Can a Mercedes Benz S420 autocross?

Question

I feel like I already know the answer to this question but I'm curious if anyone has had any success in auto-crossing with similar larger cars. Do you think it is capable of doing an autocross without damage and without an embarrassingly slow time?

Answer 1

The answer for "can you autocross an S420?" will be very different from "can you autocross an S420 successfully?"  Of course you can autocross one... sometimes the challenge of working an oddball car around a course can be a great joy (I recall taking a ride along with one of my main competitors at an event when he decided to drive a '50s era Convertible Caddy... it was a blast).

The car will not be competitive, but that doesn't mean it will be embarrassingly slow.  Really, no car is embarrassingly slow when driven well... you may feel embarrassed by the times you get, but if you drive the car well, I suspect you'll have nothing to feel embarrassed about.

And the odds of damage beyond the need to buff a few cone marks from your wax is pretty unlikely when autocrossing any car.

Answer 2

No. It's too big, plus the weight distribution is waaaaay off. I'm a member of the SCCA, and cars like this always do poorly.