Hello EricH:

"Grand" Touring, of course...that means signing up for an average of 115, 120, or 125 mph. It also means having a 5-point safety harness. I could use the advice of someone experienced with installing a harness in a W124 without a rollbar.

Bill Wood:

I intend to write a short feature on the race for our MBCA chapter newsletter and would be happy to send it to you for the list. I'm also planning on videotaping our run with a camera mounted in the car. I will try to beg or borrow a digital camera for some still pics too!

Well anyone in the northern california area who has a E500/500E is welcome to test their vehicle against mine. I'd think that mine is well broken in at 6800 miles. Unfortunately the limiter is still on the car.

Just fallen in love with the E55 myself... talk about 'speaking quietly and carrying a big stick'!!

Last night on the motorway, cruising at 70mph, there was an R33 Nissan Skyline GTR strutting its stuff, the owner smug that he was pretty quick. Accelerating to 110-120 and slowing down again. As he went past, an E-class pulled up next to me... the driver saw my CE, and guessing I was a Mercedes fanatic pointed at the Skyline. He then put a finger to his mouth to indicate he wanted to be really sneaky. He pulled up next to the Nissan, and waited for him to do his 'Look at my Acceleration bit'. He floored it and literally left the Skyline in his smoke. Hehe... ultimate in stealth.

Bri

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Brian Drought
1991 300CE
http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~drought/
ICQ: 2180069

Brian -

awesome story i've been trying to decide which direction i want to go with my next MB... it's a tossup between a 140 coupe (s500) or a 500E...both would probably fall in the same price range but I have a feeling the 500E would bring me a little more in the "fun" category...I'd love to come back with some stories myself

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Chris Singh
1983 300D 200k+ (stopped odometer)
1990 300E 123k
1999 E430 12k

http://benz.mp3car.com
http://stormworks.max3d.com

500Es are great for generating stories...nobody EVER sees them coming !

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Best regards, Michael
'92 500E
'88 300TE

I agree that Drivers' skills, lucks, and temperature may affect your car performance. As for automatic, you just need to step on the accelerator( not too hard, or it will cause your ESP, ASR or traction system to cut your engine torque, it happened very often on my 97 E420). For manual, you have to know your shift point. I used to drive an automatic M3 and raced it with SLK. M3 is a great car when in the city, By the time you kick the accelerator, the power you want is always there( low rpm, maybe below 3500). But when the M-cars goes to freeway, don't be scared by them. They run just a little bit faster than 328i. Its 60-100mph was really disappointing. The SLK I raced with( with exhaust modification and 18" rims), was able to tail my M3 really really close. Then I have to give up as he is getting more closer and nearly kiss my M's Ass, by 120mph,the SLK took the lead and take the I-10. On the other time, I drove an M coupe and race it with one really big Benz, I dont know what series is that. I knew it was Black, with really big chromed rims, I knew it was the old S class before the W140. BUT it is as fast as BIG Boeing 747. From stop light to stop light race, He can keep up with my M-coupe. I lose about a half car length as I shift from 1st to 2nd gear( The M coupe 1st gear is very very short), on 2nd I win over one car length, then when we have to stop as the traffic light went red. I took a look on the car, to identify the car, by the time the light turned green, I accelerates with my best effort and again, as I change my gear, the big benz took the lead about half car length, As I went to 2nd, I took the lead again, changing from 2nd to 3rd is easier compare from 1st to 2nd. But.. still the big old benz tailed on my back really really close. Finally he gave me a high beam and make a U-turn. I was wondering what kind of Benz was that. I saw it on Grand Avenue.... between I-10 and 210. Is it Brabus tuned-cars, AMG hammer, or maybe my driving skill is lousy, or the M-car did not perform well?