AMG HILL CLIMB
In a very fast, rear-wheel drive family car
The ballistic AMG C 63 S takes on Tamhini ghat
I’VE DEVELOPED A HABIT THAT was going to bite me in the arse a few minutes after I picked up the AMG C 63 S from the dealership in Pune. Every time I drive a fast car, I have to experience its craziest setting first to get a sense of the car’s acceleration, stiffness of the suspension and its steering response. It’s a sure shot way to get acquainted with a fast car quickly, and it works every single time. All you have to do is let the traffic clear, get Sport Plus on, keep the traction control on because you’d be inviting trouble without it, and floor it. It takes about five seconds to erase the memories of the car you had been driving before that. In those five seconds as I took the right under a nearby underpass, I experienced fear and joy in equal measure as the AMG C 63 S gave a big ol’ slide before the electronics caught my unwittingly slow reflexes from leaving an ‘Anand was here’ wall art in the underpass.
Hill climbs start with a climb to the hill but this one was going to be different. The tyres were cold and 700Nm of torque had waged war on the Pirelli P-Zeroes. To give the tyres a fighting chance at survival, I dialled it down to Comfort, got out of sport handling mode and squeezed in a little more than the required squirt of 98 octane in the V8 and let the electronically controlled limited slip differential keep the car civil. Again the rear waved its hips like a cheerleader got a bonus. Hold on a second! Isn’t this a car we should be very familiar with? We’ve seen the C 63 many times in the past at the evo India office, smoked fast cars on a drag strip, the Ed has even given drifting lessons in it, but it just wouldn’t go straight in a straight line. I was scratching my head in wonder as I drove it for the next few minutes.
A few seconds of a hairy moment can sharpen your reflexes faster than Usain Bolt’s 100-metre sprint. We turned in to a familiar stretch of road that leads to our favourite hunting grounds before Lavasa near Pune, but instead of turning left to the hills of Lavasa, we proceeded further to a lesser known hill climb called Tamhini ghat.
You don’t always find the best, so when you don’t, you make up for it with the rest. Making any sense? In our search for great winding roads every month, we have chanced upon either spectacular tarmac or breathtaking beauty. Both together are hard to find. Nevertheless, we had AMGs to hoon with and missing one piece of the puzzle didn’t matter. Looking for something closer to home, the usual suspects had to be avoided, because the roads we are driving on are roads you need to know to take your cars to. Everyone in the west has heard of Aamby Valley and Lavasa, famous hill climbs that need no introduction. But how many of you have heard of Tamhini ghat?
Tamhini ghat is about 65km away from Pune city and takes about two hours to get to. The roads leading to this winding road aren’t great but with the promise of a smooth hill climb, I was going to endure the pain of babying a 500 horsepower car. Once you cross a village called Paud, the road gets better, it lines a big lake at Mulshi, crosses a bridge and begins to climb. Tamhini ghat welcomes you without notice, but as you begin to climb, the dry mountain in peak summer and the rock-cut face bounces the exhaust note of the V8 sport sedan to set you in the mood for a fast run. Get a loud and fast car here and I guarantee you the need of a raise to foot its fuel bills. Tamhini ghat has to be driven with a heavy foot. It has that perfect mix of long straights, sweeping hairpins and quick direction changes. It’s not a long winding road but is demanding on the brakes, overworks the traction control system
THESE HILLS ARE THE EXHAUST'S NATURAL AMPLIFIER, AND IT'S SO LOUD HERE, YOU CAN HEAR THE CAR ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE HILL
and needs an agile handler. The AMG C 63 S has mega brakes and turns in with finesse but if that traction control system earns a rupee for every time it intervenes, it would be a millionaire in a few runs of Tamhini ghat. The willingness of the AMG C 63 S to go sideways is a little intimidating at first, time when we had to give in to the photography on these pages, but it’s such a happy puppy when a squeeze of the throttle gets a smooth rear arc of glory here before you can nicely catch it without losing much momentum or unsettling it. Tamhini has a lot of blind corners though and it’s advisable to be aggressive only out of a corner when you can see ahead as the sparse traffic encourages motorists to take liberties with traffic rules.
A few sections of the hill climb cross through rock faces on both sides, corners where I drop a gear, hold revs to about 3000rpm entering the corner and exit at redline. It’s the AMG sports exhaust’s natural amplifier, and the AMG C 63 S is so loud here, you can hear it on the other side of the hill. The mid-range of the biturbo V8 under the hood is simply ballistic. And despite being turbocharged, it still sounds so loud and burbly, the exhaust flaps work their magic with every overrun and all that comes with the benefit of some ridiculously high torque figures that translate to a very strong push out of corners. This is the pinnacle of fast AMG sedans, compact dimensions give it great agility, strong V8 gives it blisteringly quick acceleration and when you are done with its stupidly fast corner carving ability, you can coast in it in Comfort mode like it’s a regular C-Class. For such a fast car, this uncanny duality is why I love the AMG C 63 S.
Tamhini ghat is a hidden gem so close to the major cities of Mumbai and Pune, cities where you will see a lot of AMGs. Every time you come here in a different season, the landscape changes beautifully from a dry and barren summer to the lush green monsoon and post monsoon months. Since it is one of the highest hills around here, the sunset from the top of Tamhini is beautiful, and the road itself is fast, flowing and mixes in some sharp corners. It’s one of those roads that will get you in to rhythm quickly, and if you have a car that’s as loud and fun as this AMG C 63 S is, you are in for a treat. ⌧