Ho! Ho! Ho! Holiday House a Success!

We don't have the bottom line just yet but MMAE Mecklenburg Medical Alliance & Endowment) would like to thank our members and volunteers for their hard work and dedication in making Dazzling! the 2010 Holiday House a success. MMAE estimates that Holiday House will net somewhere between $25 and $30,000 for our Endowment, money that will help the Alliance continue its mission of building a healthier community.

Without your efforts, the Alliance would never have been able to host this 3-day holiday-themed design house. Our gratitude starts with the Holiday House Committee; each member put in an incredible number of hours to make the 18th Holiday House become a reality.

Thank you to Judy Verross for lending us her fabulous Granville Road home; because of Judy, we’ve all become fans of the "blue bootie look" and added a new word to our vocabularies, “rectilinear!”

Special thanks to Allison Berkowitz and Laura Weisner, who recruited an extraordinary team of floral, interior, and landscape designers to create the vision that became Holiday House!

Thank you to our Tinsel Town shop keepers; to the ticket sales and money team; to the Preview Party planners; to the publicity and photography, marketing and program designers; and to the talented Suzy Ohl, who played her magic flute, thereby enhancing the Holiday House experience.

MMAE would also like to acknowledge the many, many volunteers who acted as house hostesses. Ann Fehring and her merry band of hostess volunteers did an outstanding job.

Where would we have been without our sponsors? Thank you to everyone who bought an ad, sold an ad, or designed an ad! Kudos to MMAE member Stephanie Insko, who had the "Holiday House Story" included in the Hendricks Motors of Charlotte Mercedes newletter and brought Mercedes in as a raffle sponsor. Vikki Rankin, winner of a Mercedes E-Cabriolet Convertible for a weekend, was thrilled!

William Walker Wins Auto Show Drawing

William Walker was the winner of the drawing held from all registrants from this year's Greater Charlotte International Auto Show. He had the choice of a Mercedes-Benz Nike golf bag or this very nice 4 person picnic basket with china and glass serving pieces within. He chose the picnic basket and seems very happy with his prize. Thanks to all who participated.
If you'd like one of these baskets, golf bag or some other Mercedes-Benz accessories please visit our Parts Department during your next visit.

Again, congratulations William Walker.

AMG Mercedes driver DiResta is 2010 DTM Champion, AMG drivers 2nd and 3rd

The 2010 DTM season has ended at the Shanghai Circuit in China and AMG Driving Academy sponsored driver Paul DiResta is the Driver's Champion. AMG Mercedes drivers rounded out the top three with Gary Paffett nipping season long points leader Bruno Spengler in this final race. The top placing Audi driver was defending Champion Timo Scheider in 4th. AMG Mercedes had already clinched the DTM Manufacturer's crown at the penultimate round of the series in Adria.

The final race was won by Paffett in his Salzgitter HWA AMG C-Class, the 9th AMG Mercedes win of the 11 race season, with DiResta's second place enough to earn him the crown worn by such legendary AMG drivers before him as Bernd Schneider and Klaus Ludwig. The DTM Driver's title has not been won by an AMG Mercedes driver since Schneider in 2006.

The Holiday dinner table back in Scotland will be plenty festive as DiResta's cousin Dario Franchitti won the 2010 Indy 500 and was crowned the Izod Indy Car Series Champion for the second year in a row.

DiResta is now rumored to be headed to Formula One where he has been reserve driver for the Force India Mercedes team. This would open up the best seat in the DTM in the crack HWA Team for 2011.

The 2011 season will again see the specification of the cars frozen at 2009 designs ahead of an all new DTM formula for 2012 when BMW rejoins the series and DTM prepares for their style of racing to be exported around the world including to the US for 2013.

Here are the final standings for the 2010 DTM Driver's Championship and the Shanghai race- round 11.

1. Gary Paffett Salzgitter HWA AMG C-Class
2. Paul DiResta AMG Driving Academy HWA C-Class
3.Timo Schieder Abt Sportline Audi A4
4.Martin Tomczyk Abt Sportline Audi A4
5. Miguel Molina Abt Rookie Team Audi A4

2011 DTM Driver's Standings

1. Paul Di Resta
2. Gary Paffett
3. Bruno Spengler
4. Timo Scheider
5.Mattias Eckstrom

Autoweek drives the E63 AMG "This car is a beast"

Our friends at Autoweek are at it again this time driving the E63 AMG- a beast.
Check out the article:
http://www.autoweek.com/article/20101119/CARREVIEWS/101119842

Hendrick Motors of Charlotte is the area's Exclusive AMG Performance Center. Click HERE for more info.

AMG Driving Academy

Mercedes-Benz has a unique program called the AMG Driving Academy where you can do just that. Watch the video below and let us know if this is something that interests you. The dates and tracks for the 2011 Academies will be announced in the end of November. Visit www.AMGacademy.com to learn more about the program and to reserve a spot!
Hendrick Motors of Charlotte is your exclusive authorized AMG Performance Center for the Charlotte area. Click HERE to contact us and schedule your test drive today.

Big racing weekend for AMG.

AMG C-Class driver Paul DiResta made it 3 in a row in the DTM (German Touring Car Championship) with a convincing win over Audi's Timo Scheider at Hockenheim. This win puts DiResta in the lead of the Driver's Championship over HWA team mate Bruno Spengler who failed to finish. The DTM Manufacturer's Championship is virtually assured for AMG Mercedes, as is the Driver's Championship as the Audi drivers and Teams are now mathematically eliminated with only 2 races remaining in the 2010 DTM season. In future DTM news, old rival BMW has confirmed that they will be joining AMG Mercedes and Audi in the new look 2012 DTM. Some old battles will be resumed between the major high performance German brands.

While the AMG C-Class drivers were having things their own way over at Hockenheim across the country at the Nurburgring in the VLN Endurance series, the SLS AMG GT3 scored its maiden victory in only its second outing. The 4 hour race was won by SLS GT3 test driver Tomas Jager and Christopher Haase in a Black Falcon Racing entered SLS AMG GT3. Another SLS AMG GT3 entered by Mamerow Racing with Bernd Schneider and Chris Mamerow qualified on pole but was eliminated in a crash while running second. A new era in AMG customer racing has started. The SLS GT3's will run one more VLN race this year before an all out attack on the major European endurance racing series' in 2011 with a number of customer team entered cars. Three SLS GT3's are expected at the Dubai 24 Hour Race on January 14-15, 2011.

DTM Hockenheim:
1. Paul DiResta- AMG Driving Academy HWA AMG C-Class DTM
2. Timo Scheider- Abt Sportline Audi A4 DTM
3.Mike Rockenfeller- Phoenix Racing Audi A4 DTM
4.Gary Paffett Salzgitter HWA AMG C-Class DTM
5.Martin Tomczyk- Abt Sportline Audi A4 DTM
6.Oliver Jarvis- Abt Sportline Audi A4 DTM
7.Susie Stoddart- TV Spiel Film Persson Motorsport AMG C-Class DTM
8.Jamie Green- Junge Stern Persson Motorsport AMG C-Class DTM

VLN Nurburgring:
1. Tomas Jager/Christopher Hasse Black Falcon Racing SLS GT3

Hendrick Motors of Charlotte website

Motor Trend Writer Gets Hot Laps in AMG SLS GT3

One of the writers from Motor Trend magazine was let loose in the SLS AMG GT3, check out the link below. Mike Floyd is one of the few journalists in the world to try the new GT racer. He was lucky enough to be one of the few people in the world to experience the new SLS GT3 at racing speed. His hot laps were with Mercedes-Benz test driver Thomas Jager and were amazing. See the link below to check out this article and an accompanying video.

Motor Trend AMG SLS GT3 article

These race cars are available for sale to anyone wishing to obtain one of the few available. Inquire at Hendrick Motors of Charlotte, your exclusive Charlotte area AMG Performance Center. If this is too much car for you then the street legal versions are available for order now also.