DRIFTING A MERCEDES-AMG C 63 S
The thrill of drifting with a RWD AMG sports sedan
IT’S STATING THE BLEEDING OBVIOUS BUT ESP NEEDS SWITCHING OFF
IT ALL STARTS WITH POWER. POWER, power and more power! Sure you could use the handbrake to yank the tail out, like we did all those years ago with our mum’s Zen on the local playground, but getting the tail out for those long slides, smoke billowing out of the rear wheel arches, that’s all down to power. And the Mercedes-AMG C 63 S has more than enough power, all 503bhp of it. It is also nice to have a lot of torque – a peaky engine demands much more effort whereas a wall of torque lets you stay in one gear and just surf the wave. 700Nm is a very big wave, that’s what this hand-built 4-litre twin-turbo AMG V8 makes. It’s more than enough to rip off 10 feet of tarmac when you step on the gas.
You also need space. I made mistakes when I started, you will make mistakes when you get started, and I’m sure Gautam Singhania made mistakes when he started. I only had a ruined Zen to show for it whereas Gautam did something productive – he built a drift track right in the heart of the city. The Raymond drift track in Thane is heaven for a petrolhead who loves to burn rubber and Gautam’s annual Will It Drift event opens up the track to enthusiasts to shred their rubber. Professional coaches also offer driving tips before a competition for drifting enthusiasts and at the end of it all Gautam brings out his monster drift machines and goes on to make tyre manufacturers all over the world very, very happy.
Today we have the drift track to ourselves. The track manager has provided us with an army of workers to sweep away the standing water that is but to be expected in the peak of the monsoons. And we have the Mercedes-AMG C 63 S to play with. I check my phone for the tenth time but the message from Mercedes to take care of the tyres hasn’t come. I’m as amazed
as Gaurav and the rest of the team that they’re really okay with this story – after all we’ve lost track of the number of times we’ve had to entertain calls from manufacturers drawing our attention towards ruined rear tyres. Better not jinx it, phone is switched off, and so is ESP.
It’s stating the bleeding obvious but ESP needs switching off. Completely. Not the namby-pamby Sport Plus mode that gives you some leeway before the safety net is thrown over you – you need to swallow your brave pills and completely switch off all the safety aids.
And then the skies open up.
You know Mr Murphy. The guy that on the day you have an AMG and no warning to return it with its tyres intact, on the day you have a drift track at your disposal, on the day you have no where else to go and no one else to call – he shows up and makes it rain. Right then. We’re not going to let him completely rain on our parade.
Wait for the rain to ease out. Check the tyre pressures. Don’t bother with sending in the army to sweep out the puddles. Click first and make the AMG engine emit its own thunder through those quad pipes as the tyres light up and we slither out on to the track.
Okay, let’s be serious here. First things first, your seating position. Backrest in a relatively upright angle, steering close to your chest so your arms are free to twirl the steering wheel, seat low so that you’re sitting within the car, not on top of it. Next recce the track. You don’t want to bust a radiator or yank off a bumper before you even begin destroying the tyres. Grip levels change depending on how hot the conditions are; now with the rain it’s not only slippery but