As a motoring blogger, this year I was lucky enough to be invited to Goodwood FoS on 27th June, by another big brand car manufacturer. But with Mercedes-Benz celebrating 120 years of motorsport glory, they were very much centre stage for the entire 4 day event.
Mercedes-Benz were the Festival’s leading brand this year, meaning visitors to the FoS were lucky enough to see everything from the Silver Arrows to modern motoring masterpieces; including my personal favourite the Mercedes AMG A45 and the most powerful AMG yet, the SLS AMG Black Series. Below is a small collection of some the most outstanding Mercedes cars that I had the pleasure of viewing in the stands whilst attending the festival.
Mercedes AMG A45
Don’t be fooled by the domesticated look of this production car. The Mercedes AMG A45 is a “hot hatch” which has both notoriously low ground clearance and low profile tyres. The car can achieve 0-60 in just 6.6 seconds.meaning it eats up the road and spits out burning rubber.
Mercedes have increased the appeal of the A-Class massively with it’s redesign, and with its sportier looks the AMG version was built to appeal to younger buyers with a bit of cash to burn.
Merecedes AMG Vision Gran Turismo Concept
The Mercedes AMG Vision Gran Turismo concept car was first seen at the 2013 LA Motor Show and was making its UK debut at Goodwood. “Vision Gran Turismo” is a 15th anniversary celebration that will be hosted by Gran Turismo with all the cars manufactured under that name being presented in the official Gran Turismo 6 video game.
This concept car had drawn one of the biggest crowds of the day when I arrived, which meant I had to stand back and wait a while for them to clear off before I could appreciate its breathtaking beauty up close. The high sheen chrome finish also made it really hard to get a decent picture, but I managed eventually, and it was worth every second.
Mercedes AMG SLS Black Series
The Mercedes SLS has been around in one form or another for about the last 60 years, and that’s a long time in motoring. Despite the SLS Black Series being the most powerful performance car that the marque have manufactured to date, Mercedes recently announced that they will no longer be manufacturing the SLS, as they are turning their attentions towards the new AMG GT, which incidentally is both less powerful and cheaper than the SLS Black Series.
Despite all this though, David Coulthard took the opportunity to run an AMG Black Series with a 6.2 litre V8 engine up the famous “hill climb” at Goodwood this year, just before the start of the festival. You can check out that video below.
Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula 1 Car
Lewis Hamilton also made an appearance at the Festival of Speed along with the rest of the Mercedes AMG petronas F1 team on Sunday 29th. Hamilton, the 2008 F1 World Champion, drove a modern grand prix car, run by his regular Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One team, up the Goodwood Hillclimb on the Sunday afternoon of the Festival of Speed, stopping only to do doughnuts right in front of the Grandstand and hundreds of amazed spectators!
Mercedes-Benz SL Gullwing (and Renntransporter)
Whilst wandering around I happened to bump into this classic Mercedes SL, still fastened to its transporter. I didn’t realise until the next day that this transporter is known as the Renntransporter and is officially the fastest racing car hauler in the world. According to Auto Evolution:
“Mercedes-Benz’ racing department was the first to come up with these special kind of trucks, which also acted as mobile workshops. The “Silver Arrow Rapid Deployment Team” – as we like to call them – consisted of specially modified blue Mercedes-Benz trucks, meant to ensure a fast and reliable supply chain from the factory where the racing cars where built to the circuit where they were supposed to win races.”
It was really exciting to experience these cars first-hand for the first time, the experience has left me with a newly found thirst for motor shows that probably won’t be well quenched any time soon.
Hayley has been an automotive writer for almost a decade, and is the editor of a popular UK motoring blog, as well as writing for DDR Surrey Mercedes Specialist. She specialises in Mercedes-Benz and dreams of one day owning a Mercedes AMG A45.