Southwest Star Magazine 2016 3nd quarter

COVERING THE SOUTHWEST REGION OF THE MERCEDES-BENZ CLUB OF AMERICA VOLUME 4, NUMBER 3

The GT R, G550 4x42, Lewis and Nico’s Monaco downtime, Mercedes me Beijing, Nürburgring 24, Forgeline Motorsports and Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus at the ring, Huayra down under, And much more

Your cars, your events The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

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The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

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10 Mercedes-AMG GT R 16 Forgeline Motorsports, Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus, and Nürburgring 24 The AMG GT: Yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

30 G550 4x42 34 Turning up the heat at Fashion Week 36 A sitdown with with Jeroen Bleekemolen 44 Mercedes at the Nürburgring 24 50 F1 drivers during downtime 54 The F1 roundup 62 Buying a Benz in the early days 66 The Mercedes Museum celebrates 10 years

74 Mercedes me Beijing 78 The PIECHA CLA-Class 80 Insurance woes 86 DIME Racing on the podium 90 The Huayra BC down under 102 OC at the Southwest Regional 106 The Chaparral Section’s Coronado Memorial Wildflower Drive 108 L.A.'s Glendora Mountain Road Event

110 San Diego kills it at Cars and Coffee 116 Channel Islands @ the Murphy Museum 120 Meet a member Jutta Lunario 130 Communiqués from the section presidents 144 Upcoming Events

and much more

The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

The Southwest Star Covering the Southwest Region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America August 2016 The Southwest Star Magazine is published four times per year by Fitzhugh Media Santa Clarita, California, USA www.fitzhughmedia.com info@fitzhughmedia.com

Editorial Editor in Chief Marcus Blair Fitzhugh Managing Editor Veeann Hegreberg Creative Director Karcy Bowles Motorsports Editor Kevin Ehrlich East Coast Bureau Chief Wendy Fitzhugh Creative Consultant Sean Fitzhugh Contributors To This Issue Alan Nelson Amir & Mindy Rudyan Ann Geskes Arica Ohanisian Barbara Benson Barbara Cameron Beatrice Werner Beverly Maddalone Bob Gunthorp Bob Scudder Brian Parker Brigitte Sutherly Bruce Moss Carol Kruse-Ross Chase Kaufman Diana Kruse Don Loyd Edward Dykstra Fran Schoenfeld Gary Jarvis Jay Pill Jerry Tucker

Jim Salisbury Jim Weins Jocelyn Salisbury Judy Caruso Jutta Lunario Kathy Wilber Kevin Wright Lana Tbilisi Laura Dykstra Marlyn Ortiz Mary Fischer Michael Cooper Mike Bailey Robert Wilber Rosi Bauer Sara Aguinaga Sherre Frost Shirley Hern Steve Misner Tamara Samaha Tina Wright Ty Hilbrecht Verna Eason Victoria Mazelli

Dime Racing Forgeline Motorsports MJ50FOTO Pagani Automobili Scuderia - Cameron Glickenhaus Mercedes-Benz Club of America Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz USA Daimler AG Mercedes-Benz Classic Center Mercedes-AMG

Distribution The Southwest Star is available worldwide via the 8 MBCA Southwest Section websites, Issuu, and Fitzhugh Media

Queries info@fitzhughmedia.com

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Any and all items submitted to The Southwest Star Magazine will become the sole property of The Southwest Star Magazine and are subject, but not limited to editing, comments, and titles.

The Southwest Star Magazine is a trademark of Fitzhugh Media. All rights reserved. This magazine may not be reproduced in part or in full – in print, by digital media, broadcast, or in any other manner without the express written permission of Fitzhugh Media. That said, permission is regularly given, so please, just ask first.

The publishers of The Southwest Star Magazine believe the content of the magazine to be reliable and correct at the time of publication. We do our best but no representation is made as to the accuracy hereof as this magazine is subject to errors and omissions.

With that in mind, neither the publishers nor contributors can be held responsible for any effects arising from the content of The Southwest Star Magazine. This may include but is not limited to excessive time spent tinkering with, admiring, discussing, or dolling out money on Mercedes-Benz vehicles. The views expressed in The Southwest Star Magazine are those of the individual contributors and not necessarily those of the publisher. Advertising is accepted with the understanding that it is accurate and does not contravene the Trade Practices Act. Inclusion of an advertisement should not be construed as an endorsement by The Southwest Star Magazine, the publishers or contributors.

The Southwest Star Magazine is independent of Mercedes-Benz, Daimler AG, its subsidiaries, the Mercedes-Benz Club of America, all individual MBCA regions and the associated sections. Neither Fitzhugh Media nor The Southwest Star Magazine is responsible for any claims made by its advertisers or partners. In addition, neither Fitzhugh Media nor The Southwest Star Magazine is responsible for injuries, losses, or damages, to property or self.

All that said, feel free to contact Fitzhugh Media at Info@FitzhughMedia.com Š 2005 Fitzhugh Media

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The Southwest Region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America is made up of eight sections. As members, we like to do what we love and do it as often as we can. If life was a meal, we’d be the ones enjoying every last bite. Please consider joining a section near you.

Southwest Region

President – Bud Cloninger

Channel Islands Section President – Peter Samaha www.mbcachannelislands.org Ventura-Santa Barbara Counties, California Chaparral Section, President – Mike Zonnefeld www.tucsonsmercedesclub.org Tucson, Arizona Desert Stars Section President – Debbie Ichiyama www.desertstars.mbca.org Phoenix, Arizona Las Vegas Section President – Paul Kruger www.mbca-lasvegas.org Las Vegas, Nevada Long Beach – South Bay President John McCully www.mbcalb-sb.com Long Beach and the South Bay area of Los Angeles County, California Los Angeles Section President – Paul Bergstrom www.la-mbca.com Los Angeles, California Orange County Section President – Lynn Hern www.mboc.info Anaheim, Huntington Beach, Irvine, Laguna Beach, Newport Beach and Orange, CA. San Diego Section President – Michael Cooper www.sandiego.mbca.org San Diego, California

The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

From the editor’s desk

ollecting is a curious hobby. Before deciding to collect something, we somehow have to decide we want it. Occasionally we convince ourselves the “want” is a “need”, but “needs” are a slippery slope.

If it’s a “need”, it should fill a void, and issues involving voids in one’s personal life are questions that Dr. Phil may be more qualified to answer. Sticking with “wants”, sometimes getting what we want works, sometimes it sends us further down the rabbit hole. Motorcycles are a great example. Buy the fastest 600 sportbike, add an Akrapovič and a Power Commander (exhaust and fuel, because horrifically fast isn’t quite fast enough), and the glow of satisfaction will cover you until you toss a leg over a stock ZX10. After another round of exhaust and fuel upgrades, the 10 will be just what you need until someone whispers “H2” in your ear. Now you’ve got three bikes and the voices in your head keep repeating, “H2R. You need the

R ”.

Collecting is fun, but it’s easy to get carried away. Many collectables require accessories, and since we can’t have our valuable knickknacks lying about, they have to be stored. Now we’re looking for storage space, and this is slowly building into Jay Leno’s garage.

There’s another form of collecting and it takes up a lot less space; experiences. Going places and doing things create memories that will always be with you. If you don’t care for the place or the activity, then it’s behind you. If it was enjoyable, maybe you’d like to try it again. I’m not suggesting you sell the house and work out a long term relationship with some luxury hotel chains. Rather, check out some new places and meet some new people. You know, the events section. To keep the memories fresh, you should get a good camera; I prefer a DSLR. Aside from the camera equipment, you’ll need some disk space. The Lenovo ix2 network attached storage is a good unit, but it’s diskless, so pick up a pair of hard drives. You’ll need a spare Ethernet port on your home router, but none of this uses much space, and there only a few other things for the shopping list. Yes, this does have the same pitfalls as other forms of collecting, but like I said in the beginning, it takes a lot less space.

Marcus Blair Fitzhugh Page | 8

The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

by Marcus Blair Fitzhugh Photos courtesy of Mercedes-Benz

ith reigning Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton as the guest of honor, MercedesAMG introduced the new AMG GT R at the legendary Brooklands circuit in Great Britain.

Around 100 international media types were on hand to witness the 585 HP "Beast from the Green Hell" officially let out of its cage. The "Green Hell" refers to the birthplace of the AMG GT R - the North Loop at Nürburgring, where this new model was extensively tested. The name is also a reference to the exclusive, special "AMG green hell magno" paint finish of the world premiere car.

The GT R is the latest, most powerful version of the AMG GT, and it’s not for the faint of heart.

One popular publication called the GT S “The best sports car Mercedes has ever built.” Apparently, Page | 10

someone at Mercedes-AMG was told “See the GT S? We’re going to need a little more of everything.” The AMG GT R combines the driving dynamics of the AMG GT3 race car, with the everyday practicality of the AMG GT. The GT R once again confirms race and road car designers come up with great products when they work together.

There were workshops at the presentation, and they covered driving dynamics, weight optimization, aerodynamics, and design. The product specialists from Mercedes-AMG explained technical highlights such as the active rear steering, the intelligent lightweight construction, the active aerodynamic section in the underbody, and the motorsport influenced design features such as the new AMG Panamericana grille.

With the new AMG GT R, we have reached the next level of driving performance. This road-going sports car with motor-racing genes and innovative technical solutions offers an ultimate driving experience that allows people to feel our motorsport origins in every fiber. It combines the driving dynamics of our AMG GT3 racing car with the everyday practicality of the AMG GT. Those with gasoline in their veins will be thrilled by the radical longitudinal and lateral acceleration, the precise turn-in and the sensational grip. We have modified all performance-relevant components and linked them together intelligently for maximum driving dynamics.

- Tobias Moers, Chairman of Mercedes-AMG GmbH

The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

At Mercedes-AMG, increased power comes with increased control.

Here’s what's new in the control department The AMG GT R has wider front and rear fenders for increased track width. This provides increased grip, allowing for higher cornering speeds. It has a new front fascia with active elements, a large functional rear spoiler, and a new rear fascia with a double diffuser. The aerodynamics enhance efficiency and increase downforce when needed. The lightweight forged wheels are equipped with cup tires, and are standard. The same is true of the other new features such as active rear-wheel steering, nine-way adjustable traction control, and electronically adjustable coil-overs. Further, the new AMG Panamericana grille emphasizes the AMG GT R's racing heritage. Its vertical fins are used on the Mercedes-AMG GT3 race car and now, for the first time, they appear on an AMG production vehicle. The basic form of the new grille goes back to the Mercedes-Benz 300 SL race car that won the legendary Panamericana road race in Mexico, back in 1952.

The low-slung front section and the forward-inclined radiator grille create a distinctive "shark nose" effect. This makes the car appear to sit lower, but it's not just about looks. This shape also lowers the vehicle's back-pressure point, enhancing both the flow of cooling air and the car's aerodynamics. The front mid-engine / rear transaxle configuration produces a rear-biased weight distribution of 47.3% / 52.7%. Combining these features with the vehicle's low center of gravity produces extremely agile handling and higher cornering speeds.

The V-shaped, arrow-like appearance of the front end enhances the AMG GT R's dynamic looks.

The front fascia features a new jet-wing design that emphasizes the feeling of width, giving the car a more road-hugging appearance. In terms of their shape, the large outer air intakes in the Page | 12

front fascia are suggestive of jet engines. The intakes are functional and have two horizontal fins which route airflow to the radiators.

The wide front splitter reduces lift at the front axle. Additional Air Curtains on the outside of the front fascia calm the airflow, improving the Cd. The Air Curtain’s narrow vertical openings guide air towards the wheel arches, optimizing flow properties in that area. To ensure ideal airflow through the double wheel arch radiators, the AMG GT R has unique wheel arch liners with special cooling-air slits.

A special feature is the all-new active aerodynamics profile.

This is concealed, almost invisibly tucked

away in the underbody in front of the engine. At 50 mph, while in RACE mode, this 4-pound carbon component automatically moves downward about 1.6 inches, considerably changing the airflow. This process results in a Venturi effect, which "sucks" the car onto the road and reduces the front-axle lift by 88 lbs. at 155 mph.

The driver can actually feel this through the steering wheel.

The effect makes the AMG GT R more precise when cornering at high speed and exhibit better directional stability. During fast cornering and under high lateral acceleration, the AMG GT R delivers more agile The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

response with clearer steering wheel feedback than the GT S. In addition, the drag coefficient is improved and the downforce on the rear axle remains unchanged. This innovation was initially developed using computer simulation, and then optimized with countless hours in the wind tunnel. The results were confirmed in extensive test drives, including on the North Circuit of the Nurburgring.

When the electrically operated profile is extended, the radiator air outlet opens, guiding the air flow towards the double rear diffuser. The diffuser then benefits from an optimal flow of air. This improves rear stability while reducing the rear axle’s temperature level.

The aerodynamics

package also increases stopping power by routing more cold air to the rear wheel discs. To protect against damage, the component is spring-mounted and can easily flex upwards.

Another aero enhancement is the active air management system. This system has vertical louvers in the lower area directly behind the front fascia. These electronically controlled louvers can be opened and closed in a single second. The louvers are normally closed. Having them closed at top speed, during braking, and when cornering, lowers drag and makes it possible to route air to the underbody, reducing front lift. When the demand for cooling air reaches a certain point, the louvers open and redirect cooling air to the heat exchangers.

All this aero tech goes into making the R a complete package. That’s not to imply the GT S is deficient. The GT S has the suspension and brakes to handle its 503 horsepower and 479 poundfeet of torque. It’s just the R has 577 horsepower and 516 pound-feet of torque. AMG could have simply dialed up the power level, widened the track, tacked on the Panamericana grille, and rolled the new R out the door. But that wouldn’t be “The best or nothing.”

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The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

merican drivers are somewhat rare to see racing at the Nürburgring.

The

numbers have increased modestly over the past decade or so, but finding an American on the grid is still fairly novel.

An American team is extremely rare. An American team that races a car of its own design is unheard of – at least it was until 2011.

American Jim Glickenhaus became well known in car enthusiast circles when he commissioned famed Italian design house Pininfarina to build a custom body for a Ferrari Enzo chassis. The result was known as the Ferrari P4/5 by Pininfarina and was unveiled to the world in August 2006 at Pebble Beach. Photos of the car lit up the internet and social media and the car was officially recognized

by Ferrari.

Not content with a custom one-off road car, the project inspired Glickenhaus to commission a racing companion. The competition car would share the same design cues of P4/5 but use a Ferrari 430GT2 race car as a starting point. The end result – known as P4/5 Competizione - was so custom and unique that Ferrari not only would not recognize the car but refused to sell parts to the team.

Such a project did not fit naturally into the regulatory frameworks for most racing series, but Glickenhaus and team worked with the Nürburgring organizers and gained an entry for the car at the 2011 24-hour race. (This is not unprecedented - over the years, the Ring has welcomed various experimental and one-off entries.

Another

example is the Porsche 911 with hybrid power that ran in the Nürburgring 24 hours which set the stage for Porsche hybrid road cars like the 918 and the Le Mans willing 919 race car.)

In its 2011 debut, the car completed 133 laps and finished 39th overall, a significant result for a new car.

For 2012, the team added hybrid power which added pace and finished 12th overall.

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Photos and story by Kevin Ehrlich Clearly, the bug had bitten Jim Glickenhaus – hard. The vision started to develop in 2013 for a brand new car – designed and built fresh in all respects. After some teasers along the way, a new road car and race car concept was unveiled at the March 2015 Geneva Motorshow. The design was spearheaded by former Pininfarina standout Italian Paulo Garella and named SCG003 – Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus (Cameron is the maiden name of Jim Glickenhaus’ wife).

The objective was a car that could easily be built, repaired and converted from road to race car and back again. The shape was more prototype supercar than regular sportscar or luxury The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

performance car.

As with the Ferrari P4/5 by Pininfarina, social media and the Internet gave the

new car an incredible amount of public exposure.

A team comprised of many former Pininfarina staff not only designed the new car but also manufactured, assembled, tested and raced the new car. After some testing and a qualifying race outing, the 2015 NĂźrburgring 24 Hours was the first 24-hour race for the new car. A black and yellow pair were entered but only one made the race start as the yellow car had a major accident in practice.

Jim described the level of damage by saying it was repairable and could probably have been OK to drive on the street, but he could not put a driver at risk during a race in good conscience.

In an epic survival tale, the remaining car showed pace but struggled with an alternator issue.

The team repaired the car several times during the race and coaxed it through the final lap by sheer willpower, much to the delight of the fans watching the finish.

The team returned in 2016 with the benefit of much more testing and development.

It also

brought along the P4/5 Competizione for another outing. Unfortunately, P4/5 Competizione spent the race tucked away under cover in the team transporter after suffering a crash in practice that damaged the tub. The twin SCG003 competition cars started the race, but only the yellow car finished (26th overall). The black car had an accident with an Audi that ended its event.

Out of 158 cars on the grid, every car and team and driver has a story. One of the great things about endurance racing is that there is a richness of the event beyond the leaderboard at the top of the field.

The Glickenhaus team is a small privately funded team going up against large, wellestablished teams – many with significant manufacturer support. The multimillion dollar SCG003 project involved staff and many suppliers, mainly from America and Italy.

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One interesting example is the manufacturer of the wheels, Forgeline Motorsports. Based in Dayton, Ohio, the American company traces its roots back to 1916 when the Dayton Wire Wheel Company was founded. That company supplied wheels to all kinds of customers including Henry Ford, the Wright Brothers, and Charles Lindberg’s Spirit of St. Louis Airplane. In 1970s, the company ran into financial trouble and was rescued by a chemical engineer working for General Motors who repaired wire wheels as a hobby.

That engineer, Jim Schardt, ran the company for the next 30 years as a family-run business which involved his sons Dave and Steve.

In 1994, the two sons set out on their own to establish Forgeline Motorsports in order to apply their knowledge to make wheels for high-performance street car and racing customers.

Their customer

base spans a wide range of cars including Corvettes, vintage and current Camaros, BMWs, street and racing Porsches and various hot rods.

Spectators at race tracks across the United States see Forgeline wheels on a number of cars on road courses in series such as the IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge.

The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

Forgeline Wheels; built in Ohio and run at the NĂźrburgring 24

Jim Glickenhaus was running a Ferrari on track days and wanted a second set of wheels to avoid risking originals. He called on the team at Forgeline Motorsports. Apparently, Jim was pleased with the results because he called on Forgeline again when it came time to outfit his new SCG003 project.

While Forgeline is well known in the US for custom wheels that it designs and manufactures inhouse, it does not have a European presence.

To complete the circle, not only did Forgeline

Motorsports find itself on the grid with prominent signage on the flanks of both Glickenhaus SCG003 entries, patriarch Jim Schardt was on hand – providing not only another link to an American presence at the Ring, but representing a thin link to the Dayton Wire Wheel Company founded a century earlier.

Looking ahead, the vision is for a road legal version of the SCG003 to be unveiled in August. The team has been further developing and polishing the concept to make it ready for sale. Most likely, the car will be available in the US only in kit form. In other words, SCG will sell you the necessary parts but you’ll need to work with an assembly vendor in the US to comply with US car manufacturing regulations. The objective is to have an engine sourced from a major manufacturer, so a customer could take it to a regular dealership for service and parts.

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Keep your eyes open for more from both Glickenhaus and Forgeline. It is great to see people with unique visions finding ways to realize and share their passion with others.

The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

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The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

by Kevin Ehrlich Photos courtesy Mercedes-Benz and Mercedes-Enthusiast Magazine

Gestation of the Mercedes-AMG GT umors of a “baby SLS” started to circulate in the fall of 2009. After the success of the SLS, the braintrust at AMG’s headquarters in Affalterbach, Germany were working on a potential successor – one that could challenge to the Porsche 911.

Two years later, the project was apparently formally approved with a 2015 delivery date in mind.

Known internally by codename C190 (a less than subtle designation to the Mercedes 190SL of the late 1950s and early 1960s), a formal naming was yet unknown. Would it be named the SLC? The SSK AMG? Badged primarily as a Mercedes Benz or an AMG? In mid-2012, a rough prototype was spotted near the Nürburgring with a vague SLS shape. Given that the SLS was already well into production and the prototype appeared to have a shorter wheelbase than an SLS, the mule was presumed to be the “baby SLS.” The proud three pointed star on the nose was a sign that Mercedes AMG was not hiding its intentions.

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In June 2013, Mercedes discretely released its own “spy photos” of a new prototype on the streets around Affalterbach. Usually, sharp eyed photographers are the first to spot prototypes racking up testing miles and sell photos to car enthusiast media outlets around the world, but Mercedes cleverly bypassed the spy photo industry and operated on its own terms to generate interest.

The prototype was clad in matte black camouflage. The nose looked nothing like a Mercedes, instead showing vague references to a BMW twin grille. The rear had a very rounded profile, perhaps something like a Porsche 928. Multiple ridges ran along the hood and roof running from front to back with no function other than to further confuse the shape.

During the course of development, multiple prototypes were used – some in the matte black and others in white with black swirls.

Closer to the release date, Mercedes AMG even wrapped one in bright green with black flame-like streaks to give media an advance peek at the upcoming car.

On April 14, 2014, Mercedes publicly confirmed that a new car was coming soon and announced the name as the Mercedes-AMG GT. While Mercedes road cars are known by the full “Mercedes Benz” name, the “Mercedes-AMG” naming convention was a direct nod to the AMG roots. Giving little away about the exterior shape, a press release also included two interior photos.

The final result was unveiled on September 9, 2014 at AMG’s headquarters in Affalterbach, Germany. A large invite-only crowd of guests and media saw yellow, silver and red examples of the new Mercedes-AMG GT. The motorsports link was clear with the presence of Bernd Schneider, of the most successful Mercedes racing drivers of all time, as well as Mercedes Formula One driver Nico Rosberg. Schneider provided commentary for a rolling chronology of significant cars from AMG’s history that preceded Rosberg driving the yellow AMG GT road car onto the stage.

The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

The Paris Auto Show a month later served as the first chance for the general public to see the car.

The work of the development team was done and first deliveries started in April 2015.The life of a prototype is not glamorous. Testing is conducted in secret. Cars are intentionally abused and pushed to their limits in all altitudes, temperatures and conditions.

Their experimental and

Frankenstein nature means that they can never be sold to customers.

Once their service is

complete, they are usually destroyed – some through crash testing.

Despite AMG’s long history, the Mercedes-AMG GT is only the second car that AMG developed inhouse (as opposed to the regular Mercedes development process). The SLS was its first and quite a success.

You might imagine that AMG was proud of its effort on the GT successor and wanted to keep a symbol of that development project.

In fact, AMG decided to keep the first GT prototype for its growing museum.

AMG

hasn’t kept many of its cars over the years but

is

now

recognizing

the

historical

significance of the cars being developed within its walls.

Fortunately for racing fans in Germany, AMG displayed the prototype at the Nürburgring 24-hour race in May. Fittingly, the prototype was in plain sight, but tucked behind a display for the AMG Driving Academy.

AMG staff proudly recounted how the prototype had been all around the world through all kinds of testing. A peek inside showed an interior that was remarkably polished and similar to a production car. AMG staff recounted how the interior was, in fact, further along in the process than the mechanical aspects when the prototypes started to run on public roads. This also makes sense given the interior photos released by Mercedes AMG in April 2014.

Remarkably, an internet search for 2013 and early 2014 turns up fairly few shots of the prototypes spotted “in the wild” during development.

Either the disguises worked or Mercedes was very

careful about when and where to conduct testing or both.

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While the GT took several years of development, the platform is being used for variants as well.

Once the road car was developed, a GT3 racing version came along quickly. First glimpses of the race car were seen during testing in April 2015 and the first customer deliveries took place in midDecember 2015 (see Customer Racing story in the 1Q 2016 issue of The Southwest Star).

The more powerful AMG GT-R was unveiled on June 24, 2016 with its first public appearance at the Goodwood Festival of Speed (see story elsewhere in this issue of The Southwest Star).

Prototypes of a convertible version have already been spotted publicly and an announcement is expected soon. There are more rumors circulating of other models and variations as well.

Both the AMG-GT and the GT3 have been commercial successes. Seeing the prototype on display at the Nürburgring 24 hours seemed appropriate. Not only did prototypes use the Ring as a testing venue, the AMG GT3 swept the podium of the Nürburgring 24 hours, finishing 1-2-3 and 5 (see story elsewhere in this issue of The Southwest Star) – the ultimate proof statement for the many hours of time and effort undertaken outside of the public eye.

So what does the future hold? Usually we’d say the mid-model upgrade is in year three or four, but our friends at Mercedes Enthusiast Magazine out if the UK say we may not have to wait that long . . . . . .

The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

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The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

By Marcus Blair Fitzhugh Photos courtesy of Mercedes-Benz

any of you know it as the G-Wagon. Although it’s really G-Wagen, and that came from its original name, the Geländewagen (German for cross-country vehicle). Officially, it the G-Class, but if you wander into a dealer with the funds, you can call it chicken soup and they’ll get you one. Said funds will range between $120K for the base G550, $140K for the AMG G63, and $218K for the G65 – depending on options and your negotiating skills, of course.

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Our beloved GWagen started life as an answer to an expensive question.

In the 1970’s the Shah of Iran told Mercedes it would be nice if they built an SUV. Since the Shah had deep pockets, Mercedes started a joint project with Austrian military vehicle manufacturer, Steyr-Daimler-Puch, and out came the “Geländewagen”; an SUV for both civilian and military use.

The G is still hand assembled in the original Graz factory, and is still used as a military vehicle.

During its career, the G has served sixty-three different armies, and Mercedes has promised NATO that they’ll be available through at least 2025.

With the history fresh in your mind, this should make sense; for the general public, buying a G is not a rational decision. Not that pure logic is the deciding factor in many of our buying decisions.

Logic is “a single factor” and it’s pushed to the back of the line when I make many choices. Why

The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

should this be different? If logic were the deciding factor, there would be no sports cars. The argument can be made that there would be no sports. Logically speaking, there’s no reason for comedy or art. Practically speaking, we like to laugh, we like what we consider to be attractive, and we like G-Wagens.

Most people are not off-road types. We’re more likely to be on a boat or in a jet when travel excludes a road. Occasionally we wander into a park, but most of us are “pavement people”. On pavement, the G has vague steering, wretched grip, and a suspension that’s at best described as unsettling. Although it’s a criticism, these are all qualities we should expect from a true off-road vehicle when used out of its natural element. However, when in its element, the G-Wagen is an authentic off-road vehicle. This is the best tool for the job, and for 2017, the knife gets sharper.

Early next year, the Mercedes-Benz G550 4×4² will arrive stateside. The 4x4² ("four by four squared") is the smaller, slightly more rational version of the G63 6x6. Although smaller, don’t envision the 4x4² as small. At 7’4”, it’s over 11 inches taller than a standard G-Wagen. In addition, the ground clearance has been increased by 7.9 inches, it’s 9 inches wider in the front, and 10 inches wider in the rear.

G63 6x6

The difference in stance comes with a new suspension. It has dual springs and dual electronically adjustable shocks. The increased ground clearance is supported by portal axles. Unlike a conventional axle, the portal axles used in the 4x4² have a series of gears similar to those used in a transmission. This

G550 4×4²

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allows the axle input and the corresponding wheel center to be at drastically different heights. If that’s too geeky, just understand the increased height decreases the odds it will get stuck in the middle of nowhere.

The 4x4² is powered by the AMGbuilt 4-liter, twin-turbo V8.

The

engine produces 416 horsepower and 450 pound-feet of torque. The power flows through a 7G-TRONIC PLUS seven-speed automatic transmission where it is distributed to the permanent all-wheel drive system.

The interior is what we expect from Mercedes-Benz. It’s ultra-luxurious and has been laid out in a thoughtful fashion using the finest materials available. As with the standard G, the 4x4² comes with the 8” COMAND navigation system, allowing you to know just how far you are from civilization.

Prices haven’t been announced, but we expect it to be more than a standard G63.

The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

This past June, Mercedes-Benz was the title sponsor of the 19th annual Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Berlin. Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week provides both established and emerging designers a platform to present their newest collections. The Berlin event has cemented itself as a permanent fixture in the international fashion calendar.

After 19 years, some may think they’ve seen everything the show has to offer. Not quite. This year Mercedes-Benz placed an accelerant down the center of a CLA and lit it.

by J Pill Photo courtesy of Mercedes-Benz

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Wolfgang Schattling welcomed guests and commented, “This season, we have been playing with fire in the truest sense of the word. It was a creative challenge to successfully personify the rebellious nature of the CLA and to capture its individuality via visual imagery. Fire played a key part in the campaign and was chosen and used as a metaphor for desire and for the powerful visual.”

The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

by Kevin Ehrlich Photos by Kevin Ehrlich and Mercedes-Benz

Driver Jeroen Bleekemolen has a unique perspective.

He’s successfully driven all

different types of sports cars – prototypes and GT cars – and won many races in many different series. He spends about 30 weekends a year racing something somewhere as a professional driver. Among other things, he has significant experience with teams like the German Black Falcon team in the racing version of the Mercedes AMG SLS, including winning overall at the Nürburgring 24 hours in 2013.

The Southwest Star talked with Jeroen just before the 2016 Nürburgring 24 hours in May about his experiences racing a Mercedes.

You’ve had a lot of very good runs here at the Nürburgring and real success with the Mercedes SLS. How did you come to that program?

“Actually I was in touch with Black Falcon a long time ago, even before they were running the Page | 36

SLS. I think I even did a race for them with one of the slower cars here with them. I couldn’t do the (Nürburgring) 24hr most years because it was clashing with another race I was doing so I missed it quite a few times. When I started talking to them again, they started running the SLS and it kind of took off. They asked me to join them for the first year with their SLS here and we showed some good pace – we had a small issue in the race – still finished 6th overall, and then on we did a lot of races and also other races like Dubai, Abu Dhabi 12hr, and Blancpain. Since then I’ve done a lot of races with the SLS with them.”

Did you have one particular favorite chassis you drove a lot or did they have several?

“The cars were very equal when they come from the factory. We’ve always had good cars with quite a few different cars. Basically every year for this race we got a new car, a brand new car, the same thing for Dubai, so I usually did those 2 races with completely new cars which was great because we knew all the cars were new, we didn’t put too many laps on them during practice.

They were still pretty fresh for the main race.”

The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

Do you look back at your Nürburgring race win as a key part of your racing biography?

“I think to win this race is amazing because the conditions are so hard with around 30 cars that can win overall - GT3 cars with manufacturers behind who put pressure and effort and money. To win this race is really special and also the place is a special place. The track itself - it’s dangerous, it’s a long track, it’s like nothing else – so to win it is really good, for sure. Whenever I look at the program and see your name in the book as one of the winners, it’s always great.”

Do you ever get back to see the old car? Is it on display?

“It’s at the AMG museum (in Affalterbach) and also our Dubai car, so I have 2 cars in the museum.

I’ve never been there, so every now and then someone sends me a picture who has been there, so they are still out there.”

Do you get that with a lot of the old cars that you’ve driven? Do you people tag you on social media as they see cars in museums or out at events?

“Yeah, it’s nice. It doesn’t happen too often. The real special cars I drove are the ones from the big wins. I won in LMP2 in Le Mans so that car is still out there and is special, people still love it and the same with the SLS AMG car, so it’s the big cars that are still out there and people still want to see.”

The SLS had a 100+ production run. How much factory support, interest, involvement was there?

“Initially they built the car and they did a fantastic job because it was probably the nicest or the easiest car to drive when it came out of all the GT3 cars.

Every

amateur loved it, they could be really quick with it or could be close to the pro drivers which is very important if you build a GT3.

If it was raining, it was quite an easy car to handle which is really good for races like this 24hr race,

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especially on a track like this where you have no run off or anything. So the car, they did a fantastic job with it.

Initially I felt like AMG really saw it as a customer program, sell you the car and you can get the parts but they didn’t support teams that much in terms of money or people.

They gave the

(customer teams) a base set up. So, they delivered a very quality, a very high quality product but they let the teams run it. But as the GT3 developed more and more professionally, they’ve stepped in more of the time. You see their effort this year at the 24 hours. It’s amazing they have so many factory drivers they signed up not only for this race. They really support the teams now so it has changed over the years. I guess you need to do that in order to be able to fight.”

Porsche, Audi, and others are doing that.

“I think Audi initially was already really involved trying to get all these wins, which they did. So, they stepped in a bit earlier than most of the other manufacturers in terms of support with drivers or money, so I think they made a good name there because they won so many races in that period.”

They sold a lot of cars.

“Yeah, that’s what it does as well. Like at Le Mans, they wanted to win races as well. Whereas a lot of manufacturers were like “OK we’re going to sell the car and see it as a business model and we’re going to try to make money on it”. Audi was not necessarily trying to make money on it but was also trying to win races. Now everybody is in the same way. You can sell a lot of cars which gives you a lot of money and with that money you can also win the races. It is a circle.

Now everybody is pushing hard.”

Did you have advance knowledge about the SLS?

Did you know about the testing

program? Were you involved?

“No. The team (Black Falcon) was not involved. It was really AMG and HWA (spin-off from AMG that focuses on motor racing efforts of Daimler, Mercedes, and AMG) who started development of the car with Thomas Jager and Bernd Schneider. I know Thomas really well. I knew Bernd but I got to know him really well driving with him later on. I heard from Thomas as well that the car was going to be good. I knew it was going to be good quality.”

The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

It seems like the race/road car difference is a lot closer with the AMG GT3. Is that fair?

“Maybe so. I think they just learned from the SLS and all the weak points were taken out of it.

They put a really good GT car together with the GT. At the moment, the best GT3 car out there I would say.”

When you say “best” what criteria are you using to say the “best”?

“The problem is that you have a balance of performance so the worst car can win. If the best car gets penalized then it is suddenly the worst car, so you are very dependent on this balance of performance. I think that what they did, they build a car that is very comfortable to drive and very easy with all the switches and very easy to handle in every way. They brought that over to the GT. It is still a very easy car to drive, but they also made it better. In terms of performance, it is quicker. Better braking, better aero, less drag. It has the same engine but it has so much less drag that the top speed is much higher.

Because of that, the organizers compared the two cars. They are quite similar in a way, so the Page | 40

BoP was originally set from the SLS. In the beginning, the BoP was too good. I still feel they are still too quick compared to other cars. They’ve done a really good job. I believe that they have the best chance to win this race.”

Did the SLS change over its life? Did it evolve over the years?

“Yes they had some updates, but nothing big. All small little things. But if you compared the first to the last, it was not a big change. Basically because they did such a good job in the first place.

It was a car that was ready to race. It was reliable. It could win right away. This car was always good. You didn’t really have to do much to it.”

Does the new AMG GT3 have a fairly wide envelope in terms of making it accessible for both the professional and amateur?

Does it have a wide performance envelope to

accommodate both?

“Yes, I’d say it is the best car to have for an amateur to be as close as you want to the pro. I’ve seen it in the past when I was with the amateur drivers on my car. They could get really close to the pros whereas in other cars they would struggle to get that close. It is such an easy car to drive. Also for the pro - I remember in Dubai one year my teammate crashed right at the beginning of the week so we couldn’t practice at all. We went straight into qualifying and my first or second lap was pole position. It was so easy to get to the limit. Usually when you go out, within 5 laps you are right there. As a driver, you are on your limit and then you can work on set up. You don’t need to work on yourself so much, you can work on the car.”

What has changed the most in the past 10 years in GT racing? Is it GT3 regs that brought a common platform? Is it tire technology? Is it the use of telemetry? Is it that more amateur drivers are more competent?

“Not one area which has made the sport completely different but GT3 racing has brought in a lot more amateur drivers which is good because it brings a lot more opportunities for the pro driver as well. There are a lot more championships and 24 hour races where you have amateur and pro drivers together, but everything is just getting better and better. For sure the tires are getting a little bit better. The cars are a lot better and more reliable. The teams are getting better. You used to have a couple of factory teams and now you have more teams that really do the job in a great way. It is more completive as well. It is much harder to win a race like this right now or the Spa 24 hours right now than it was 15 years ago.”

The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

You used to win races by a lap or two. Now you win races on the same lap.

“Exactly. If you were in a good car 15 years ago, you had a really good chance of winning because you only had 3 or 4 cars that were competitive with you. Still, you had to do a good job to be quick and save the car. It doesn’t take anything away from those wins 15 years ago, but now it is more competitive and there are more cars that can win.”

[Note: Bleekemolen missed the podium celebrations for his 2013 Nürburgring 24 win in the Black Falcon Mercedes-AMG SLS GT3 because he left early to get to the hospital for the birth of his twins. A text from co-driver Sean Edwards immediately after crossing the finish line delivered news of the victory to Bleekemolen as he was in the hospital. It must have been quite a day. His prediction that the new AMG GT3 would win the 2016 24 Hours of Nürburgring was correct as well – the new car swept the podium with the top three spots. See story elsewhere in this issue of The Southwest Star.]

Special thanks to Kevin for late night calls, last minute arrangements, and scouring the globe to get us the best race coverage this side of ed

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The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

n April 2015, an AMG GT3 race car prototype was first publicly spotted circulating around the Nürburgring. Barely more than a year later, in late May 2016, the car won at the Nürburgring sweeping the top three spots and claiming five of the top six places.

It was a remarkable sight. At the Nürburgring, in the heart of German motorsports, after weather ranging from sun to rain to hail (sometimes at the same time on different parts of the track), three AMG GT3 race cars sat in victory lane showing various bruises accumulated along the way and covered in dirt, along with a bit of champagne spray from the podium above.

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Photos and story by Kevin Ehrlich

If that wasn’t dramatic enough, the lead of the race was decided with a pass on lap 134 - the very last lap.

The Black Falcon team – based within sight of the track – claimed the win with Bernd Schneider,

The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

Maro Engel, Manuel Metzger and Adam Christodoulou. HTP Motorsport followed in second less than 6 seconds at the checkered flag with drivers Christian Vietoris, Marco Seefried, Christian Hohendel, and Renger Van der Zande.

German Maro Engel had the unusual distinction of winning the pole position for the race start and the overall race in two different cars. He was entered in two different Black Falcon cars which finished first and fourth.

In the days of the SLS GT3 program, Mercedes AMG sold race cars to customers, provided minimal support, and made no distinctions among customers. The stakes were raised with the arrival of the AMG GT3. AMG took a more active involvement in partnership with several customer teams in the form of more technical support, engineers, strategists, and top tier driving talent.

Nine AMG GT3 models were entered out of a total race entry of 158 cars. While that may sound like a large overall entry, it was actually about 20 fewer than in recent prior years. The track is just shy of 16 miles long, but parts are fairly narrow and very fast which makes navigating traffic a challenge for both faster and slower cars.

Rain was forecast and threatened at the start, but the grid departed in dry conditions. Teams and spectators expected a wet overnight but nobody

expected

the

isolated

rain

and

hailstorm that struck only 45 minutes into the race.

It arose so suddenly and at such a

specific spot on the track that it caught drivers and teams completely off guard. No cars were on wet tires and the television pictures showed

Page | 46

clusters of surprised drivers sliding off the track – often into each other – at the same corner.

Hail covered the track completely, preventing cars from climbing even the most modest of inclines to continue their lap.

The race was

stopped, stranding a good part of the field on the track miles from pit lane. After about an hour, conditions improved enough to allow them to return to their pit boxes.

The stoppage and associated track repairs took over 3 hours and the race restarted in the rain with a bit over 20 hours to go. Remarkably, conditions improved and the remainder of the race ran without further weather drama. In fact, the race finished in the dry with warm temperatures and bright sunshine.

Two different BMW M6 entries threatened the top 5, but the pack of AMG GT3 cars dominated the race. The margins among them were close and places changed with pace and pit stops which left the finishing order in doubt until the end.

Only about two thirds of the overall field finished.

Mechanical issues sidelined some.

Crash damage claimed others, including three AMG GT3 entries and several top contenders from Audi, Porsche and BMW. Even those that finished carried scars of contact, including the third place Haribo AMG GT3 that required black tape to hold its front left corner together.

The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

Bernd Schneider led the winning team onto the podium proudly waving a Mercedes AMG flag above his head. Schneider’s story is very impressive. Not only was he one of the development drivers for the AMG GT3, but he has driven Mercedes products since 1992 – including multiple titles in the incredibly competitive German Touring Car Championship (DTM).

Now retired from full-time

professional racing, he still competes in various endurance races.

Schneider’s presence, however, has another historical link. At the original launch of the AMG GT road car in September 2014, Schneider provided the commentary for a historical parade of AMG vehicles that preceded the arrival of the new AMG GT. How remarkable that 20 months later Schneider was presiding on the podium as a race winner at one of the biggest endurance races in the world with the racing version of that same car.

The win is not the only recent taste of success for AMG or Schneider at the Nürburgring 24 hours.

In 2013, Black Falcon won with an SLS GT3 in the hands of Bernd Schneider, Nicki Thiim, Jeroen Bleekemolen and the late Sean Edwards.

(Read elsewhere in this issue for an interview with

Jeroen Bleekemolen who missed the podium celebration because he left early to attend the birth of his twins.)

The 2013 win was a major milestone as the first Nürburgring 24 win in history for

Mercedes – a race that dates back to 1970.

The 24-hour victory at the Nürburgring will no doubt be a strong marketing point to attract more customers – both for the AMG GT3 race car and for road car products in the Mercedes-AMG stable.

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The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

By Marcus Blair Fitzhugh Photos courtesy of Mercedes-Benz

he two MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS Formula 1 Team drivers, Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton, got together during the run-up to the Monaco Grand Prix for a striking off track event. Rosberg demonstrated a relaxed lifestyle, cruising off the coast of Monaco on the Mercedes-Benz Style luxury motor yacht, while Hamilton put his aquatic driving ability to the test with a Cigarette Racing speedboat. This event demonstrated that under Mercedes-Benz, modern luxury and racing performance blend perfectly on both land and water.

"The Cigarette Racing speedboat and our Mercedes-Benz Style luxury yacht ‘ARROW460-Granturismo’ represent a coming together of two design icons. Each of them is hot & cool as their design is both attractive and surprisingly new, making both boats perfect embodiments of emotion and intelligence. The ‘ARROW460Granturismo’ carries our Mercedes genes throughout. We have transferred an automotive design idiom to a yacht – and this design statement far outside the usual mainstream in the boat industry allows us to create a totally original aesthetic."

- Gorden Wagener, Daimler Head of Design

The Cigarette Racing 50 Marauder “AMG Monaco” was revealed at Monaco and is equipped with two Mercury Racing V8 engines. Each engine produces 1,550 HP, allowing the 50 foot-long, eightfoot-wide powerboat to reach an estimated top speed of more than 140 mph. The characteristic design and the thoroughbred motorsport technology are inspired by Mercedes-AMG and the current MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS Formula 1 car. The boat is made in a new type of layup process Page | 50

which has been specially developed for racing. It not only reduces weight, but also ensures better handling under high loads.

The Mercedes-Benz designers were responsible for the exterior design featuring black and silver tones contrasted by sporty turquoise green highlights as well as for the interior design which is inspired by the classic Cigarette Racing cockpit. Furthermore, the user interface offers state-ofthe-art technologies: computer-based control, four high-resolution displays, Garmin navigation, and a Pure audio system. The price of this unique boat is approx. 1.6 million US dollars (when purchased FOB Monaco).

Mercedes-AMG and Cigarette Racing have been working in partnership since 2007. Both share racing roots and the uncompromising passion for performance plus the aim to always deliver optimum achievements.

We covered the Arrow460-Granturismo’s world premiere in a prior issue. It was designed by Mercedes-Benz Style and developed together with Silver Arrow Marine. The 14-metre-long 960 HP "Silver Arrow of the Seas" combines the performance of Mercedes-Benz with unique innovations from the boating industry. The yacht offers room for up to ten people and is available in the fully equipped Edition 1at a price of 2.5 million euros.

The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

Page | 52

The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

by Kevin Ehrlich Photos courtesy of Mercedes-Benz

headline doesn’t always tell the tale. In the case of the middle third of the 2016 Formula One season, the headline is that the Mercedes factory team won all the races and Lewis Hamilton won six of the seven races.

Going into the summer break, Hamilton and team-mate Nico Rosberg sit atop the driver championship point standings and Mercedes leads the constructor championship by a huge margin.

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Beneath the surface, the story gets more interesting.

After Hamilton and Rosberg crashed into each other and out of the race in Spain on the first lap allowing Dutch rookie Max Verstappen to claim his maiden Formula One win, serious questions were asked within the team.

Should the team impose orders on their drivers – up to and including designating a “number one” driver – to avoid a repeat and hope to maximize the points earned by the team? Should the team let their drivers remain free to race, knowing that both are the two closest drivers in the best machines on the grid and would likely continue to race in close quarters?

The answer was to let them race.

In Monaco, a pit stop error by Red Bull hampered pole-sitter Daniel Ricciardo and handed the win to Hamilton who prevailed with an aggressive one-stop strategy in wet-to-drying conditions.

Rosberg struggled to manage the tires and the temperatures and finished seventh overall, a disappointing result after qualifying second behind Ricciardo and head of Hamilton.

The Formula One traveling circus next visited Montreal, Canada. Hamilton edged Rosberg for pole position. Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel started third and sped past both Mercedes runners at the start while Hamilton bumped wheels with Rosberg in the first turn. The contact dropped Rosberg to mid-pack and he spent the remainder of the race trying to regain the lost ground eventually finishing sixth.

The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

Ferrari misjudged their tire strategy which gave Hamilton the opportunity to pounce and claim the victory by a 5 second margin over Vettel.

Azerbaijan was next up, hosting its first ever Formula One race around Monaco and F1. Does it get any better?

the very tight and

twisty streets of the capital city of Baku. Rosberg claimed pole and won a dominating victory as Hamilton crashed in qualifying and finished fifth.

Apart from the story line of a new track in a new location, both Mercedes runners had technical issues with their cars during the race. Hamilton made progress during the race but incorrect settings on the car prevented full use of the car’s hybrid electrical power. Incredibly, Hamilton fiddled with the settings on his steering wheel and resolved the problem, but too late in the race to make use of the cured car. Rosberg also had an issue with settings on his steering wheel during the race. He made a setting change and then needed to reverse the setting on the fly.

After Baku, Rosberg had five wins and a 24 point lead over Hamilton but the point lead was to shrink over the next several races.

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The recurring theme of contact between the teammates and the question of team orders re-emerged at the next round in Austria. Hamilton converted his pole position in to an early lead. Rosberg had a crash in final practice that subjected the German with a 5 grid spot penalty at the start, meaning he started from sixth. Rosberg took advantage of good pace, good tire strategy and poor strategy from Ferrari to work his way towards the front of the field.

After pit stops and strategy jumbled the field, Hamilton reeled in Rosberg from behind as the race neared the finish. On the last lap, Rosberg ran wide into turn 2 and made contact with Hamilton who was trying to make an outside pass. The contact damaged Rosberg’s car and he limped back to the finish line to claim fourth while Hamilton went on to claim another win. The stewards adjudged Rosberg to be responsible for the contact and issued a time penalty and reprimand for spreading debris on the track with his damaged car.

To go from a potential win to a fourth place, a penalty and seeing Hamilton with the The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

win surely was a bitter change of fortunes for Rosberg. The team wasn’t enamored with the incident either. Another race with contact between the teammates revived debates about team orders and the two putting their interests ahead of the team. The team warned both drivers and strengthened the rules of engagement to include greater “deterrents,” but no team orders were issued and the drivers remained free to race.

Silverstone is the closest thing to a home race on the Formula One calendar given that so many of the teams are based in England. Formerly a World War II era airport, the modern track is fast and subject to the winds and weather of the area. Mercedes showed up with revised aerodynamics via new bodywork bits but would suffer other issues. Rosberg suffered an engine problem that deprived him of practice time, but recovered to claim second on the starting grid behind Hamilton.

Torrential rain soaked the track just before the start and the race started under a safety car for several laps. The track dried, the field coped with tire changes from wet weather tires to slicks. Hamilton won as Rosberg struggled with a gearbox problem late in the race that prevented him from making a more forceful challenge to the lead, crossing the line in second.

Rosberg’s efforts to navigate the issue with this team over the radio triggered a squabble over Formula One rules regarding radio transmissions between team and driver. He incurred a postrace penalty that dropped him from second to third and drawing Hamilton to within a point in the driver championship standings. Arguably, without the communication from the team, Rosberg might have failed to finish at all, so taking the penalty turned out to be the better option.

On the eve of the Hungarian Grand Prix, Mercedes inked Rosberg to a two-year contract extension through the end of 2018. Nico has been with the team since 2010 – the beginning of the modernday Mercedes factory return to Formula One. The team acquired Brawn GP in November 2009, Page | 58

rebranded it as Mercedes, and paired Rosberg and German racing legend Michael Schumacher in his comeback to Formula One.

Hamilton signed an extension last year to take him through the

end of 2018 as well.

The Hungarian Grand Prix didn’t turn out to be a classic for spectators. Rosberg pipped Hamilton for pole position, but Hamilton swept by at the start and didn’t look back on his way to the win with a 2 second gap over Rosberg. Hamilton’s fifth victory in sixth races turned a substantial deficit in the driver point standings into a 6 point lead while the team continued to pile up constructor points.

Lewis Hamilton continued his hot streak at the Hockenheimring in western Germany in the last round before the traditional Formula One summer break.

Rosberg again claimed pole position and Hamilton again surged into the lead at the first turn and disappeared.

The

two Red Bull cars of Ricciardo and Verstappen pushed and ended up finishing second and third, but had no answer for the Mercedes.

The talking point of the race was contact between Rosberg and Verstappen. In an echo of the contact between Rosberg and Hamilton in Austria, Rosberg went deep in an attempt to pass Verstappen and ended up taking the apex and most of the corner away from Verstappen. The stewards imposed a five second penalty for Rosberg at his next pit stop, but the team appeared to hold him for longer which ended up costing him a chance at a podium.

The win for Hamilton and another tough finish for Rosberg sent Hamilton into the break with a 19 point lead over Rosberg. Mercedes extended its lead over Red Bull in the constructor race with a lead of 159 points – likely to be insurmountable and lead to another constructor championship for the marque.

The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

The early season challenge from Ferrari appears to have melted a bit as Red Bull have taken up the reins as the “best of the rest” behind Mercedes.

There are three customer teams running Mercedes engines – Williams, Force India and Manor Racing.

Williams and Force India sit in fourth and fifth in the constructor standings (behind

Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari). Manor is 10th of 11 teams, but is a much smaller team with less budget, less experience and less prospects to challenge for points.

The season picks up again at the end of August in the Ardennes of eastern Belgium at the legendary Spa Francorchamps natural terrain road course circuit. The region was made famous in the Battle of the Bulge during the last stages of World War II. If a visit to the Spa race track isn’t enough to get you thinking about a visit, the tremendous military history and high regard that the locals still hold for Americans might do the trick.

At a minimum, it will be the sight for the resumption of combat on the race track and will get the last third of the Formula One season started and the run to the championship underway.

Page | 60

The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

The 300 SL (W 198, front) and 190 SL (W 121) were featured on the stand of Mercedes-Benz importer Max Hoffman at the New York International Motor Sports Show in February of 1954.

Photos courtesy of Mercedes-Benz

Page | 62

by Marcus Blair Fitzhugh

n the U.S., if you want to buy a Mercedes-Benz, you go to a Mercedes-Benz dealer. However, that wasn’t always the case. Very early in the 1950’s, Max Hoffman was the official importer.

Hoffman’s dealers placed orders through him, and he got them their cars. I imagine owning a Mercedes-Benz in the 1950’s, was a lot like owning a Lamborghini today. Today, if you live in San Francisco and your Lamborghini Huracán needs a tune up, you take it to the local dealer in San Francisco. Unfortunately, if you live in Oregon, you’ll have to decide which is closer; the Lamborghini dealer in Bellevue Washington or the San Francisco dealer. Over 800 miles separate those two dealers. Max Hoffman did a great job of moving cars, but Mercedes-Benz wanted more.

Rather than starting their own dealer network, Mercedes-Benz signed an agreement with Studebaker-Packard.

The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

Before moving forward, you’ll need to know how Packard and Studebaker got married and why they decided to get involved with Mercedes-Benz.

The Studebaker-Packard Corporation was

formed because both companies needed something. Packard was a luxury car manufacturer that needed a boost in sales. Packard felt they could benefit from Studebaker’s large dealer network.

Studebaker desperately needed money, and Packard had a strong balance sheet.

Packard

effectively bought Studebaker with the goal of displacing Chrysler as the third biggest auto manufacturer in the United States. The original plan was for Packard to concentrate on luxury vehicles, while Studebaker handled the lower market segment.

The plan failed in spectacular fashion. For some reason, Studebaker’s financial position wasn’t fully understood until after the sale. Studebaker had to sell 282,000 cars per year to break even and according to Consumer Guide, Studebaker sold less than 70,000 cars during the year of the merger. The next year was 1955 and Studebaker sales increased to 116,000. Unfortunately, in 1956, they fell below 70,000.

At that point, Packard production stopped and rebadged

Studebakers took their place.

Packard sales were so dismal, that in 1959 they stopped selling the rebadged models, leaving Studebaker with a large, but deteriorating, dealer network and no luxury cars.

Mercedes-Benz came in.

This is where

A deal was negotiated, allowing Studebaker to distribute and sell

Mercedes-Benz vehicles throughout the Studebaker dealer network. Like Packard, Mercedes-Benz hoped this large dealer network would cause an upsurge in U.S. sales. Studebaker-Packard was hoping the earnings from the distributor agreement would keep the company in business.

For Mercedes-Benz, the plan worked and thus began a widespread popularity across the U.S. Unfortunately for Studebaker-Packard, not even the lucrative Mercedes-Benz distribution agreement could save them.

On December 9, 1963 Studebaker announced the closure of its

South Bend, IN production facility. Eleven days later, the last U.S. built Studebaker rolled off the assembly line. Studebaker continued limited production in Canada through 1966.

The closing of Studebaker’s last U.S. factory led Mercedes-Benz to believe that being associated with a failing company was bad for business. Armed with its newfound U.S. sales popularity, Mercedes-Benz terminated the distribution agreement with Studebaker in 1964. The remainder of the distribution contract was bought out for 3.75 million dollars and Mercedes Benz of North America was established. Mercedes Benz of North America offered dealership franchises to many Studebaker dealerships. Because of this, many of the oldest U.S. Mercedes-Benz dealerships are ex- Studebakers and Packard dealers.

Page | 64

The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

by Kevin Ehrlich Photos courtesy of Mercedes-Benz

n May 19, 2016, the Mercedes factory museum in Stuttgart, Germany celebrated its 10th birthday. The museum has welcomed more than 7 million visitors through its doors over that 10 years and is the best attended of the car manufacturer museums in Germany.

Over the past decade, the museum has welcomed fans, spectators, enthusiasts and sports teams.

It displays over 125 years of Mercedes history – road cars, commercial vehicles, race cars and concept cars.

Page | 66

On May 19, 2016, the Mercedes factory museum in Stuttgart, Germany celebrated its 10th birthday.

The museum has

welcomed more than 7 million visitors through its doors over that 10 years and is the best attended of the car manufacturer museums in Germany.

Over the past decade, the museum has welcomed fans, spectators, enthusiasts and sports teams.

It displays over 125

years of Mercedes history – road cars, commercial vehicles, race cars and concept cars.

The building was constructed during a surge of new museum construction in Germany. In 2000, Volkswagen opened a new facility in Wolfsburg and Audi opened its own showcase in Ingolstadt. In 2008, BMW opened a new museum in Munich and 2009 Porsche opened its own massive new museum in Stuttgart.

While the Mercedes museum is large, spanning nine floors and housing 160 vehicles and 1500 exhibits, it is the layout and the philosophy that is unique and thoughtfully designed.

The 160

vehicles are divided roughly between 80 passenger cars, 40 commercial vehicles, and 40 race cars.

An elevator takes visitors to the top floor and starts with a horse rather than an elevator. The museum very clearly establishes the link of Mercedes to the birth of the The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

automobile. After the horse, the visitor starts with examples of the Benz Patent Motorcar and the Daimler Motorized Carriage. Carl Benz is credited with the birth of the automobile via the patent he applied for in 1886 for his three wheeled vehicle powered by a gas engine. Separately, Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach created their motorized carriage which sold its first car in 1892.

From this starting point, there are two paths that spiral downward – one route traces the company’s history in chronological order and

the

other

traces

through

collection rooms and displays.

various

The visitor

can switch between each path at their discretion.

The effect is impressive. Yes, the museum shows off examples of landmark cars along the way. However, the path interweaves a timeline of historical events which not only gives the Mercedes chronology context but also implicitly makes the case that Mercedes is a fundamental and inextricable part of the fabric of world history.

The pattern of visitors to the museum provides proof that the world sees it that way as well. The proportion of visitors from countries beyond Germany has grown steadily. In 2015, Page | 68

visitors came from 170 countries – 43% came from outside Germany.

By way of comparison, this is about triple of the amount compared to 2009.

Where do the visitors come from?

Visitors most frequently come from Germany, but the top five origins in 2015 came from China, USA, France, Switzerland, and Italy.

Over 700,000 visitors come each year and 22% of those are repeat visitors, which is quite impressive given the amount of visitors coming from other countries.

In addition to the usual menu of cars and exhibits on display, the museum hosts an active calendar of events throughout the year. These range from the regular and recurring such as a cars and coffee event every Sunday to an annual auction of exclusively Mercedes vehicles held by Bonhams auction house.

If you’re planning a trip in the last few months of 2016, you’ll see a special exhibit focusing on the E class.

Seventeen cars The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

show the seven decades of the E class alongside various items of fashion, technology and communications to lend historical context for each period. The exhibit runs through November 6.

In the past, the museum has hosted a regular rotation of special exhibitions. For example, earlier in the year, special exhibitions gathered examples of various Formula One safety cars and focused on the SLS GT3 race car. In the past, exhibitions have focused on the S-class and the 1969 C111 research and development platform to test a rotary engine and lightweight construction materials.

If you haven’t been, add a visit to your list. If you’ve already been, you’ll be looking forward to a return trip at some point no doubt.

To the Mercedes Museum team who have maintained the facility, curated the collection, and welcomed millions of visitors, happy birthday and best wishes for the next 10 years!

Page | 70

The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

By Marcus Blair Fitzhugh

00

1

00

$1

01

1 1 Page | 72

00

1

1 00

1

The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

By Marcus Blair Fitzhugh Photos courtesy of Mercedes-Benz

ust in time for the Beijing Motor Show, Mercedes-Benz opened its first Mercedes me store in China.

"With our largest Mercedes me store in the world, we want to become the new lifestyle hotspot in Sanlitun. In this highly sophisticated and relaxed atmosphere, we hope to appeal more than ever to younger and new target groups for Mercedes-Benz" Ola Källenius, Member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG Responsible for Mercedes-Benz Cars Marketing and Sales.

Page | 74

Spread over two floors and occupying over 7800 square feet, the new Beijing store is the largest Mercedes me store in the world. The newly erected building is one of the tallest in the area, and the building

houses

other

international

premium

brands.

The store is in a vibrant area with

restaurants, bars, and clubs, which draw visitors both young and old around the clock.

The new Mercedes me store provides access to the entire range of Mercedes-Benz products. Visitors can use digital touch tables to configure cars and if they're interested in proceeding, contact the dealer of their choice to move forward. Product presentations and visualizations can also be displayed on a floor-to-ceiling LED projection wall during events. Guests are also able to take test drives.

A team of Product Experts is always on

hand to deal with questions about technical aspects and to provide practical advice on all the vehicle's features.

The Beijing Mercedes me store is open for late night visitors and offers a full range of catering facilities. It has a café, bar, restaurant, and can accommodate a wide variety of events for up to 800 guests.

Although they’ve held a number of

events such as one to mark China's National Day, the facility is also geared toward brand-oriented events such as the Chinese Formula 1 GP, MercedesBenz Fashion Week China, and the previously mentioned Beijing Motor Show.

This marks the sixth Mercedes me location worldwide. The first store opened in June 2014 at the Inner Alster Lake in Hamburg, while additional stores are located right next to the Milan Cathedral in Milan, Tokyo's HANEDA airport in Terminal 2, on the “Odeonsplatz” square in Munich, and the Queen’s Road in Hong Kong.

The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

The Mercedes me stores are part of a broad-based marketing and sales strategy called "Best Customer Experience".

"Best Customer Experience" is Mercedes-Benz's way of focusing its sales

organization to meet the changing requirements of customers. The objective is to appeal to new target groups while, at the same time, bringing loyal customers even closer to the brand.

Mercedes-Benz is taking a flexible multi-channel approach that brings together a number of sales campaigns. The intent isn’t to replace the conventional dealer network, but to complement their services. The goal is to meet the needs of today’s buyers. In addition to the Mercedes me Stores, temporary pop-up formats, online stores, and new job profiles such as mobile sales staff are intended to appeal to customers and interested people in their personal environment.

A Lifestyle-Hotspot: The Mercedes me Store in Beijing has large panorama windows which allow the interior and exterior spaces to fuse together. The decor is in exactly what we expect from premium brand.

On the upper floor of the Mercedes me store is an area dedicated to Mercedes-AMG. As a design feature, a Mercedes AMGGT is hanging on the wall.

Right next to this future “Selfie-Point” a spiral staircase invites into the AMG-area above.

Page | 76

The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

By J Pill

hen introduced, the CLA was Mercedes-Benz most aerodynamic production car to date.

The initial look garnered a number of fans, but for 2016, Mercedes-Benz gave the CLA a facelift. For many, this was the signal for an upgrade. Others still like their CLA and would be happy with a more personalized enhancement. For them, PIECHA may have an answer.

PIECHA is a German tuning house with over 30 years of experience. They believe manufacturers frequently compromise their sporty models for the benefit of overall sales – leaving an opening for the aftermarket. PIECHA feels their customers prefer tailor-made performance to go with their tailor-made suit. With that in mind, PIECHA has released their CLA GT-R styling kit.

“Our modular GT-R package is masculine, wide and cheeky, if you will.”

Marcus Piecha, chief designer The GT-R’s front wings are attached to the bumpers, and give the CLA a wider appearance. The front splitter rounds off the nose and goes very well with the factory side skirts. For the rear, PIECHA offers a three-piece diffuser which really looks nice when coupled with the PIECHA four pipe sport exhaust. PIECHA also offers both trunk and roof mounted spoilers, several wheel styles, and a number of suspension bits.

Page | 78

The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

There is no “we” in insurance

A

n SL600 owner recently had their fender dented by a neighbor. The SL was legally parked when the neighbor backed into it, so there is no question as to who was at fault. The neighbor’s insurance company said “No problem, we’ll

take care of it.” The SL owner had two questions about how best to approach this. The first question was if they’d have to accept used parts and the second is how to handle their diminished value.

Both of these questions involve working with an insurance company. Anytime there is an accident, there is "your insurer", and there is "their insurer". Their insurer views you as the Ebola virus. They want nothing to do with you. It doesn’t matter if you’re completely innocent of any wrongdoing, if you’re costing them money, you’re a nuisance. Reps for the other insurer may smile and appear cordial, but their biggest concern is saving money.

Truthfully, the only reason your insurer likes you is because you pay them. They care about keeping you as a PAYING customer. However, that can work to your advantage.

Page | 80

I’ve been driving since forever. Fortunately, I’ve never been the responsible party in an accident. Every time I’ve had one of my cars damaged by someone else, I've had my insurer repair my vehicle. My insurer has then collected from the other party. I've never had to pay a deductible doing it this way.

There are reasons I go this route. First, my insurer has a policy where if I use one of their approved shops, they guarantee the work forever. Second, the best body shop in my city is one of their approved shops. Lastly, they literally have thousands of approved body shops, and if I use any of them, I get the guarantee. How does the guarantee work? If the paint peels in 10 years, they fix it. If the paint fades at a different rate they fix it. If the dealer is servicing my car and says, “whoever did this bodywork messed this other thing up”, my insurer makes it right. If anything looks or goes wrong, they fix it. Period.

No questions asked. If the other party’s insurer repairs my car, I’ll have to deal with them. They’re going with the cheapest route possible, which may include stiffing me.

Here’s the sequence I envision if their insurer does the job and anything goes sideways.

First their insurer will say the problem is between me and the body shop they sent me to.

If the body shop is still there, the shop will say it’s not their fault. The excuses will range from the car being waxed too soon, not waxed often enough, washed with the wrong soap, acid rain, bird poop, the warrantee is up, the shop has changed owners, anything so long as they don’t have to lift a finger without getting paid again. Since I’m not cut out for this type of aggravation, “I” use “my” insurer. “My insurer” will say the only thing I want to hear – “We’ll take care of it.”

Will the SL owner have to accept a used fender? If they go through the other insurer, yes. If they go through their insurer, maybe. Why is there a difference? I’ve never seen an insurance policy that didn’t have an "LKQ" clause.

The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

L.K.Q. stands for Like Kind & Quality. That’s legalese for “we reserve the right to repair your car with parts recovered from third-world wars zones if we so choose.”

In fairness, the other insurer probably won’t install a used fender that’s been wrecked.

The fender may come from a wrecked car, but the fender itself will probably be intact.

However, they may simply paint it to match the car and send the owner on their way. Not strip it to metal, use etch primer, build primer, several layers of basecoat, and then clear coat. Nope. Just paint it so it’s good enough to get the owner to sign a piece of paper which has been put together by their legal team. The piece of paper will state “the car has been fixed to the owner’s satisfaction.” The bodyshop will not release the car until that piece of paper has been signed.

If you use your insurer and they have to stand behind their work, they won’t cut corners to save your neighbor’s insurer any money. They know they can’t go back and collect again later, so they’re going to do everything in their power to do it right the first time.

If that means your neighbor’s insurer has to cough up more money, that’s their problem.

That brings us to the question of used parts. Will your insurer buy a fender from MercedesBenz? Maybe. Maybe they’ll buy it from someone else, but the chances are, that someone else won’t have the words “Salvage Yard” as part of the business name.

Will your rates go up? Mine never have and I’ve done exactly what I’m recommending.

I’m old school. I have a real insurance agent. I’ve been using the same guy for decades.

He’s in a local office and works for a major carrier. I’ve asked if claims will result in rate increases. My agent said this, “Here’s an easy way to think about it - if we pay, you’ll pay. If we don’t pay, your rates don’t go up. If we collect from some other party, you won’t see an increase.”

“Diminished value” is like falling stock prices. Supposedly, it’s not important until it’s time to sell.

What really happens is you never stop thinking about it.

That’s completely

understandable because the car is actually worth less than before the accident. That begs the question, “Can someone be made whole?” Possibly, but a couple of things typically Page | 82

exclude people from seeing a dime of diminished value. These things all revolve around people suing their own policy. For example, assume I’m at fault and pile up my own car.

If the car is totaled, my insurer will pay me what it was worth just before the accident. If the car is repaired, the insurer is not going to pay for diminished value. The same is true for flood and fire damage. The insurer will simply fix the car. There are exceptions to every rule. The exception here is, if an uninsured motorist is at fault, many states will allow the injured party to file a claim against (and possibly sue) their own uninsured motorist policy for diminished value.

In this case, the neighbor backed into an SL, so there’s no problem. Maybe. Nearly every state will allow a diminished value claim against an at-fault party's insurance company. Having said that, filing a claim is not the same as being paid a claim.

Insurers aren’t required to pay it, and they won’t make the process easy.

It’s

the vehicle owner’s responsibility to prove they have suffered a loss. If this sounds expensive, well, it’s not free.

There are companies that specialize in diminished value claims.

They explain to

perspective clients that most cars are sold by dealers. Before a dealer buys a car, they check the vehicle’s history. Many private parties do the same thing with Carfax. Both dealers and private parties pay less for cars with a blemished history. If it’s not the client’s fault the history has been tainted, the company can help the client recover their losses.

It doesn’t matter if the client “intends” to sell the vehicle, what matters is the loss in value “if” the client were to sell. They have a point. No one pays extra for a car that been cobbled back together.

So what do these companies do for their fees? They offer advice, and in some cases it’s worth the money. They’ll help document the car’s value after the repair. Then they’ll show what Kelley Blue Book and Edmunds say a car with no damage is worth. If the difference is big enough, they’ll recommend getting a letter from a dealer. The dealer’s The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

letter will state the car has a lower value because it’s been damaged, and how much less it’s worth. At this point, the loss is documented and injured party can ask the insurer of the at fault party for compensation.

How? Usually with a letter. The company coaching the injured party through this has sample claim letters and usually knows who to send it to.

The injured party will be

interviewed by the insurance company, and they will have been coached on what to say.

If being coached sounds underhanded, there’s another side of that coin. The insurance company’s interviewer does this all the time. Their job is to collect information that can be used to deny a claim. Hopefully the injured party recovers something, because the company that was coaching them collects their money up front. No one does this on a contingency basis.

Many who hire companies to assist them in being made whole are successful. The dollar amount isn’t always what they were anticipating, but they don’t have to take it. The injured party can take their case to court. In most circumstances, this will end up in small-claims court. That’s probably best because an attorney would probably charge far more than the amount in question. Under California law, the injured party must represent themselves in small claims court. The insurance company may not be represented by an attorney or anyone whose sole job is to represent them in small claims court. I think we all see the loophole there. The insurance company representative’s “sole job” may not be to show up in small claims, but I bet they’ve been there often enough to be quite familiar with the process.

About now you may be thinking this stinks. It does. Fortunately, some percentage of people get more than they were originally offered before going through the hoops required to collect diminished value. Unfortunately, some don’t.

Page | 84

The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

by Kevin Ehrlich Photos courtesy of DIME Racing

ith a team based in Orange County and a driver based in New Jersey, DIME Racing pushed through the middle part of the Pirelli World Challenge season with more podiums and a win in their Mercedes AMG SLS GT3.

Driver Frankie Montecalvo is the defending champion in the GTA class – a class dedicated to the amateur rather than the full-time professional driver. The events feature 50-minute sprint races – usually two per weekend – with a grid comprised of performance cars like the Porsche 911, McLaren 650S, Cadillac ATS-V, Acura TLXs, Nissan GTR, Aston Martin, Audi R8, Ferrari 458, and Bentley Continental.

The DIME Racing effort is novel because it is the only first-tier racing effort for any Mercedes vehicle in the United States in 2016. 2017 might be a different story as customers for the new Page | 86

AMG GT3 take delivery of their cars and (we hope) get them to the track in the IMSA and Pirelli World Challenge series.

After a strong beginning to the season including several podiums and a last-lap heartbreaker when a fuel pump failure robbed the team of a win, the schedule moved to Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (better known as Mosport, east of Toronto), Lime Rock (northwestern corner of Connecticut) and Road America (north of Milwaukee).

At Mosport, family commitments took priority, so Montecalvo missed the Saturday race.

Not only

did he miss points, not running on Saturday put him at the back of the grid for Sunday’s race.

Undaunted, he climbed his way to a 3rd place finish in the GTA class after a very tight battle with the second place finishing Ferrari. A good part of the race was run under caution after a significant crash which deprived Montecalvo of green flag running time.

Lime Rock followed a similar pattern – no points in the first race but a 3 rd place podium finish in the second race. This time, the first race DNF was due to a left front tire blowout after completing only 21 laps. The good news was that the damage was minimal which enabled the team to make repairs and be competitive in the second race. A third place GTA class finish was less than a second of the second place finishing Porsche and less than 3 seconds behind the winning Ferrari.

The team fully rebuilt the car for its next outing at Road America in Wisconsin. After crash damage at Long Beach earlier in the season, the car had never been quite right. That didn’t appear to slow down Montecalvo though.

Saturday saw the Mercedes SLS claim a second place in class which was only preclude to a strong run on Sunday where Montecalvo claimed a GTA class win by a substantial margin. The win was the first of the 2016 campaign for Montecalvo and DIME Racing. In addition to the win, the car The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

placed seventh overall (out of a total field of 27 cars) and set times that were competitive with the overall leaders.

The weekend was a procession of adjustments and changes. Montecalvo qualified on the pole, but struggled with the rear of the car during the race on Saturday. The fastest race lap on Saturday qualified him to start on pole for the Sunday race. The team made major changes for Sunday and Montecalvo made best use of the happy car and ran at the front of the field.

With a variety of logistics, the team opted to sit out the Mid-Ohio round at the end of July. The time was well used, however, as the Mercedes SLS ran well at the next round at Miller Motorsports Park outside of Salt Lake City.

Practice sessions showed strong pace. In the first race, Montecalvo started from pole in class and 13th overall, but swept through a hectic opening to the race to move up to fourth overall. The first corner proved to be very congested with others making contact or going off course, permitting Montecalvo to slice through and gain positions.

The pace throughout the race was extremely strong with the Mercedes SLS setting lap times consistent with the leaders. After threatening for the overall pole, the pace took a toll on the tires and Montecalvo ceded a few positions to GT runners while coming home with a dominant GTA class win.

Sunday would see another pole position start, but this time the congestion cost spots.

After

running with the GTA class lead for most of the race, a rear suspension issue made the rear of the car extremely unstable and forced a retirement.

Page | 88

The Pirelli World Challenge schedule has a month before its next round – a visit to the road course at Sonoma to run alongside the Indycar series season finale. The team has a new chassis in store for the SLS, so there are hopes that a change might give new life to the SLS. Sonoma also may see the US debut of the AMG GT3. The team has had two cars on order, but delivery has been delayed. If a DIME Racing AMG GT3 car makes the starting grid at Sonoma, it will be the North American debut for the car.

Watch for coverage in the next issue of The

Southwest Star regardless.

After Sonoma, the series moves to the season finale in early October at Laguna Seca in Monterey.

Unfortunately, missing a few rounds means the 2016 GTA Class championship will be out of reach for Montecalvo. The podiums and winning trophies ought to be welcome rewards for some very competitive racing. Perhaps the new car can bring more fights at the front of the overall field and a chance to win some hardware competing with the professional drivers.

Follow DIME Racing on the internet at www.dimerd.com. DIME Racing is also active on Instagram and

Twitter.

Likewise,

driver

Frankie

Montecalvo

has

his

own

website

at

www.FrankieMontecalvo.com and a social media presence on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Give them a follow and then head out to the track and show them some support!

The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

By Jay Pill Photos courtesy of Pagani

n 2010, the inaugural World Time Attack Challenge was held at the Eastern Creek Raceway in Australia.

It was the first time Australian teams competed against the international time

attack superpowers from Japan and the USA. The event proved to be a huge success. Since then, this special bit of insanity has grown to the point where our favorite supercar is scheduled to make an appearance.

Those familiar with the Huayra will immediately recognize this isn’t the standard 1.3 million dollar model. This is the 2.5 million dollar BC. The BC is named after the first person to buy a Pagani Page | 90

Automobile; Benny Caiola.

We briefly covered the Huayra BC in a previous issue. Back then, the official BC numbers weren’t available.

We can now tell you this car’s dual

turbocharged Mercedes-AMG V12 produces 789 horsepower and and 811 pound-feet of torque.

This is an increase of 60 horses over the standard car. The upgraded engine is mated to an all-new seven-speed

automated

manual

transmission

(AMT), which was designed from scratch.

The

gearbox was developed and is manufactured by Xtrac. It features a new electrohydraulic actuation system and carbon fibre synchros.

Thesae are

both designed for more precise gear engagement and faster shift times. It also has a new electronic active diff that adapts from low grip roadways to the performance required on track.

The unit

continually adapts to maximize traction, thereby increasing vehicle stability. This new unit weighs 40% less than a comparable dual-clutch unit.

The suspension upgrades include a diet consisting of more aluminum alloy, making the underpinings 25% lighter than the standard Huayra.

The

suspension also has a Track mode option in addition to the standard Comfort and Sport settings.

The BC’s carbon-ceramic braking system has 15inch rotors, that are squeezed by stiffer six-piston calipers up front and four-piston units in the rear. These too are lighter weight units, as are the Pirelli P Zero Corsa tires and special wheels.

All the dieting resulted the BC losing 291 pounds and tipping the scales at a curb weight of 2685.

There are only 20 BC’s, and this is the first time one has made its way to Australian shoreline.

Devotees will be able to get a close look at the BC on Friday and Saturday in a special Pagani viewing area.

The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

Seeing a Huayra parked is breathtaking, but it’ll also be put through its paces on the circuit by Japanese racing legend Keiichi Tsuchiya. The driving exhibition will take place during what the event organizers call “Midday Mayhem”. Since drive Keiichi Tsuchiya is also known as “Drift King”, this sounds like an exceptional event.

What could make it better? Well, after the event they could give it to us as a long term press car, but the elected to do the second best thing – they’re allowing some fortunate ticket holder to ride shotgun in the BC with Keiichi Tsuchiya. Every ticket is automatically entered in the drawing, so basically, the ride along costs $20. That’s part of the reason the World Time Attack Challenge is also known as “The Festival of Awesome”.

Keiichi Tsuchiya

“The Huayra BC is much more than just a beautiful, expensive car. It’s been designed with a race track in mind, and we want to showcase the car in its natural habitat – on a race track.”

Dino Dalle Carbonare Pagani PR & Marketing Manager for Asia Pacific Page | 92

The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

Page | 94

Every year the City of Burbank hosts the Downtown Car Classic. Without fail there are hundreds of beautiful cars. These are just a few.

The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

By Steve Ross riday May 20th, the San Diego contingent, Steve and Carol Ross and Rudy Wokoek and Rose Bolton, departed for Solvang California to take part in the annual Southwest Regional event.

After getting clear of the ever congested Los Angeles traffic we were welcomed by the lush valley going into Camarillo. The drive on up to Solvang and Buellton area was relaxing and very scenic. These villages, nestled in the Santa Ynez Valley, were settled by the Danish immigrants who founded Solvang around 1911. As is the case with many California towns, this area was once a part of the Rancho San Carlos de Jonata - a mere 26,634 acres. Arriving in Buellton we checked in at the Anderson Inn which is a part of the famous Andersen Pea Soup family business that was founded in 1924 by Danish Immigrants Anton and Juliette Andersen.

The

Danish

windmill

is

the

trade-mark

of

Andersen’s.

After checking in, we joined the rest of the gang in the LongBeach

South

Bay

Section's

Hospitality

Suite.

Sections

represented were Los Angeles, Channel Islands, San Diego, Orange County, Desert Stars and the Central Coast Section, a part of the Western Region. There was an abundance of food and about any beverage one could want, and in short order, the place was bursting at the seams with Mercedes-Benz stories and reminisces of past regional events. Of course Geoff Boldt was mentioned more than as few times as he was the founder of these regional events. As usual there were many questions about the next day’s rallye.

As usual, the Rally

Master told us nothing except to say we will go over everything in the morning.

Bright and early Saturday morning we had a continental breakfast and proceeded to the rallye headquarters to meet with the Rallye Master. We got our rallye instructions and away we went Los Olivos--Do you go inside or outside the flag pole when turning?? I found out the outside is wrong.

Page | 96

into the back roads of Santa Ynez valley. To say this was a beautiful drive would be a gross understatement. There appeared to be a winery every ten miles or so, along with cattle, horses, berry farms and other produce. Lunch stop was at the Faulkner winery where we feasted on tritip, chicken, beans, rice, salad and rolls. The rallye took us through the towns of Los Alamos, Orcutt, Los Olivos, and Santa Ynez. It was truly a lovely peaceful drive, even for a rallye. For some of us I think it was our first time seeing these small towns tucked away in the Santa Ynez Valley.

Left: Andersen Peas Soap Inn and home of the world famous peas soup

Above: Andersen Inn our home base for the weekend.

Below: The rallye road, follow that Star

Above: Terry Kiwala, MBCA National President talks to Mary Nor owner of Nors Autohaus a Mercedes-Benz mechanic and Star Magazine contributor Sign in the Nor’s Garage Right: Celebrity line up; Lynn Hern President Orange County Section, Gerhard Fehrmann LongBeach-South Bay Section treasurer and event host, Terry Kiwala, National President, Steve Ross, National Vice President, Bud Cloninger South West Regional Director and Yvonne Leamon Central Coast Section President. Note that Terry and Bud are clinging to their rallye packets.

The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

Part of rallye line up. Not all the cars would fit in the lot but most are here. Age of these MercedesBenz range from 2015 to 1961. The white finback on far right was the car show winner. The brown Mercedes-Benz on far left came in third in the show.

A very nice 560SL

Above: 2014 BlueTEC meets its big brother another diesel.

The BlueTEC came in third in the car show

Lined up ready to be judged by the people.

First place went to the White sedan above.

LUNCH STOP AFTER A GRUELING DRIVE THROUGH THE WINE COUNTRY. OF COURSE WE STOPPED AT A WINERY Above: Lunch stop Nora Fleming, Bill King, Bob & Charlene Scudder appear to be first in line. Nora Fleming, Steve Ross, Terry Kiwala, and others await their turn. No cutting the line or special favors here. There was an abundance of food.

Page | 98

Left: Peter, President of the Channel Islands Section Pete & Tamara Samaha, Terry Kiwala, Steve Ross and Gerhard Fehrmann get their turn at the table

The rallye took us through the towns of Los Alamos, Los Olivos, and Santa Ynez. It was truly a lovely peaceful drive, even for a rallye. I for one had never been in any of these towns except for Santa Ynez. In fact, I was not aware that some of them existed.

Los Alamos

Orcutt

Los Olivos

Santa Ynez

Above & Right: Perhaps the highlight of the rallye was our visit to Fess Parker's Winery in Los Olivos. This sign was no help at all on the rallye. Yes my wife bought a couple

Left: Mary and Rich raise a glass of champagne to celebrate the installation of their helix sculpture at the Lompoc Valley Medical Center in early August. - Courtesy photo of the Valley News.

After the rallye we visited the Nor Garage in Buellton with owners Rich and Mary Nor. Mary Nor, is the lady side of the business and a certified Mercedes-Benz Mechanic as well as a contributor to the Star Magazine, gave us a tour of their shop. She is also an accomplished artist working in glass and other media sculptures.

As I recall they had four Mercedes-Benz 450SLC's in their shop. I have never seen that many SLC together at one place ever. One is Rich's serious off road rallye car. He has upgraded the engine to a 560 and other modifications are evident.

The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

G

By Ken and Lizzie George

reg & Victoria Gilmore, Norm & Marge

Ganeau,

Michael

&

Mary

Turner, Rick & Vanessa Outenreach,

with Ken and Liz George as event hosts, were the guests who attended this year’s annual run to Mt. Lemmon held on May 21st.

The

Chaparral Section wishes to give their thanks for making it so special.

The meet and greet started at the Safeway Parking lot but the fun began with the drive up the beautiful winding roads of the Catalina Highway a.k.a.: Sky Island Scenic Byway, with 5 gorgeous Mercedes Benz vehicles. The highway takes a winding route through the Santa Catalina Mountains. What a ride, with our first stop at Windy Point on a blustery day for

pictures.

Summerhaven

We

continued

for

lunch,

up

towards wonderful

conversation, and a fabulous time at the Saw Mill Restaurant. This event was a first for some of our members; that in itself was beautiful.

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Summer is officially started! The Chaparral Section hopes that everyone enjoys their summer. SEE YOU IN THE FALL! Lizzie & Ken George

The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

by Lynn Hern

Shirley and I along with the Becker’s, the Bowers and the Woodward’s had a wonderful weekend attending the South West regional event in the Solvang Valley. We left Anaheim late Friday morning and planned on stopping at the Gardens of the World for a break in the driving. Gardens of the World is located in Thousand Oaks, which was about midway to our destination. The gardens are only a few acres but they are meticulously maintained and very serene. Admission is free and it only takes about 45 minutes to walk through. We were fortunate enough to have a relatively easy drive the rest of the way to the Anderson Inn in Buellton. Some of our group that started later were not so lucky.

After checking in, we proceeded to the hospitality suite where we were welcomed by Gerhard and Isolde. They provided an excellent selection of beverages and snacks. The rest of the evening was spent getting acquainted with members from other sections and waiting for the rest of our section to arrive.

On Saturday morning our rally master, Gerhard, gave us our rally instructions and sent us off. The rally turned out to be a very interesting and picturesque drive through the country with the usual list of questions to answer. The rally stopped at one of the local wineries where a catered BBQ lunch was provided. After lunch we were all invited to participate in a people’s choice car show.

Everyone was asked to vote for the rally car they would most like to own. The rest of the day we were on our own to visit Solvang, hang out by the pool, go wine tasting, etc.

Saturday evening, we had an awards banquet at the Vineyard Restaurant in Santa Ynez. All the attendees were presented with an engraved commemorative wine goblet.

Sunday morning Gerhard had arranged a private tour of the Mendenhall's museum. It was started by the current owner’s grandfather in the thirties. He had a gas station and over the years began collecting service station memorabilia. Now the collection covers an acre or two and all the collection is in separate buildings arranged in a square like old western forts.

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Two photos above are Lunch at the Koehler Winery, Fox Canyon Road

The upper two photos are the “Dinner and Rewards” at The Vineyard House in Santa Ynez

The photo above and to the right are from Mendenhall’s Museum of Petroliana and Gasoline Pumps, Buelton

The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

Above from left to right; Lynn Hern President Orange County Section; Gerhard Fehrmann LongBeach-South Bay Section Treasurer and event host; Terry Kiwala, National President; Steve Ross, National Vice President; Bud Cloninger, South West Regional Director; Yvonne Leamon, Central Coast Section President

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The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

here were no wildflowers on this drive. OK, may two or three, not including the planted flowers at the Coronado Memorial headquarters. Nevertheless, two trucks with Ken and Liz George and Lynn and Marilyn Davison traveled the length of AZ 83 to Parker Canyon Lake, then on to Montezuma Pass and Coronado Memorial. The extreme drought of southern Arizona was very evident with the Emory Oaks showing great stress from lack of rain. No wildflowers were to be seen anywhere. We did see lots of wildlife: deer, antelope, javelina, waterfowl at Parker Canyon as well as the wild and wary Angus deer, those big black animals closely resembling ranch livestock. And dust and bumpy roads, but only about 20 miles of dust.

At the Coronado Museum, Liz George just couldn’t help herself when it came to hat shopping, as you can see from the photos below. After a picnic lunch, we returned to Tucson, but first we encountered a two-inch rain; that’s where the raindrops on the windshield were two inches apart….

Coronado Memorial is one of the Extreme Options in Chaparral Section’s Arizona Passport.

Lynn Davison, Ken & Lizzie George—snack time

Those who do not know what a Javalina isit belongs to the rodent family it is not a pig!

Ken George & Lynn Davson

Lizzie George – nice hat!

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The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

by Amir Rudyan

n April 24th, 2016, the Los Angeles Section of the Mercedes Benz Club enjoyed a beautiful drive along Glendora Mountain Road. It was a beautiful spring day, we had little traffic and the group was diverse. (It included a Lexus and a Porsche).

We saw old friends and got to meet new members as well. Thereafter, we stopped for a great group lunch at Legends Classic Diner in Glendora. We’re looking forward to seeing you at our next event.

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The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

by Steve Ross

Michael and Denise ready to serve famished and thirsty Mercedes-Benz drivers.

That first order is always the hardest. That pesky bottle of Champagne was not cooperating

Since this outing was happening at the same time as the Secret Car Club, we had a significant number of non MBCA members join us. That was great as we made a lot of new friends and maybe even some new members.

First customer and official taster. It was deemed fit to consume so we began.

People using the drive up ATM even got involved. We shared our coffee and dough-nuts but not the good stuff!

I think we had a much better turn out than the Secret Car Club. At times, comments from the people that we talked with made me think we are a secret car club. It is amazing how many people including those that drive a Mercedes-Benz never heard of the MBCA. Page | 110

StarFest 2012 reminds us that there is a StarFest 2016 in Uncasville, Connecticut and hosted by the Minute Man Section.

Joanne Barnard's SLK. Joanne has signed up for StarFest 2016.

Joanne Barnard and Chuck Davis discussing the merits of direct fuel injection versus carburetion, baking cookies, the MBCA or the weather? Somebody left their drink on Steve's car, the "Golden Eagle". Denise Cooper in the back ground either taking a photo or texting.

It seems no one is venturing very far from the refreshments. Elaine Davis is greeting Bob Gunthorp, note the balancing of the beverage. We have always said we were a friendly bunch. Denise Cooper, Joanne Barnard and Chuck Davis, back to camera discussing "stuff". At this time no one knew we were going to run out of champagne. We still had plenty of orange juice.

The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

Left: Oskar Kirsten's 190SL getting a look see from a spectator.

Above: David and Munira Coomber have the original set of Mercedes-Benz fitted lug-gage for theirs 190SL. I have never seen an original set of luggage for a 190SL. An unknown member of the club who happened to drive by and stopped to see what was up.

Above in the foreground is Bob's 1966 Hearse

Above: Wes and Rose Gibb's "73" 280C, actually I think it Roses' car.

David and Munira next to their 1958 190SL. Two 190SL's or more are common at our events.

The Limo and SL row.

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Sometimes this author loses his sheet of paper with a list of names--this is one of those times. If you see this photo and know who it is, please email me with that information. You will be awarded a free beverage at the July event. inewsx@sbcglobal.net We were out of champagne, doughnuts and low on other stuff so we decided it was time to hike over to the Inn at Rancho Santa Fe and have breakfast or lunch as one so desired. Not all of the attendees joined us for dining; they ate too many doughnuts maybe. We bid them a fond farewell and headed out.

Oskar, who may be of Amish decent, required no stinkin umbrella as he has his hat, or someone's hat. I wonder whom he is pointing his finger at? You know Amish do not like to have their picture taken so it is probably the photographer.

Left: Since it was such a nice day we opted to dine alfresco. Umbrellas were adjusted a few times to provide everyone with shade.

Above: Since I don't know everyone we will call this table one. Those I do know going from L to R Denise Cooper, Joanne, Rose & Wess Gibbs, need help, David and Munira Coomber

Right: Table 2, Oskar, Need help, Bob Gunthorp, Chuck and Elaine Davis

The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

Parked across the street from us were a vintage Cadillac and Airstream Travel Trailer. I believe this is a 1959 Caddie. This rig was ready to roll on a cross country journey. Note the trailer is equipped with a satellite antenna and air-conditioning. I doubt these items were original equipment.

Can anyone identify the make and model of this automobile? This automobile was also across the street from us.

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The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

By Verna Eason

hat a great time our members enjoyed as they viewed, the special display of Studebakers from bygone days. After viewing these beauties, the tour gravitated to the main display area of the museum. Packards, (big, beautiful and bold) were the featured cars for this display area.

If you were more interested in vintage cars, the inner-sanctum of the museum featured more than 70 cars as well as period clothing.

Model train enthusiasts were able to view a large H/0 scale model train claiming to be the largest between San Diego and San Francisco.

There was a last minute change of dining venue and, like a mother hen rounding up her chicks, I managed to gather the flock and our group, proceeded to the Olive Garden.

As your hostess, I had promised it would be a fun day. From all the feedback I received from various attendees, the day was enjoyed by all.

I had not promised the extra drama of a side trip by

ambulance to St. John's Hospital to repair a fractured femur.

When we say that our club is more than a club it is a family of friends, Ifound this to be particularly true. After finishing their dinner, Iwas rejoined by club members who stayed with me until Iwas whisked off for surgery. My heartfelt thanks to each of you .

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The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

aturday morning, June 11, 2016 was a great day for a tour of Kartchner Caverns State Park, Benson, AZ. Five Chaparral members and a guest journeyed from Tucson to the Park.

Kartchner Caverns were discovered in 1974 by two friends and University of Arizona students with a penchant for cave exploration. The limestone cave is considered a “live” cave because water still percolates from the surface creating amazing formations, stalactites and stalagmites.

While the weather report warned of a pre-monsoon season rain storm, the clouds held onto to their precious desert treasure until the afternoon, permitting us to enjoy spectacular mountain views and a very pleasant tour of the Caverns’ two of three main rooms. The third and largest room in the Caverns is off limits at this time year as the migrating bat population returns each spring to breed and nurse their young in this particular area of the Caverns. Our tour did, however, include a visit to the Throne Room, where we got to see Kubla Khan, the tallest and most massive column formation, topping out at 58 feet tall.

Following our 1 ½ hour tour and a group photo, we headed to downtown Benson for an excellent lunch and convivial conversation at the Horseshoe Café.

Our thanks to Lynn Davison, Chaparral Section Events Guy, for organizing this event.

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The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

Equal to our beloved Mercedes Benz cars Jutta is also a German import except not from Sindelfingen but rather Frankfurt am Main.

Born and raised there, Jutta knew that she would not live the rest of her live in Germany early on. Three preferred countries came to mind # 1 was the United States of America, #2 was Australia and # 3 was Spain, and in that order.

As life would play out she wound up in Tucson Arizona arriving July 27th, 1981. Whew was it hot but coming from rainy cool summers and grey skies she thought she attained Nirvana when she walked out on the tarmac. Of course, after about nine years the outlook on the hot summers with temperatures well above 100 F changed somewhat.

With an Associate Degree in Business from Germany, which meant absolutely nothing in the US at the time, she landed a job in the mortgage business and started from the bottom up. After 20 plus years as co-owner of a mortgage brokerage in Tucson, she retired from the business only to make use of her real estate license and has now been practicing real estate as Associate Broker with Tierra Antigua Realty in Tucson for more than 10 years. Loads of fun as she calls it, apparently the saying when you do what you love you will never work a day in your live has come true for Jutta.

She says she is married to the best husband she could ever wish for and together Jutta and Mark enjoy their doggy family and their two Mercedes Benz a 1979 450 SL and a 2009 E 350.

They also enjoy a good wine, some good food and good friends.

Jutta’s “baby” 1979 450 SL Page | 120

The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

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The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

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The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

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The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

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The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

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The Desert Stars Section’s President’s Desk

By Debbie Ichiyama

ith summer rapidly approaching, I would like to wish safe travels to all our members who head to cooler climates for the summer months. For those of you who stay in the Valley, join us for some fun events this summer including a Star Night, “Escape the Heat” trip to Flagstaff and the September Havasupai Rallye and Dinner. Details on these events can be found in the StarDust Newsletter.

New Star Dust Section Members, “Welcome!”

Andy Bryans, Bob Griffith, Christopher Murphy, Ellen Savoini, Jim Strohmeyer, John Seelige, Juan Urrea, Kathy Rohacz, Kevin Steele, Larry Stephenson, Lee Watkins, Linda Lyberg, Mark Davis, Michael Ferrera, Michael Goodwin, Michael Reid, Robert Hoag, Scott Hall, Terrell Lassetter, William Martin, and Yusuf Alkazi

More Than a Car | We’re a Community

The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

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The Orange County Section’s President’s Desk n behalf of the Orange County Section I would like to thank Long Beach member Gerhard Fehrmann for the excellent job in planning and hosting our May 2016 regional event.

Gerhard, along with a little help from the Channel Islands section, did all the work in hosting the Friday night reception, planning the rally and arranging the Saturday evening banquet.

It was also great to be able to meet and talk with our national president, Terry Kiwala, who was also present.

It is time once again to plan for our yearly election for officers and board members. If there are any members who would like to help with planning events and managing the club’s affairs, please let me know before September.

The OC section has been notified by the regional director, Bud Cloninger, that we have been awarded the Public Service Award for 2015. This honor is given by the National office to the section that has done the most in promoting community involvement with charity and public service events.

I would like to thank all our active members who have participated in our charitable activities leading to this award. All members are encouraged to attend this award presentation at the next club gathering on Sunday July 17, 2016. See our website for details.

Remember you can always find the last newsletter on our web site at www.mboc.info.

- Lynn Hern, We welcome our newest Orange County Section members – Andrea Cecutti  Joerg Frese  Tae Ju  Christine Lee  Sandra Martin Edwin Obergfell  Ricardo Rodriguezlong  John Suchocki  Janis Vincent Ruth Wright  Jingye Yu

The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

reetings to all of our Members, As some of you may know, several of us on the board had issues which impaired our ability to perform our duties. Luckily, Bob Scudder stepped in, and for a couple of months, took care of events and communications for us. Thank you Bob. In the Channel Islands newsletter you will see the advertisement for the 10th Annual Camarillo Car and Food Truck fund raiser. In addition to having a 100 or so cars in the grassy area for a car show, the Red Barn is reserved for the Mercedes Benz cars in our section. Your club needs you for this event. If you have a vintage or older Mercedes to show, please contact me. A separate set of trophies will be awarded to our cars.

There will be many food trucks serving up a variety of foods and deserts as well as live music for your entertainment.

We really need your help for a short period of time recruiting new members. If you want to help for a little while in the Red Barn recruiting new members, awesome This event could make this one of the best recruitment opportunities for our section. As you know, we need to build our membership and fill positions on the board. If you have any questions or want to help with membership, please contact me.

Peter Samatha It’s always a pleasure to welcome new members to our Club.

This month I would like to extend a very special welcome to our newest members: Ron Kubitsky of Simi Valley and Richard McArthur of Ojai We are please you chose to become a member of our Channel Islands Section. We look forward to seeing you at one or all of the upcoming events.

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The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

From the Desk of The San Diego Section President

By Michael Cooper

e sure hope you’re all in the mood for a “Driving Event”. Because we have a good one prepared for you this month!

July is a glorious time in San Diego. Fantastic weather, long days, BBQ’s, and fun drives along the Coastline. It’s also a great time get out and have some fun with your buddies in the Mercedes Club. One of the special things about San Diego is that on any given day, you can pretty much find a car event someplace. As luck would have it, you might even find a fellow club member at any one of these events. If you go to an event and see a fellow Mercedes owner, stick out your hand, introduce yourself and strike up a conversation. We’re pretty darn friendly and I’m pretty sure we have more in common than you might think. (And if nothing else…. Make a new friend this month). July and August are pretty darn busy months with the holiday, family in town, vacation travel, the week of car related events in Monterey as well as our driving event this month.

(Let’s not forget about keeping up with all of the gardening). So, with that being said. If you can find some time, we would love to spend some time with you making memories T hank you for the support

Michael Cooper President

New San Diego Section MBCA Members Branden Bracken~ 1991 380SDL  Christi Dahl~ Airstream  Jane Garrick Steven Bogle~ Airstream  Sun Yoo  Thomas Cassara

A hearty welcome to all our new members.

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The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

Hello fellow members! As you’ve noticed, your club has taken on the job of going green this year. Along with your newsletter, most all of the club communication is with texting, our club Facebook page, or on our club Instagram page. If you’re a club member who would prefer paper, give me a phone call and I can place a newsletter in the mail for you.

The board is working hard to organize some great events to round out the year. Mark your calendar as there will be a wonderful Museum tour and the Holiday party.

I also will mention that this is Election time for our club. September is my target date for setting up an election process for all club members. We will be voting for new board members and officers.

After these many wonderful years, I will be stepping down from this great position as your President. I want to thank you all for being the best club and members a President could ask for.

If you would like to be more involved with the club and you have some time, please consider a position on your board. There is always room for club members who want to get involved.

Thank you all for your participation in the club events your board has worked so hard to provide.

A Warm welcome to our newest members: Abdulaziz Alturki, Alan Idov, Andre Bannister, Arash Afshar, Blue Nelson, Bumjin Kim, Clinton Brownell, Daniel Kim, Geraldine Sandoval, Jay Griffey, Joe Bryant, Mathew Whitmire, Nam Cho, Oshein Khachikian, and Zulma Zak

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The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

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The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

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The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

If you would like to attend an event listed here, please be sure to contact the event coordinator of the hosting section.

This is important as many events require an RSVP so we can know how many people to expect. Also, additional details may be available at the hosting section’s website.

Big SoCal Euro 2016 September 9-11

Back for 2016, Big SoCal Euro is one of the largest all European car events on the west coast. This annual event has been around since 2001, making it one of the longest running car events in SoCal. The secret to its longevity is simple; Repeatedly put on a fantastic show and the people will come.

Big SoCal Euro will feature over 3,000 European cars from throughout the region. Bring your friends and family to meet other car enthusiasts, enjoy raffles, LEGAL drag racing, good food, automotive vendors, a swap meet, an after party and more.

General Admissions FREE | General Parking FREE | VIP Parking limited

Chaparral Section’s Kitt Peak Tour & Picnic September 10 We usually do a drive and dine, but with no restaurant on Kitt Peak, we’ll do a picnic. Pot luck anyone? Our resident astronomer, Michael Turner, promises the usual excellent tour and glorious post monsoon weather. Contact Michael Turner @

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Desert Stars Rock Mountain Regional Event September 9-11

You are cordially invited to join members from other regions and sections in a fascinating drive to Mesa Verde National Park and Four Corners Monument.

Your event fee will include Hospitality Socials Friday and Saturday evenings with snacks and drinks provided plus event prizes.

Extra expenses to be expected: Discounted hotel room (Holiday Inn at $100 a night - breakfast included), Friday and Saturday dinners, Saturday lunch, park entry fee $10 per car (if you lack a senior pass), optional park tour $4 per person, and Four Corners access fee $5 per person.

Place your own hotel reservation on or before August 9 to secure the discounted group rate. A block of rooms has been set aside for the Mercedes-Benz Club but with no individual reservations.

To reserve your place, make out your event fee check of $35 per person to: MBCA, Mile-High Section.

Mail the check before July 25 to

Michael Davison, 7324 East Fremont Drive, Centennial, Colorado 80112.

Email for more information: mhd539@msn.com Please note your MBCA Section, mailing address, email address and whether you want the later detailed instructions sent as a PDF, MS-Word file or via US Mail.

September 11th and again on October 9th 6 A.M. to 1 PM at Long Beach Veteran's Stadium - 5000 Lew Davis, Long Beach, CA 90808

The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

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The Chaparral Section Recurring Ladies Luncheon

Hello, Ladies of Mercedes: 2016 lends itself to be the perfect beginning to bring together the ladies in the club and unite once a month or quarterly for a luncheon affair.

Perhaps we meet for lunch sampling different cuisines or seek out restaurants with special ambience and best of all get to know each other a little better.

Please let me know if you would like to unite for a luncheon every so often.

Please contact me via email: jutta@juttalunario.com The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

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Orange County Section’s Diner at The Olde Ship Sunday, September 11 Join us as your favorite car club visits an English style pub. We’re meeting at The Olde Ship on September 11 at 5 PM. The The Olde Ship is a British Pub located at 1120 West 17th Street, Santa Ana, CA RSVP: On or Before September 9th with Jocelyn Salisbury

MBCA Multi-Regional Event: Mesa Verde National Park & Four Corners September 9, 10 and 11, 2016, From Michael Davison, Rocky Mountain Regional Director You are cordially invited to participate in an event which is still in the planning stage.

I am

organizing a visit to Mesa Verde National Park with a side trip to Four Corners Monument. The idea at present is to meet in Cortez, Colorado on Friday the 9th and check into a hotel or I will schedule ranger-guided tours of two of the park's main attractions. Club members are free to explore other areas of the park as well. The entrance fee to the park is $10 per car for up to four adults in the car. There is no charge for those of us who have a Senior National Parks Pass (now $20 and good for life).

Saturday evening, the 10th, we will enjoy a group dinner tentatively scheduled at Stonefish Sushi & More, 16 W. Main St in Cortez. The owner has graciously agreed to host our group. For those interested, Sunday will include a drive to the Four Corners Monument, 40 miles from Cortez. A five dollar per person fee will be assessed by the Navaho people to enter the reservation on which the monument is located. Only cash is accepted.

The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

Final costs have not yet been determined. I have in mind that each participant will send a check to the Mile-High Section to cover the park tours and Saturday's group dinner. Additional costs will be the hotel stay, meals other than Saturday's dinner, park entry fees and Navaho reservation entry fee. I will apply for a subsidy to reduce each room fee. More information will be forthcoming after I can get some idea of the size of the group.

If you have an interest, sometime before January 16, 2016 please let Debbie Ichiyama know at dichiyama@me.com. Thank you. Michael Davison Rocky Mountain Regional Director – MBCA mhd539@msn.com

MBCA 2016 European Tours Sept. 19th

MBCA’s Stuttgart Germany Tour presents the rich heritage of Mercedes-Benz in its home region.

Travelers will enjoy: 

Guided tours of the Carl Benz Museum in Ladenburg



The Daimler Workshop in Bad Cannstatt



AMG facilities in Affalterbach



The Mercedes-Benz Museum and Brand Center in Unterturkheim



The Technical Museum in Sinsheim



The Bad Cannstatt Engine Assembly Plant



The Classic Center in Fellbach and the Sindelfingen assembly plant that covers more ground than the entire principality of Monaco.



AND be one of the first to witness the production of the Mercedes-Benz 2016 CLA Sedan and GLA SUV in Hungary on our G-Wagon tour in Austria and Hungary October 2016 Space is limited! Reserve now to guarantee your slot. Registration form HERE For more information, please contact Jim O'Sullivan at 843.671.2079 or osullivanj55@gmail.com Page | 152

The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

Desert Stars’ Annual Havasupai Rallye September 24 This is the Desert Stars Annual Rallye and this year we are staying in the Valley for a one day Havasupai Event. The rallye will be fun and friendly, and we advise you to bring your sweet tooth as well as your navigation skills. The day will end with a group dinner and prizes awarded to the rallye winner. So you can participate in Havasupai AND also join Desert Stars on the other road trips planned! There will be more details in future Desert Star newsletter articles and the much loved eblasts!

The Desert Stars Section’s Chocolate Rallye Saturday, September 24 The Desert Stars section has asked all sections to run the following in their newsletters – Havasupai 2016 – Saturday, Sept 24th “Chocolate Rallye” The Desert Stars Annual Rallye will be a one day Havasupai Event. We will combine education, a rallye challenge, and CHOCOLATE. We will explore Chocolates from around the world, while staying right here in the valley. We will learn how chocolate is grown and converted into the confections we love, we will taste examples of fine chocolate and some of the creative combinations that tempt and delight. We will even do a wine and chocolate pairing to complete our education. The rallye will be fun and friendly, so everyone will enjoy the day and be on time to the tastings. Our day will end with a group dinner and prizes awarded to the rallye winners.

The history of chocolate begins in Mesoamerica. Fermented beverages made from chocolate date back to 1900 BC. The Aztecs believed that cacao seeds were the gift of Quetzalcoatl, the God of wisdom, and the seeds once had so much value that they were used as a form of currency. After its arrival to Europe in the sixteenth century, sugar was added to it and it became popular throughout society. In the 20th century, chocolate was considered a staple, essential in the rations of United States soldiers at war. The word "chocolate" comes from the Classical Nahuatl word chocolātl, and entered the English language from Spanish.

It is therefore fitting that we will begin our education with a tasting of chocolate from Xocolatl.

“At Xocolatl, our desire is to create an artistic journey of the senses using the world as our inspiration. We are able to create fine chocolates because we start with the finest ingredients.”

How does Single Malt Scotch, Mangos Diablo, and Celtic Caramel sound to you! Our host will be Chocolatier Jason Wasser, and this will be held at one of Xocolatl’s retailers, Brix Wines, located at 37636 N Tom Darlington Dr, Carefree, AZ. This will be our starting point for the rallye.

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Then we will take a kitchen tour and learn more about chocolate at Zak’s Chocolate, hosted by owners Maureen and Jim Elitzak. “Zak's Chocolate is a family-owned small-batch craft chocolate maker and an artisan chocolatier. We love chocolate and we love the story and amazing flavors of fine cacao varieties.” “At Zak's we roast cocoa beans ethically sourced from different regions and make our own single origin and house blend chocolate to use in bars, truffles and other yummy confections. Everything is done by hand, from sorting cocoa beans to wrapping our bars.”

Our last tasting will be a chocolate and wine pairing. Our host for the pairing will be Frederiek Verbeke of Chocolade van Brugge, and will take place at Drexyl, the restaurant where we will dine after the tasting. “Chocolade van Brugge is a traditional Belgian chocolate shop located in the desert of Scottsdale, AZ. Proudly owned by Frederiek and Christine, we are a husband and wife duo dedicated to sharing our love of Belgian culture with you. Chocolade van Brugge is the exclusive North American importer of these fine, high-quality, traditional Belgian chocolates. We offer more than 90 hand crafted chocolate confections, chocolate bars, marzipan, cookies, figurines, and our most recently added liege Belgian waffles.”

The restaurant Drexyl is the home of some of Scottsdale’s finest modern American cuisine, with seasonal, handcrafted dishes that reflect the melting pot of America, spanning Western and Eastern influences. Located at The Shops Gainey Village, 8877 N. Scottsdale Road, Ste 402, this recently renovated restaurant is getting great reviews from satisfied diners! Dinner will be ordered off the menu and will be self-pay with separate checks. We will award Havauspai Rallye winners, 1st, 2nd and 3rd place finishes, with prizes appropriate to the day’s events.

Please register for this event now (deadline September 15, our chocolatiers will need prep time).

The fee of $40 per person covers the chocolate tastings, tour, and wine pairing. This is not just an M&M tasting (as good as that may be); fine chocolates come at a price and you will be getting a taste of chocolates representing the finest the world has to offer. This is a local event, no hotel fees, so go ahead and treat yourself to a day of yummy-ness. The Rallye is a great excuse for indulging ourselves! Mitigate any stress with a chocolate reward. For information contact Roberta and John Phin at raphin@cox.net, jgphin@cox.net or call 480-272-8851. payment information can be found below.

Registration and

To get starting time and directions you MUST BE

REGISTERED. Havasupai Rallye and Chocolate Tasting, Sat. 24, 2016: Registration Form Contact Information: Name(s) registering: ____________________________________________________________Number Attending: ______ Address: ___________________________________________________________________________________________ City, State/Prov., Zip: _________________________________________________________________________________ Phone No.: _________________________________________________________________________ Day/Night Email Address: _______________________________________________________________________________________ Cost is $40 per person. Registrations should be paid by Sept 15th, after that date or for questions call Roberta or John Phin at 480272-8851. Make your check payable to: MBCA Desert Stars and mail to: MBCA Desert Stars, c/o Debbie Ichiyama, 6502 Evans Dr., Scottsdale, AZ 85254. Or for Credit Card payment, contact Debbie Ichiyama at 480-268-9535.

The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

Desert Stars Temecula, California Wine Tasting October 7-10 Approximately ten years ago we did a three-day trip to Temecula, California wine country and I have been asked to repeat that trip. The dates selected are October 7, 8, 9, & 10 (Columbus Day). Temecula is situated about halfway between San Diego and Los Angeles which makes it a half day drive from the Phoenix valley. We will also visit Julian, CA on the way there as well.

If you are interested put it on your calendar and more information will be in the next Desert Stars newsletter.

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The Orange County Section Celebrates Oktoberfest at The Phoenix Club October 8

The Phoenix Club in Anaheim has been celebrating Oktoberfest for over 50 years. You will find delicious German food, German beer on tap, live music, dancing and many other special events for the whole family to enjoy.

The live music includes performances by the Phoenix Club Choir, traditional Oom Pah Pah bands and the Express band direct from Bavaria.

The MBCA Orange County Section is gathering together October 8th at The Phoenix Club. We will meet behind the big green tent next to the soccer field. Cars will be placed at 5 pm. Each Mercedes car that is displayed receives $20.00 in tickets for food and beer. Otherwise everyone gets free admission. You can stay as late as you want until they turn out the lights!

The address is: The Phoenix Club, 1340 South Sanderson Avenue, CA 92806 (714-563-4166) RSVP with Gerhard before October 3, 2015

Chaparral Section visits The Tuscon Classics Car Show October 15 Come out and enjoy a fun day with over 400 beautiful classic cars on the grass. Awards are given for the best cars in each class. This event is the Premier Charity Car Show in Southern Arizona organized by the Rotary Club of Tucson Foundation which has donated over $876,000 directly to 5019c) (3) local charities over the last 9 years. There is a $25 fee for the first vehicle and $15 for additional vehicles. Registration closed October 5th, 2015 (or when 425 entries are reached). NO DAY OF SHOW ENTRIES. NO DOGS, NO POLITICAL SIGNS ALLOWED. To register and find out more about our club presence at this event please contact: Jerry Tucker at jerry@tuckerhome.us or Michael ‘Coop’ Cooper at Michael_31475@msn.com

The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

Chaparral Section’s Holiday Luncheon December 3rd Last year was our biggest attendance at our holiday event so let’s top it this year. The company was wonderful, the food delectable and the venue that being the Mountain Oyster Club featuring the most outstanding Western Art Show and Auction unable to be seen by the public and only accessible to us since our val-ued member, Ed Gladish a member at the Mountain Oyster Club, so graciously arranges for us to hold our holiday event at this private club. So mark your calendars and don’t miss a great holiday luncheon. Exact time and directions will be forthcoming by special invitation.

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The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

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The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

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The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

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The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

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The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

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The Southwest Star Magazine – covering the southwest region of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America

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