from stability system, was ringing noise. Neither brakes nor engine helped to cope with drift even when the angle was relatively small. Chassis were well balanced, brakes - stable. IS-F was very fast and user-friendly.
But C63 AMG was faster. It was sharper. It needed more concentration, and in slow corners wanted to slip off the track owing to heavy engine. Downshifting in manual mode was not as precise as in Lexus, yet, somehow, in chicanes MB C63 AMG could match the IS-F, and its lap time was almost 3.5 seconds better – 1:54.8 vs 1:58.2 by Lexus IS-F.
Full story will be published in Za Rulem #12, December.