Mercedes GP Petronas' Pre-F1 Event: Schumacher's Biggest Fan

I attended the Team Mercedes GP Petronas 'Meet the Fans' session on Wednesday 6^th April 2011 at the Suria KLCC shopping mall located at the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The event was held in conjunction with the Malaysian Formula 1 Grand Prix that will be held on the 8^th, 9^th and 10^th of April over at Sepang. Both drivers were present, Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher and they answered some questions and then signed autographs. All the usual pre-race event stuff with the Mercedes Formula 1 car on display, some race queens or grid girls and F1 souvenirs but the only difference was that this time Michael Schumacher basically met his ultimate fan and Mercedes Benz displayed the newly launched W218 CLS 63 AMG 4 door sports coupe/sedan.

Let's start with Michael Schumacher's greatest fan. Or fanatic, I don't know. But what I do know was that he must have been a patient camper waiting in line whilst Michael and Nico answered some basic questions about the upcoming race in Sepang. When the autograph session started, things started smoothly until the ultimate fan's turn arrived. This chap climbed on stage, removed his shirt and on his back, the Michael Schumacher signature/logo as well as his wins were tattooed on his back. He also had an F1 emblem tattooed on his arm. Bet he gave the Petronas minders a great big scare.

Everyone cheered, clapped and laughed. The chap, European by the sound of his German accent, was led off stage and then everyone started taking his photograph too. I mean talk about stealing the limelight from a seven time world champion for a moment. This event could even make Nico Rosberg wonder whether or not he'll achieve such levels of super-stardom. Or not. I have to apologize for the pics above as they are a little blurry. But it was in the spur of the moment and everyone wanted a piece of the chap's torso. His five minutes of fame I suppose.

And now we have the newly launched Mercedes Benz CLS 63 AMG. This car is fresh from Germany by the looks of it and this pre-race event is the actual public unveiling of the supersaloon over here in Malaysia as well as the South East Asian region. This is much like last year when Mercedes Benz previewed the Mercedes SLS AMG in conjunction with last year's Malaysian F1. That time we managed to view the SLS right after its official European launch. Mercedes Benz previews new Mercedes Benz cars pretty quickly around here with the Malaysian F1 being considered as a 'home race' due to the Malaysian petroleum giant's sponsorship of the Mercedes GP team.

It is a stupendous car, the CLS 63. It looks so much better in real life compared to the official pics which somehow make the car look all blunt nosed and not as sleek looking as the previous CLS. The car has fabulous surface textures and everything looks like how an extremely sporty 4 door 'coupe' should look like. The humongous brake discs are ceramic items and the massive calipers show off nicely through the 5 spoke AMG alloy wheels.

The 'V8 Biturbo' logo on its flanks aren't subtle at all, telling all that can see that it has one of those All Massive Growling V8s under its hood. This time the '63' in the CLS63 isn't a 6.2liter V8 but the newly developed 5.5liter twin turbocharged V8 that makes 518bhp. But anyway, the event only previewed the CLS 63 for all to view. Too bad they did not preview it for all to listen to that AMG V8 grunting and bellowing. Maybe next time though.

It was an entertaining hour or two for me. Getting close to a seven time world champion as well as another skilled and talented Formula 1 driver, the Mercedes Benz F1 car, a lot of interesting people (as well as some old friends who also attended) and an epic super saloon. An afternoon/evening couldn't be much better than that. Unless it is an hour or two behind the wheel of that CLS 63.