Thursday July 17, Day 3 in Stuttgart (MBCA EVENT)
Apparently I am being held accountable for keeping my diary current. Thank you for making the reading of it a daily ritual, Monica! I am honoured. Knowing this provides me with an added incentive to keep it up!
So…it has been another full day. The organizers Jim O’Sullivan, Ambrose Kluyskens, and Wolfram are to be commended for providing our group with an incredible experience. It has been a first-class effort all around. Both the activities and provision of truly local cuisine will be long remembered. We went places tourists do not go. Places only V.I.P.’s are permitted. We have been very fortunate.
Our day started at the Mercedes Benz factory where engines are manufactured. There were a number of different types of engines. Photography was not allowed. There were a hundred meters of machinery that turned blocks of metal into engine blocks. On the other side of the machines there were robots and people that inserted the pistons and tested for leaks, assembled the other engine components, and performed continuous quality control. My husband has never encountered anyone who has experienced a problem with their Mercedes Benz engine. Now I know why.
The Mercedes Benz test track beside the Museum in Untertürkeim near Stuttgart was our next destination. It is the Mercedes Benz testing ground for every vehicle manufactured. We were given the opportunity to experience the track with three different drivers. Nine different tracks tested tires, anti-lock braking systems, body tightness in the water lane and noise measurement over very rough terrain, as well as speed control. We reached high speeds in a variety of road and weather conditions (including ice and road flooding). We did 360 turns at speeds of 90-100 km! Reached speeds of up to 180 km! I survived. Queesy, but I survived. It certainly gave me a great deal more respect for the Mercedes Benz vehicle! (ie. the car was able to adjust ahead of time in anticipation of an up-coming situations undetected by the human eye, but detected by radar; seats changed their form and became more contoured to envelope passengers in steep turns, and seatbelts tightened sooner than normal.
Next on our tour was the Mercedes Benz sales centre. At the entrance to the sales centre was a lovely tribute to Bertha Benz, highlighting her personal contributions to the advancement of the automobile. The centre itself featured every Mercedes model available today. It also showcased a number of Mercedes Benz vehicles as art, and lifestyle choices involving Mercedes (ie. a Mercedes Benz bedframe, photos of wedding parties incorporating Mercedes vehicles as an important part of the proceeding
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