Now this is a great idea. Earlier this year, a Mercedes dealership in Calgary, Alberta bought a 160-acre property that’s home to a 5,000-foot runway. Why would a car dealership need a nearly mile-long runway? So customers can truly test out performance cars in a safe environment, which is an incredibly helpful tool for educating people on how fast modern cars really are.
I’ve long complained that the only thing people need to get 600 horsepower is money. Zero experience or training is required to own something that can go from zero to 60 mph in three seconds or less, which terrifies me. Stomping the go-pedal in an S63 AMG can be disastrous if you don’t understand what it can do. But, at the Cayley Flying Ranch Airport, customers can practice such violent launches, get used to ’em, and know where and how to use their car’s power. It’s also just fun and kick-ass.
“A simple test drive isn’t going to show you what these high-performance luxury vehicles are going to do. But having a runway that’s almost 5,000 feet long lets you see exactly what they can do,” said Mercedes-Benz Downtown Calgary general manager Mazen Aboulhosn, per Calgary CTV News.
It isn’t only about customer training and experience, though. The Mercedes dealer has plans to turn the runway into something much more.
“There’s a lot of opportunity and potential to make this something more than what it is,” Aboulhosn said. “We’ve discussed having a full-blown track. We’ve also discussed having a drifting circuit and having an off-road circuit here as well. We deal with a lot of different companies that also want to rent the facility for those very specific purposes.”
Since buying the track, the dealer has also been making drag racing videos for YouTube. You can tell someone has been watching too much Carwow. With over 100,000 subscribers, though, the channel is doing well and it’s got to be good for business.
This is a great way to give customers the chance to drive cars in a way they never otherwise could and to give them a taste of performance they’ve likely never had. I don’t live in Calgary, nor am I in the market for a new Mercedes. But if I were, I wouldn’t use any other dealer.
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