The paddock is quiet, the grandstands empty, and the track sits there like a dare—3.426 miles of purpose-built ambition, stitched together with 20 turns and enough variety to feel like learning two circuits at once. The Speed Journal’s Jeff Francis was there as AMG’s most serious U.S. on-track program met America’s modern Formula 1 cathedral.
COTA was conceived with Formula 1 in mind and first hosted the United States Grand Prix in 2012. In the years since, it’s become a centerpiece of F1’s American surge—big crowds, big weekends, and a calendar commitment that now stretches out to 2034. But the reason drivers love it is simpler: the place is alive with options. The track is wide, the braking zones are real, and the corners invite multiple lines instead of a single “correct” answer.
If the layout feels familiar, that’s because it was designed to echo the world’s greatest hits. The flowing run from Turns 3 through 6 nods to Silverstone and Suzuka; the stadium‑like sequence from 12 through 15 borrows the mood of Hockenheim. Then there’s Turn 1—COTA’s blind, uphill invitation to bravery—followed later by the tight Turn 11 hairpin that flings you onto the back straight. It’s a circuit that rewards vision and punishes impatience, and it does both at the same time.
That makes it the perfect classroom for the Mercedes‑AMG Experience On Track PRO program: two days of focused technical training meant for drivers who’ve already built a foundation and are ready to add speed without losing discipline. PRO isn’t a two‑day joyride; it’s structured, progressive, and—once you’ve earned it—fast, with open‑lapping sessions that feel like the final exam.
Day 1 begins the way a serious program should: with fundamentals. Before we ever turned a wheel in anger, the classroom covered racing line (turn‑in, apex, exit), maximizing corner radius, and why “smooth” isn’t a vibe—it’s physics. We talked tire contact patch, lateral load, weight transfer front‑to‑rear, understeer (“push”) versus oversteer (“loose”), and the core rule that fixes more mistakes than any gadget ever will: look where you want the car to go.
The best part is how quickly theory becomes muscle memory. The instructors don’t just recite concepts—they translate them into cues you can apply at speed, then validate it with drills that make the lesson impossible to forget. You feel the difference between progressive braking and stabbing the pedal. You learn how far ahead you need to look as speed rises. And you start to understand that anticipation—reading the next corner before the current one is finished—slows the whole game down.
After the briefing, we rolled onto COTA for lead‑follow in the AMG GT 63 PRO. It’s the kind of car that makes you want to be precise, because the feedback is so clean you can tell immediately when your hands are asking the wrong question. Load the front tires, release the brakes, commit to the apex, and it rewards you with calm stability through the fast transitions. At COTA, that matters most in the esses, where a car that stays settled lets you focus on line and vision instead of correction.
Then we left the big track for the skid pad, and the water truck turned the surface into a low‑grip laboratory. In the Mercedes‑AMG CLA 45 S, the wet triangle layout let us drift free‑form around cones or chase a timed lap that rewarded the least dramatic inputs. It’s a perfect place to experience oversteer on purpose, correct it with intent, and learn how traction can be managed—not begged for—when the surface stops cooperating.
Back on the circuit, the rhythm changed with shadow driving in the AMG GT 63 S E PERFORMANCE 4‑Door Coupe. Lead‑follow teaches you what “right” looks like; shadowing forces you to own your choices. The instructor stayed behind us, radio mostly quiet, only stepping in when it mattered. It’s subtle, but it changes everything. When you’re not chasing taillights, you’re responsible for your braking points, your turn‑in, and your throttle timing—and COTA has a way of exposing the places where your confidence is still louder than your technique.
We also opted for the single‑seat option—an extra expense that proved to be the best value of the weekend. Instead of sharing a car with another student and splitting sessions, we doubled our wheel time. Every time we rotated into a vehicle, we ran it twice, back‑to‑back, with the previous lap still fresh in our minds and the correction ready for the next one.
On the full circuit, the fleet felt like three distinct personalities wearing the same badge. The GT 63 PRO was the scalpel: serious, track‑minded, rewarding precision. The GT 63 S E PERFORMANCE 4‑Door was the strategist: shockingly composed for its mission, gathering speed with an immediacy that constantly moved the braking markers. And the AMG SL 63 Roadster was the reminder that performance can still be joyful—open sky overhead, soundtrack all around you, and a car that remains impressively trackable when you ask it to play.
Between sessions, the instructors slowed the pace down to speed us up. We crawled around the circuit to dissect each corner—because understanding matters more than bravado at a place like COTA. Turn 1 feels like climbing a wall before you fall into the braking zone; the esses punish a single early mistake by multiplying it through the sequence; the long straight into Turn 12 turns courage into a braking‑point decision; and Turn 15 is so wide it almost leaves you feeling lost, like the track suddenly doubles in width. The quick flick from 8 through 9 becomes a lesson in timing: carry speed, keep the car balanced, and let the corner come to you.
Late in the afternoon, the Texas sun did its own coaching. When it drops low across COTA, glare can briefly blind you into “guessing” at an apex for a heartbeat. It’s humbling—and it’s exactly why fundamentals matter. Vision, patience, and recovery are not optional skills when the environment starts changing the test questions.
One of PRO’s most valuable tools is feedback that isn’t filtered through adrenaline. We reviewed data that compared our driving to our instructors’—a reality check you rarely get on a typical track day. In the heat of a fast lap, it’s hard to know whether you’re truly improving or just getting louder with your right foot. Data doesn’t care how brave you felt. It cares where you braked, how you released, and how consistent you were.
Day 2 is where everything turns up. Passing zones are established. Mirrors matter. Flags matter even more. And after the methodical buildup, open track feels like freedom—still structured, still supervised, but now you’re applying the lessons without the training wheels. The beauty of PRO at COTA is how intentionally it manages traffic; the track is large, and the event is structured so you can focus on learning rather than getting stuck in a moving parade.
The morning also brought more modules away from the main circuit: an autocross in the CLA 45 S that rewards aggression only when it’s paired with accuracy, and a slalom in the AMG C 63 S E PERFORMANCE Sedan that turns quick transitions into an exercise in calm hands and up‑track vision. Then there was the “cat and mouse” oval—two cars starting opposite sides, no cones telling you where to turn in, one end tight and one end wide—forcing you to read space and commit to a line on instinct.
The competition on the final day was the perfect capstone because it didn’t reward the single fastest lap. On the COTA circuit, points were awarded for consistency over three laps—one warm‑up lap followed by three repeatable laps, not a hero run. The cat‑and‑mouse oval in the CLA 45 S and the slalom in the C 63 S rounded out the scoreboard. The prizes were a playful touch—an AMG‑liveried full‑face helmet for first, a Michelin tire coupon for second, and a Meguiar’s detailing package for third—plus an AMG backpack for everyone.
That’s also why the tire conversation matters. Michelin develops “marked” tires for Mercedes‑AMG—MO1, MO2, and MO1‑A—co‑engineered specifically for AMG vehicles. Mercedes‑Benz describes its MO1 designation as made specifically for AMG, with rubber compounds and carcass structures matched to a vehicle’s suspension. On track, that isn’t trivia; it’s the foundation. Every lesson in braking, turn‑in, and throttle is really a lesson about managing four contact patches the size of your palms.
AMG’s story has always lived at the intersection of road and racetrack. Founded in 1967 by Hans‑Werner Aufrecht and Erhard Melcher, AMG earned global attention in 1971 when its 300 SEL 6.8 won its class at the 24 Hours of Spa and finished second overall. That DNA is still present today, from Mercedes‑AMG Customer Racing’s GT offerings to the way modern AMGs can be dialed into track work without forgetting their day‑to‑day lives.
The human element is the brand’s other signature. At Affalterbach, engines are built according to AMG’s “One Man, One Engine” philosophy: each engine hand‑assembled by a single builder and finished with a signed plaque. And while the COTA PRO program is about trackcraft, AMG’s broader experience world does connect you to the people behind the horsepower—“Home of AMG” experiences in Germany open the doors of the engine factory so you can see that craftsmanship come together step by step.
The AMG Experience itself is bigger than one program and one circuit. In the U.S., AMG Experience frames On Track as high‑adrenaline circuit driving, On Road as speed‑and‑luxury routes to exciting destinations, and On Ice as adrenaline on snow and frozen surfaces. Different environments, same mission: build a driver, not just a fan.
That’s what PRO delivers at Circuit of the Americas. Not just a lap time, but a framework. A way to approach a corner, a way to analyze a mistake, a way to build speed without borrowing luck. It turns a famous Formula 1 venue into something more personal—a place where you learn what the car can do, and what you can do with it.
The Speed Journal would like to thank the AMG Experience team along with the most capable instructors.
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