Photo: Motoring Australia
Some of the best and most definitely believable car safety advertisements come when an actual car crash ends with a happy outcome for the passengers, and the following story is no different.
During a Mercedes-AMG Performance Driving event on the Phillip Island circuit down under, Motoring Editor-in-Chief Mike Sinclair lost control of a Mercedes-Benz E 63 AMG and rolled over the car at a speed that he describes as either being north of 140 km/h (87 mph) or approximately 170 km/h (106 mph).
Since Mike was not alone in the car but with a Mercedes-AMG driving instructor, the fact that not only they survived the rather nasty crash but they didn't have a single scratch on them in the aftermath is next to amazing.
Apparently, the E 63 AMG aquaplaned on standing water on the main straight of the circuit, after which Mike simply gave the control of the sliding car over to physics, which in turn pushed the model into Armco barrier.
The barrier collapsed, effectively transforming into a ramp that caused the E 63 AMG to topple on its roof in a semi-barrel roll and then bounced and skidded for a total of about 200 yards with all four wheels the wrong way up.
Mike Sinclair's story about the event is quite a bit more telling and a bit hair-raising, as are the images of the car taken in the aftermath of the accident, but the most impressive bit is how the Mercedes-Benz E-Class' both active and passive safety features worked together to keep the two occupants safe during a crash that could have ended completely different in another car.
Since Mike was not alone in the car but with a Mercedes-AMG driving instructor, the fact that not only they survived the rather nasty crash but they didn't have a single scratch on them in the aftermath is next to amazing.
Apparently, the E 63 AMG aquaplaned on standing water on the main straight of the circuit, after which Mike simply gave the control of the sliding car over to physics, which in turn pushed the model into Armco barrier.
The barrier collapsed, effectively transforming into a ramp that caused the E 63 AMG to topple on its roof in a semi-barrel roll and then bounced and skidded for a total of about 200 yards with all four wheels the wrong way up.
Mike Sinclair's story about the event is quite a bit more telling and a bit hair-raising, as are the images of the car taken in the aftermath of the accident, but the most impressive bit is how the Mercedes-Benz E-Class' both active and passive safety features worked together to keep the two occupants safe during a crash that could have ended completely different in another car.
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