Signature Edition SLS Competition

Finally front page on GTP, good job danben.

Awesome! Maybe next time i enter a gtp room online i wont get booted before i can even say hello cuz people don know my username! -_-

Anyone out there following this please check out the Mercedes website on the gt5 link.

If your supporting the British please go and like me - there is a prize for the entrant with most 'likes'.

Also you can follow me on Twitter matthewc_sls as I will send updates from the event

IT STARTS !!!

The first contestants from Australia are already on there way to Austria. I will be leaving tomorrow for Austria with the rest following shortly.

Looking forward to meeting all of the contestants in Austria for an EPIC time.

Have fun guys and travel safe !!

Gentlemen - START YOUR ENGINES

Good luck guys!!

Hey guys,

I'm here in Austria at the Mercedes-Benz GT5 Driving Challenge, and I'll be mostly looking after the gaming aspect of tonight's activities, with the hope that I can catch up with the competitors at the track tomorrow.

Beautiful location here near Spielberg, the hotel is fantastic, the GT5 pods are set up with some tasty combos for this evening, so I'm looking forward to it massively.

I also expect to be getting some stuff up on the GT5 Facebook and subsequently here on GTPlanet as well, so plenty to look forward to.

The best of luck to all the competitors, we're going to have one deliriously happy winner at the end of the competition!

Here for now are a few pictures of the surroundings and the set-up:













Much more later I hope!


All the best
Maz

OT: but why do those simulators remind me of Mr Garrisons bicycle invention

(sorry, just wanted to give you guys something to think about as you get in them)

Any news on this? I believe last night they were racing on the pods and today they go race/drive(?) the sls around the red bull ring. Good luck to all participants but esp Guy Foster

It's still in process, competitors are doing their competition runs at the moment, half on the race track and the other half on the autotest agility course. They've all had a really incredible experience. I have to say, Coulthard and Schneider have been fantastic, brilliant to the contestants and for the event. I have loads Of pictures to upload tonight and some interviews for the GT5 Facebook.

All the best
Maz

Oh god this was so much fun, hard to say goodbye to the car. The AMG people and the weather has been great. I probably finished last, but I do not care, this was awsome. Will post a lot of pictures when I get back from Austria.
Now I have to watch the finals with the 4 best drivers.

Congratulations to Marco Calvo for winning the Mercedes Benz GT5 Driving Challenge and a shiny new Mercedes SLS AMG. Full pictorials coming as soon as I get to my laptop

All the best
Maz

The inaugural Mercedes-Benz GT5 Driving Challenge, held between July 11th and 12th at the Red Bull Ring in Austria, would see one lucky and talented gamer walk away with a brand new Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG. The competition was open to all those who purchased the Gran Turismo 5 Signature Edition and entered the B-spec competition in the Mercedes Benz SLS.

The following 15 entrants qualified for the Driving Challenge event in Austria:

1. Julien Calcavecchia (FRA)
2. Bastien Bartsch (FRA)
3. Stéphane Mauduit (FRA)
4. Marco Calvo (SPA)
5. Guy Foster (IRL)
6. Sjur Breivik (NOR)
7. Matteo Maccalli (ITA)
8. Nikolas Hanika (GER)
9. Rafal Ganowski (POL)
10. Roger Canty (AUS)
11. Daniel Bennett (AUS)
12. Jose Antonio Estela (SPA)
13. René Szvetits (AUT)
14. Steven Pelser (RSA)
15. Matt Chilvers (GBR)


The competitors arrived at the Falkensteiner Hotel and Asian Spa in Leoben, Austria. In such beautiful and picturesque surroundings, both competitors and organizers were thoroughly well looked-after by the tireless AMG representatives.



I arrived very late on Sunday evening with representatives from Sony, Jardine International and Denham Technical Services. My first responsibility, after selecting the car/track combos to be used in the gaming portion of the event, was to assist in setting up the GT5 gaming pods in the main room set aside for the competition by the hotel.


The gaming portion of the competition would comprise 25% of the overall score for each contestant and it was to take place on Monday evening. The pods used would contain Thrustmaster TS500 RS wheels. Competitors would first run 3 laps of qualifying in Practice Mode using a stock Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG on Sports Soft tyres around Grand Valley Speedway. Their best lap of the three would decide their grid position and group in the first heat. As only 5 drivers could run at any time, the groups were brought in 5 at a time so as to negate any possible advantage the later runners could gain by spectating.

Before that, however, the contestants were introduced to the excellent AMG Driving Academy team led by Reinhold Renger and featuring 5-time DTM champion Bernd Schneider, as well as Peter Ebner, Patrick Simon and Matthias Holle. Reinhold first familiarized all present with the basic rules and regulations of driving on the Red Bull Ring, including basic technique, flags, safety and etiquette.


The competitors were then taken outside where they were greeted by the stunning SLS AMG in all its glory. Bernd Schneider would then proceed to educate all on the technicalities and performance of the prize car.


Everyone then returned inside for a very detailed run down of the entire rules, regulations and judging criteria for Tuesday’s driving activities at the Red Bull Ring (formerly A1 Ring) in Spielberg, about 40 minutes away from the hotel in Leoben. I left partway through to grab a few more unobstructed pictures of the SLS…


Dinner was then served to the contestants, their guests and the event staff. At this point, since Reinhold’s AMG Driving Academy team would be acting as race adjudicators on the GT5 pods, it was my duty to inform them of potential issues with the combos, possible shortcut opportunities, and to come to an agreement over how to handle possible penalties, disqualifications and any issues that may arise. They asked for a demonstration, so I got into one of the pods and the AMG team crowded round to decide how to proceed with help from the experienced Jardine and Denham Tech representatives.

This part of the event was one of the absolute highlights for me personally. Having such experienced individuals such as Bernd Schneider, Reinhold Renger and the rest of their crew watch me drive laps on GT5, listen to my advice on how to handle issues and what to look out for, as well as providing the invaluable fruits of their own extensive and renowned professional experience, was simply incredible and above all, an absolute honour. I was hugely grateful that I didn’t crash or go off course, but Bernd (who I had watched for countless years in FIA GT and DTM on TV) did comment that I carried too much speed into turn 1 of Grand Valley on one occasion! After a lot of very serious discussion and input from all present, we had all agreed on what we would judge as clean/dirty, and what the penalties would be.

Seeing just how much attention, enthusiasm and input these guys were giving the gaming section was refreshing, impressive and if possible, made me respect them even more. The pods themselves would be manned and watched by the AMG team and Jardine representative, with Reinhold and myself acting as chief adjudicators.



As mentioned previously, qualifying was a 3-lap affair in Practice Mode on Grand Valley in the SLS road car on SS tyres. Having sorted out the seedings, the 3 groups would each do one race against the other members of their group on the same combo, but for 2 laps. All driving aids were set to off, transmission manual, ABS 1 and track edge grip set to Real.

The favorites were of course GT Academy finalists Marco Calvo and Bastien Bartsch, and while Marco qualified for the final, Bastien made a mistake at turn 1 and came 3rd in his race. Also qualifying for the final either as winners of their group races or best 2nd place finishers with lowest combined qualifying + fastest race 1 laptime were Matteo Maccalli, Steven Pelser, Guy Foster and Roger Canty.

The final was a 2 lap race at Cape Ring in the Mercedes Benz SLS STEALTH EDITION. I figured all competitors would have bought the Signature Edition and therefore experienced the thrill that is this car on racing Hard tyres. Qualifying involved the drivers leaving the pit at 25 second intervals and doing their out lap + 1 flying lap only. The grid order was thus set for the final race.


The star of the evening turned out to be Italian GT Academy territorial finalist, Matteo Maccalli who took the win in the final from Marco Calvo. Roger Canty finished 3rd, followed by Guy Foster and Steven Pelser. The rest of the points were calculated based on qualifying lap time + best race lap from the heat for those who didn't make the final.

Despite everyone's best efforts, the gaming event ran well into the night and finished just before midnight, meaning that the dessert (various strudels) had to be served as a buffet outside the gaming/conference hall. Not that anybody complained...but it did mean a very precious few hours of sleep for the competitors, and even less for staff such as myself who had to pack down the branding, gaming equipment etc before a 6.45am start the next day.


The competitors left for the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg at around 7.15am in glorious hot, sunny weather. The route was lined with incredible scenery, and the sense of excitement was palpable as we all saw what was waiting for us on entry to the circuit:



The morning would consist of driving training and familiarisation with the machinery, no scores would be kept. The competitors were split into 2 groups, the first being led by special guest David Coulthard (who arrived by helicopter). This group were to carry out Autocross tests in the SLS AMG while being followed by David Coulthard in the C63 AMG.


The second group, led by Patrick Simon, would be carrying out the dragstrip exercise. And you thought the first licence test in GT5 was a waste of time...



The above video was shot by myself (badly) using the Sony Bloggie hand-held cameras and later rescued by hasty editing by a member of staff for release immediately on Facebook, and I was doing my best to grab anybody I could between activities such as helping to carry the GT5 pods upstairs to the balcony terrace and set them up for later play. Anyone who wants to own one of these pods should try carrying or moving one!


The teams would then swap over, and further activities such as an Agility Test driving SLS between cones and consistent laps of the Red Bull Ring in the SLS were carried out.

It's important to mention that no instructors rode with the competitors in the AMGs, they were communicating with them via walky-talky. Sometimes competitors would ride with each other and then swap over during the training.

After lunch, the serious business of the actual competition began...


This is a good place to mention just how spectacular the facilities were at the Red Bull Ring. Dietrich Mateschitz has taken the A1 Ring and given it a mighty facelift, now boasting a state of the art hospitality facility and of course the Driving Academy resources.

It's also important to say just how fantastic the stars like David Coulthard and Bernd Schneider were with the competitors and their guests. They interacted with everybody, were highly approachable and always had great advice for the contestants. They bought into the competition as a whole and their enthusiasm was there for all to see.


During the course of the afternoon I was able to spend time with David Coulthard and Bernd Schneider, and I will add videos of those interviews as soon as they are added to the Mercedes and Gran Turismo Facebook pages. In addition to them I spoke at length with Caroline Pilz who is the head of Mercedes Benz brand placement, Penrose Tackie from SCEE (who was travelling with us from London), the competitors and the AMG staff. The general feeling was of one of immense enjoyment and positivity. While clearly a promotional activity for all the major brands involved, the opportunity for one person to walk away with an SLS AMG was undoubtedly a massive deal, and the success of the event will surely make way for similar future initiatives. The importance of this community and their links with these brands should also never be underestimated.


Throughout the afternoon, Reinhold and his team would inform all gathered of the current scores. Having totalled all elements of the competition so far, from the gaming to the driving activities, only four of the 15 contestants would be going forward to final dragstrip playoff event to decide who would be going home with that serious piece of kit.


Guy Foster, Marco Calvo, Stéphane Mauduit and Bastien Bartsch were to be our finalists. They spent a lot of money on the GT5 Signature Edition, they gave hours of their lives to B-Spec mode and training up their drivers and then delivering the times that brought them this far, they competed head-to-head in A-spec mode and finally spent a whole day under expert tuition playing with the most impressive toy of them all, the SLS AMG. But which one would be taking it home?


After a thrilling series of dragstrip races, Marco Calvo was crowned winner of the Mercedes-Benz GT5 Driving Challenge. He defeated a worthy runner-up in Guy Foster in the final, and the celebrations made it very clear just how much this prize meant to him.

Stéphane Mauduit claimed the final podium place, defeating Bastien Bartsch in the 3rd place playoff.


Here are a few shots taken just after the podium ceremony, Coulthard clearly unhappy that champagne had found its way onto the prize:


Once again, huge congratulations to Marco Calvo from Spain for winning the dream prize, and much respect to the other aspirants who all competed in the most sportsmanlike manner and with a genuine sense of camraderie. Every contestant there was aware of what an incredible opportunity this was, and what a well-run event too. The quality of the people involved was second to none, from professionals like David Coulthard and Bernd Schneider right down to the long-distance driver from the UK who spent all day helping with lifting, set-up, take-down and all sorts. Thanks for the help Steve, don't know where we would have been without you!

Some extra things I would like to add include addressing the concerns about the B-spec nature of the competition. The organisers were keen to get more and more people involved in Gran Turismo competitions and open up the possibility of such a fantastic prize to a wider range of players, not just those who can demonstrate their excellence in A-spec mode during GT Academy campaigns. As expected, there was a far wider range of ability in A-spec mode for this event than there was at any of the GT Academy territorial finals, making the original premise of the competition a success in terms of target audience and widened participation.

I would like to personally thank Sony, PlayStation3, Jardine International, AMG and Mercedes Benz for this absolutely wonderful opportunity to be involved with the work that they do, and for the responsibility and faith they placed in me. I couldn't have been any use to them without the support I received from the aforementioned people or if the Gran Turismo community was not so well-respected by these organisations. Also thanks to the 15 competitors and their guests for being such a brilliant group of people to be around and talk to, any of you guys would have deserved to walk away with that quite stunning vehicle which I think you had all fallen in love with by the close of play on Tuesday!

I'll add more higher quality pictures as the evening wears on, but I just wanted to get something up that people could read and start commenting on of they were interested to know what the event was like. I have a feeling a great many more people will consider giving the competition a solid effort next time around!

Stay tuned!



All the best
Maz

Superb writeup, Maz, as always. 👍

Nice selections on the combos, and excellent coverage of the event.


Kevin

I think DC has found his calling, cleaning that SLS.

Good stuff.

Great summary Synwraith, loving the pictures from the event.
Thanks for being part of the experience.
Nothing in my life will ever top this, the experience of a lifetime. No amount of money could buy this feeling.
The 100's of hours of b-spec grinding are all a distant memory

South Australia represent! Well done boys, much respect!

Thx for this resume Synwraith

GG to Marco 👍
Very good competitor, and very nice person

It was an amazing experience for me..
I still have SLS V8 sounds in my mind ...
No SLS for me (third), but a lot of memories !

Here is a video of a run test of the Autocross, with Bastien "Learner Driver" Bartsch

Congratulations. 👍 Enjoy the car!

Lol, glad to see some fun in the event. 👍

Fantastic writeup and congratulations to Marco. I dare say I envy all the 15 finalists a lot, meeting Schneider and Coulthard must have been a very special treat.

I hope all of the finalists got a huge load of goddies and souvenirs to take home.

I would love to see a video of the winner driving off in the sls

Here is a video of the Drag Strip training

Thr biggest congrats to Marco! 👍 👍 Seems like it was just as amazing event for all the participants there as was expected!

Congratulations to the lucky winner, I hope you'll enjoy your brand new SLS!

And thanks for the massive writeup to Maz, it was great to read!

Great writeup Maz. 👍

What was the vibe of the organizer's in regards to having more competitions like this on the future? Any of the finalists know?

Louie_Schumii

What was the vibe of the organizer's in regards to having more competitions like this on the future? Any of the finalists know?

Click to expand...

The general feeling is that it was a huge success and the overall positive vibe of the event would lead me to believe that there will be future promotions involving GT5. When I asked around, I certainly got the impression that the book was not closed on real-life or even gaming events/promotions around Gran Turismo 5.

All the best
Maz

Synwraith

The general feeling is that it was a huge success and the overall positive vibe of the event would lead me to believe that there will be future promotions involving GT5. When I asked around, I certainly got the impression that the book was not closed on real-life or even gaming events/promotions around Gran Turismo 5.

All the best
Maz

Click to expand...

Fantastic 👍

Anything the GTPlanet community can do to hasten the arrival of these future promotions?

👍 nice write up, I hope Marco enjoys his new SLS, he must be feeling so lucky, or blessed

Louie_Schumii

Fantastic 👍

Anything the GTPlanet community can do to hasten the arrival of these future promotions?

Click to expand...

Just show positive and vocal support for competitions that, aside from the cynical comments about promotion and brand placement, are in fact a gigantic privelege for us. Just ask Marco and his brand new supercar or Jann and his fledgling racing career...

All the best
Maz