-: Okay, Will I Am?
-: Yeah.
-: Yeah. (laughing)
What's up, man?
Good morning.
You wanna go by Will I Am?
-: Just Will.
-: Ludacris.
-: You guys can call me Chris.
-: All right, Chris.
-: Driving experience only in the movies.
(laughing)
(upbeat music)
-: Folks come from all walks,
some have bought an AMG
and got a free entry to come to the Academy
but have no driving experience.
Now, that same person
might be along with another person
with some track experience
and it's the instructors job like me
to figure out the difference,
give them what they need,
and help pick them up
and build their speed and confidence in driving a car.
On the AMG Driving Academy,
a performance day starts often with some paddock exercises
like a slalom,
which is an auto cross,
drag race and skid pad.
And then in the afternoon,
we'll spend the time on the racetrack
driving one of all of the different models here on site
and really increase the speed,
learn about lines on the racetrack,
and just really enjoy the product.
Yeah, so I showed up to work today,
and they gave me a list
and it said I was gonna have Ludacris in my group
and then I was gonna have Will I Am
and Jon Rahm.
This is the AMG Driving Academy.
If you watch my foot,
I've got a really nice stroke of the brake,
I'm really cramming that brake down
and my knee is still bent.
With my heel on the carpet,
I can get to the throttle and to the brake
without having to move my foot a bunch.
These cars are trained to say yes
to what you're asking it to do,
but if you have overwhelmed the tire at a certain level,
you're gonna have to rethink your approach, okay.
The basic approach is to separate the braking and steering
a little more than you normally would.
And we're gonna separate another thing
and that's our eyes.
-: When I'm out there,
the stuffs coming at ya so fast,
if I don't stop and process a little bit,
I'll make the same mistakes over and over and over.
In between runs,
I like to run laps in my head
and the more you do it,
the more your brain will slow it down.
So, I'm here to give rides and also answer questions.
-: Ready to brake, ready to brake, ready to brake.
I'm not sure who that was.
Car 86 never sees the stop box.
Brake hard, brake hard, brake hard, brake hard.
-: Will got grounded, I saw that.
(laughing)
-: Time out, time out, time out.
-: Will, go to the pit stop right now.
Instructor: Basically, you wanna be looking into it.
-: Those get her comments was killing me.
Will, that is not the box!
What are you doing? (laughing)
-: Brake hard, brake hard, brake hard, brake hard.
(laughter and chatter)
(bleep) box.
-: It's like we ain't been in school
and following directions in a long time.
Instructor: Unwind the wheel, gas, gas gas.
Nice run, 77.
Okay, we're gonna go over to skid pad
and make some racket like that team has been.
And we got lots more to cover when we get over there.
Now, I want to remind you,
mostly it's people who under steer
by bad technique,
not the car that under steers, let's be clear.
That also means it's good news,
people can cure an under steer
if you're the one who helped cause it in the first place.
-: This is where we wanna go, this way.
-: You're on the throttle this whole time?
-: Every transition from left to right,
I come off.
-: You're still on the throttle?
-: I'm off just for a minute.
-: Oh come off a little bit.
This (bleep) crazy.
(laughing)
-: Now, do you turn the wheel the opposite direction?
-: Yep.
Right now, my tires are basically like that.
-: Yeah.
Wow.
(laughing)
-: Slower, slower, slower, slower, slower,
now lots of gas.
Look at that finish.
There we go.
There's a correction.
Love it, that was all the pieces.
Correct pause with cover, it's that simple.
-: I asked him specific questions
and got specific answers.
We'll see if it works.
(laughing)
(tires screeching)
Woo!
Almost.
That was the best one yet though.
-: This is insane.
(tires screeching)
-: By the way,
for the camera,
the fact that he's doing this one-handed
and pointing where he's going, it's insane.
-: It's all about getting the eyes where you need to go.
-: Well, you got it so easily.
I mean, come on.
Driver: I've had a little bit of practice.
-: It's insane.
(tires screeching) (upbeat music)
-: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
woo! (laughing)
(cheerful hollering)
(tires screeching)
-: Awesome.
-: If anyone now does not believe
that your eye is what is driving the car,
if your eyes aren't looking where you wanna go,
there's no chance you're gonna get there.
(engine accelerating)
(indistinct talking)
-: Listen man,
this is top level,
this is luxury at its finest.
This is precision.
I can honestly say it's taken me some time
because this is about consistency,
but the jury is out.
Top notch, number one in my book
when it comes to all around luxury, performance, everything.
(engine accelerating)
Instructor: And squeeze it on the brake.
Hard on that brake pedal.
I'm not even looking in my mirror,
I know you're close.
Hey, let's go.
-: Time out, time out, I need--
-: It's too much.
-: I need to recuperate, man.
-: Man, that was awesome.
-: There's cars and then there's this.
Straight up.
What?
-: I'd like to dedicate this to all the guys with gray hair.
(laughing)
-: Old guys rule.
-: We're all here to learn something
and enjoy a really premium brand
that is Mercedes-AMG.
-: Thank you.
-: My pleasure.
(tires screeching) (cars whirring by)
(light music)