WhichCar By Wheels

In early 1971, when I joined Wheels as editor, the NSW distributor Yorkstar Motors only lent Mercedes-Benz models for road testing to a privileged few among the motoring writers.

Mostly, only the Sydney Morning Herald’s Stuart Griffith (test cars were delivered to his home in the Blue Mountains) and The Daily Telegraph’s racing-driver cum-journalist David McKay. Wheels and Modern Motor (now Motor) were politely ignored.

All that changed when Hans von Brockhusen took over as managing director in 1972. The tall, aristocratic ex-salesman, who’d previously spent well over a decade working for Mercedes in Canada and the United States, set out to establish closer links with not only the dealers, but also the motoring press.

Decades later von Brockhusen still feigned shock about the three-day Thredbo launch, Mercedes’ first national press event, for the new 280 and 280E with their brilliant new twin cam M110 six cylinder engines. His favourite among many photographs from that event was a now infamous shot of a 280E sedan hammering over a wooden bridge on two wheels. Brocky loved it so much it quickly became a poster for the dealers. A copy was a highlight of many old career photographs still in his collection when Hans Hartmut Hindenburg von Brockhusen died in Melbourne in March at the age of 96.

An utterly charming man, it was Hans, using all his influence and contacts in Stuttgart, who organised for Juan Fangio, five times world champion driver, to race a W196 Mercedes-Benz against Jack Brabham’s Repco-Brabham at Sandown Park in 1978.

For lap after lap Fangio, drifting the W196 through the corner at the end of the Sandown’s main straight, thrilled the capacity 60,000 crowd, while Hans hosted Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser in the grandstand.

When Wheels road tests in 1978 and 1979 proved that the brake fluid in Mercedes-Benz cars was contaminated by water (from osmosis on the long voyage from Germany), thus causing brake failure in certain circumstances, it was von Brockhusen, taking over the investigation, who insisted that all Benz coming into Australia should have their brake fluid changed upon arrival. Water resistant fluid arrived a couple of years later rendering the issue solved.

I really got to know Hans during a five-day press induction trip to Mercedes in Germany in May 1979. I discovered that he was the grandson of Paul von Hindenburg, who effectively raised the boy when his father died when he was only nine. Paul von Hindenburg was the great WW1 German field marshal and, later, the last German President before Adolf Hitler, whom he despised and liked to call “that Bohemian corporal”. According to his daughter Alexandra, Hans didn’t go to school, rather school came to him on the family estates in Prussia, though his dreams of a career as a diplomatic came to nothing under the Nazis.

Conscripted into the Wehrmacht, he commanded 20 tanks on the Eastern front during WW2 and fought at the 1943 Battle of Kursk, the biggest tank conflict in history. Captured by the Russians he returned to Germany in 1946 weighing just 50kg. With the family estates now part of Poland and confiscated by the communists, he started again and eventually joined Mercedes-Benz with whom he worked until he retired in 1984.

I considered us friends and little wonder. Upon learning that I was moving to Italy to work as a motoring writer he insisted on writing a letter of introduction to his colleague and mate Rudi Uhlenhaut, the engineer responsible for (among others) the Mercedes W196 and 300 SLR racing cars. Sadly, Uhlenhaut died just weeks before we arrived in in Europe in late 1988, so I never did get to meet the great engineer.

Hans loved to reminisce, but he never looked back with regret. He always drove the latest Mercedes-Benz and was deeply involved in Melbourne’s German Lutheran church. By any measure, von Brocky was a lovely bloke.

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There’s plenty the previous C63 AMG was known to be brilliant for.

One of its most famous attributes was its hellacious exhaust note. Sounding like a thunderstorm announcing itself through a didgeridoo, the naturally aspirated M156 engine earned itself reputation as one of the great muscle car sounds.

Not much has changed with the new Mercedes-AMG C63. Despite welcoming two turbochargers, the new M178 engine still gets your neck hairs on end, and you can enjoy it for yourself in the quick clip above.

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Porsche has revealed the most potent Boxster yet, ahead of the car’s debut at the New York Motor show.

As predicted by MOTOR, the 981-series Boxster Spyder takes select components from the recently released Cayman GT4 and installs them in the open-top bodyshell.

Unlike the hardcore GT4, the new Spyder is not the product of Porsche’s motorsport department, but benefits from lessons learned during that car’s development with the installation of the 3.8-litre flat-six from the 911 Carrera S.

Power is 276kW, seven kilowatts less than the GT4, but that’s still sufficient for 0-100km/h in 4.5sec and a top speed of an impressive 290km/h. In good news for enthusiasts, like the Cayman GT4, the new Boxster Spyder will only be available with a six-speed manual gearbox.

The chassis has not received the same level of fettling as the Cayman, but the ride height has been lowered by 20mm, there’s more direct steering and brakes also lifted from the 911 Carrera.

The most obvious design change is the addition of two prominent rear bulges behind the cabin, while two fabric fins extend from the manually-operated roof to give the car a sleeker profile.

Hopefully this roof arrangement is more user-friendly than the last Boxster Spyder, the fabric roof of which was a right pain.

Overseas markets will offer the Boxster Spyder with minimal standard equipment, but local cars will come loaded with sat-nav, cruise control, heated seats, dual-zone climate control and uprated stereo system.

The new Boxster Spyder will land locally in Q3 priced from $169,000, a $23,500 premium over the manual Boxster GTS, but more than $20,000 cheaper than the identically-engined Cayman GT4.

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While it may be a gag to celebrate April Fools day, we do wish the Mercedes-AMG Sprinter63 S van revealed yesterday on Mercedes-Benz USA’s FaceBook page wasn’t a mere prank.

Maybe that’s because the credentials of this super Sprinter entail exactly what the badges on its doors suggest: a hulking AMG-built 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 at its front, plus rear-drive, AMG re-tuned suspension, and a C63 S-matching front and rear diffuser.

However unlike BMW’s awesome April Fools project that involved a turn-key BMW M3 ute, the Sprinter63 S isn’t real. Mercedes-Benz USA confirmed the photos as renders, saying: “It’s exactly what you’d expect of our high performance division, if they were given the keys to a Sprinter van”.

For that we are sad to read, because – with 375kW under their right foot – your courier would never be late again.

MERCEDES-Benz is gearing up to offer a choice of trade utes in Australia, with the luxury car and commercial vehicle maker revealing plans for a classy one-tonner that could one day sell here alongside its tough military-grade load-lugger.

The German company has several of its G Professional work utes – versions of the rough-and-tough G-Wagen military vehicles it sells to the Australian army – in testing with government departments as it builds a viable business case for the vehicles.

Now Mercedes-Benz has revealed it also wants to build a softer, more city-centric ute, which it classes as a pick-up, aimed at “commercial as well as private users” who will be “increasingly asking for vehicles that have car-like specifications”.

The carmaker says Australia – where trade utes feature prominently among the top 10 monthly bestsellers – will be one of the key markets for the new ute.

The Benz-badged workhorse will be on sale “before the end of the decade”, the company says, creating what it claims will be the first premium ute in the segment.

It could even be monstered by Benz’s AMG tuning arm, similar to the G55 AMG wagon that provides tyre-smoking performance in a boxy, utilitarian package.

Until the Benz-badged workhorses arrive, joining the VW Amarok as the most expensive utes in Australia is likely to be the facelifted Ford Ranger, due later this year with the potential to jump above $65,000 once buyers add a raft of electronic driver aids aimed at making the weekday workhorse/weekend plaything more city-friendly.

One of the struggles Mercedes-Benz faces with the G Professional ute is its cost, with the showroom sticker price for the utilitarian, off-road capable vehicle with a hose-out interior likely to be its circa $80,000 pricetag.

No price estimates for the ute have been revealed.

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AUSTRALIAN drivers are already so in tune with driving on the wrong side of the road that the government could save billions by making the jump to a left-hand-drive market, a report has recommended.

The Department of Transport’s Safer Highways Initiatives Taskforce has told the government that Australian drivers already mimicked so many of the left-hand-drive road rules that applied to US and European drivers that making the swap to left-hand-drive roads would be “a low-cost, high benefit solution to congestion”, the report said.

The report’s recommendations are based on a two-year-long study of on-road behaviour, involving twice-daily observations of motorists in major metropolitan and regional centres that were then collated to paint a picture of the average Australian driver.

The taskforce said the study revealed that the average Australian motorist was already so in sync with US and European road rules that swapping the steering wheel over to the other side of the vehicle would be “unexpectedly easy”.

“It was surprising to see the extent to which Australian drivers have already adapted to driving on the opposite side of the road, despite Australia being a nation of right-hand-drive vehicles,” the report said.

“Predominantly heavy commercial vehicles, SUVs, taxis, light commercial vehicles and Toyota Avalons all show a preference for using the right-hand lane of multi-lane highways,” it said.

“The result is a considerable slowdown in the median traffic flow of the ‘fast’ right-hand lane compared with the ‘slow’ left-hand lane – exactly the same we would expect if those vehicles were picked up and relocated on a European autostrada or autobahn.

“The obvious benefit to this is that, just by forcing Australians to swap sides, traffic flow can improve instantly as the fast lane becomes just that, a lane for fast-flowing traffic, and slower traffic is confined to the traditionally slower lane.”

The cost of congestion in Australia is expected to double from $10 billion in 2007 to more than $20 billion by 2020, the Department of Transport has estimated.

“With the demise of local manufacturing just around the corner, Australia no longer has a need to stick to right-hand-drive vehicles,” the taskforce said. “Once Ford, Holden and Toyota switch off local manufacturing, it will act as a natural laxative for the transition to a US or European-style system.”

The federal government said it would sift through the SHIT report before deciding to pick up any of its recommendations.

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A BMW is at home on any road- but with BMW M Driving Experience and the freedom to unleash on the racetrack with a team of expert instructors, you will experience the Ultimate Driving Machine in its natural habitat.

19 lucky winners will be part of a BMW M Driving Experience at Eastern Creek, NSW, 18 June 2015!

The prize includes:

For your chance to be part of the M experience, simply fill out your details and get ready to feel the Power of M!

Sorry! This competition closed May 25, 2015.

Click here to view BMW Australia’s Privacy Policy

Click here to view the BMW Australia Indemnity Form

A BMW is at home on any road- but with BMW Driving Experience and the freedom to unleash on the racetrack with a team of expert instructors, you will experience the Ultimate Driving Machine in its natural habitat.

19 lucky winners will be part of a BMW M Driving Experience at Eastern Creek, NSW, 18 June 2015!

The prize includes:

For your chance to be part of the M experience, simply fill out your details and get ready to feel the Power of M!

Sorry! This competition closed May 25, 2015.

Click here to view BMW Australia’s Privacy Policy

Click here to view the BMW Australia Indemnity Form

MOTOR goes max attack at Phillip Island in Porsche’s 652kW hypercar.

Didn’t you drive the 918 about a year ago? Where’s your comparison with this, P1 and LaFerrari?

It’s coming! True, we’ve already reported on 918, thanks to our man in Europe, Georg Kacher, but this was the first, and only time we’ll get to drive it in Australia. So consider this a local test – and, at Phillip Island, a very fast local test.

What are the specs again?

In the middle there’s a 4.6-litre naturally-aspirated V8, the same in Porsche’s RS Spyder prototype racecar, cranking out 447kW at 8700rpm and 540Nm at 6700rpm, thanks to a 9150rpm rev limiter and 13.5:1 compression ratio. Fairly peaky, you might be thinking, and you’re right – that’s why Porsche also fits two electric motors, one in the front, one in the rear.

On top of the V8’s 447kW and 540Nm the electric motors contribute a further 210kW and 585Nm which would still be considerable without that howling V8. And remember, that’s 585Nm from 1rpm. Combined, the 918 makes 652kW at 8500rpm, and between 917Nm and 1280Nm, depending on the gear (the higher gear you’re in, the more torque available). When you’ve got 1634kg to shuffle that makes for one ludicrously fast car.

How fast are we talking?

0-100km/h in 2.6 seconds, 0-200km/h in 7.2 seconds, quarter mile in 9.9 seconds, on to a top speed of 345km/h. The crazy part is, the thing will do 3.1L/100km, too.

That’s only because it has an electric mode, right?

Correct. There’s a dial on the steering wheel, like a Ferrari manettino, where you can select between four modes – E-Power, Hybrid, Sport-Hybrid and Race-Hybrid. In E-Power mode the 918 glides around silently; it can do around 30km on electric power alone. Even in electric-only mode you’ll embarrass cars like a Toyota 86 at the lights – silently, with no engine at all, the 918 will do 0-100km/h in just over seven silent seconds. And it feels fast, too, because there’s no engine roaring as it pulls through gears – it’s just silent, eerie thrust, the building of tyre noise and a subtle but cool electric motor whine.

From a 240V outlet the 918 will fully recharge in less than four hours. Or plugged into one of those newfandangled quick charging sockets we’re starting to see at shopping centres? 25 minutes. Or you can put the car in “Race Hybrid” mode and, say you’re on the freeway, if you put the PDK auto in manual mode and hold the thing at 5000rpm, the car will fully recharge its own flat battery in 20 minutes. Seriously, this thing is nuts.

Why does it look like it’s wearing Dame Edna Everage’s glasses?

This car has the optional “Weissach” package – think of it as a 918 GT3, sort of. There’s beautiful, wet-looking, glossy exposed carbonfibre everywhere, and in a car that’s had all the fat stripped from it, Porsche goes a step further to find another 41kg of savings. Porsche got a little OCD with the weight saving – sound-deadening is reduced, you get gorgeous forged magnesium wheels, but even the balls in the wheel bearings are ceramic instead of steel to save weight.

There’s no paint – Porsche wraps the car in a special weight-saving film instead. And Porsche has replaced steel bolts with titanium ones where it can get away with it. All this means the 918 Spyder Weissach is a tenth quicker to 200km/h and 300km/h, a bit noisier inside, and makes you a little more anxious about crashing it. Oh, and you can option some cool retro sticker liveries, like a Martini livery, which will probably be more to people’s taste than this red and white one…

So what does 0-100 in 2.6 seconds feel like?

First and second gear is just violent. You could use all the worn-out metaphors you liked – it has afterburners, getting flung from a giant rubber band, etc – but really, the acceleration is just disorientating, it’s that brutal. When I gave it full throttle in the first few gears, there was this sensation of my brain wincing, “oh, jesus” and struggling to process what was coming in through my eyeballs. I’ve personally been in some seriously fast cars in my time and in terms of acceleration, this is the fastest. And the 918’s punch off apexes, thanks to incredible all-wheel traction, is just savage.

What’d it do down the straight?

I wasn’t looking at the speedo when I was driving (was a bit distracted). But MOTOR got a ride with Mattias Hoffsuemmer, Head Instructor for 918, and we saw 293km/h before faceplanting the glovebox on the brakes into Phillip Island’s turn one.

Video: Porsche 918 storms Phillip Island

Corners?

Utterly berserk levels of grip. So get this, the 918 is really a little bit of a supercar fatty even in Weissach mode, at 1634kg, by virtue of its hybrid system. For example the Carrera GT weighed 1250kg. But Porsche says the 918’s centre of gravity is lower than the wheel nuts. Sitting low in the 918, in a nest of carbonfibre, it feels wide, like you’re driving a street luge. And the sensation on the track – when your brain has half-adjusted to the acceleration – is the weight is crazy low in the car, which means almost zero body roll, perfect change-of-direction (this thing would win the Slalom World Championship) and if you go too fast into a corner, the 918 doesn’t really get upset – it just gently overstresses its monster tyres, and understeers, or oversteers, in a way that’s clean, predictable and super-friendly.

So it’s easy to drive fast?

Fast being the key word there, yes, when your brain has adjusted to the borderline-suicidal corner entry speeds, the crazy mid-corner speed, and getting-fired-from-a-cannon, brutal acceleration, the 918 is in fact quite friendly to drive quick. Importantly it wants to work with you, and be your mate, rather than biting your face off in traditional supercar fashion. And the V8 sounds incredible – there’s a crankshaft spinning at 9150rpm not far from the base of your spine, and you’re fully aware. It sounds petrifying yet still strangely polite, loud in volume and sending vibration through you like your skeleton is a stressed chassis member. The noise from the thing is just otherworldly.

Cease talking and take my money.

Well, about that. Unfortunately no 918s can be registered in Australia. In fact, Porsche Cars Australia looked at bringing a few in but they just got too expensive with all our taxes, ie, $1.5m, so they bonked it on the head. Maybe a 918 will come to Australia one day, says Porsche, but it’ll be used, and probably quite a few years from now.

So what’s happening to this Dame Edna version?

It’s got a ticket out of the country at some stage. Its build number is just 000 – when Porsche puts this on a car’s build plate, it means it won’t be sold to a customer. Indeed, Porsche is making 918 – as in, nine-hundred and eighteen – 918s, and they’re all sold. In fact, this car we drove could end up crushed. True story.

What?

Yep, development cars like this are destroyed. About 20 development cars were built, says Porsche, and two or three will end up as promo cars or museum dust shelves, while it’ll be to the scrapheap for the rest. Which makes us sad, naturally, as it probably does you – but we’re just glad we got to drive one and experience the lunacy. MOTOR‘s Aussie drive of the 918 was maddeningly, depressingly brief, but it’s imprinted itself in our consciousness in a way no other car, short of a P1 or LaFerrari, could.

Is the 918 fun? Sure, but it’ll be sweaty, nervous laughter, hands shaking, needing a good lie down afterwards. Having awed you with its spaceship acceleration, nuts cornering talent, absurd mid-corner speed and brutal brakes – its sheer ability as a performance car – it simply sucks the words from your brain, and leaves you speechless, and you come away with respect for what is one actually special, devastatingly quick car.

Grab MOTOR‘s July issue for the full nitty-gritty of the 918 driving experience.

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Mattias Hoffsuemmer knows the Porsche 918. As the car’s chief instructor, he’s done 40,000km in the things. Yep, forty thou – a lap of the equator.

But you wouldn’t think he’s never driven Phillip Island, let alone been to Australia before, watching him blast around one of the nation’s quickest, most intimidating racetracks in Porsche’s 652kW hybrid hypercar.

MOTOR was sitting next to him, a little nervous, as he hit 293km/h down Phillip Island’s front straight, teetered on the precipice of adhesion, at 190km/h, through turn one, and proceeded to make mincemeat of the rest of the circuit.

He did a 1:38.02, meaning he’d still get wiped by a V8 Supercar (the outright V8 record, according to the Phillip Island website, is a 1:32.02 by Jamie Whincup in 2013) but still, not bad for something on road tyres – you can be certain that there’d be a fair few seconds up for grabs on slicks.

Watch – and enjoy.

(Meanwhile, MOTOR was thrown the keys to the 918 and unleashed around Phillip Island – read our review here.)

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