That's one tough learning curve

SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium–The Mercedes-Benz CLK 63 AMG Black Series swings wide out of La Source hairpin.

We then hurtle downhill along the front straight of one of the fastest, most storied Formula One circuits in the world, through what remains of the once-even-more-dangerous Eau Rouge corner, a left-hand kink with the massive dip right at the apex.

Then right (Raidillon) up the hill, being careful to nail the late apex precisely, or it's off into the Ardennes Forest we go.

At the top of the hill, the traction control light flickers as the car's massive tires struggle for grip.

At 160 km/h.

In the dry.

We're havin' fun now, boys and girls.

This is the AMG Driving Academy, "Advanced" level (he said, blushing ever so slightly), the middle of the five-step AMG palette.

Step One comprises the "Emotion" events, somewhat derogatorily labelled with the epithet "lifestyle." They consist of driving on pretty, open roads, visiting various sporting, cultural or gastronomic venues.

"Basic" courses get down to brass tacks, getting students onto real race tracks and teaching them the, well, basics of high-speed driving.

"Advanced" programs like this one assume you have taken Basic or equivalent. You improve your skills at places like Hochenheim (Germany), Zandvoort (The Netherlands) or here, the famed Spa-Francorchamps Formula One circuit in Belgium.

"Pro" and "Masters" programs are available for more serious pilots, and the Winter Driving program in Sweden would, you'd think, have particular appeal to Canadians.

We are driving a variety of AMG cars, all of which start life as Mercedes-Benzes, until a laying on of hands at AMG's headquarters at Affalterbach in southern Germany.

Depending on model, the AMG cars get engine, transmission, suspension, interior and exterior upgrades, all with the intention of sharpening the tool, making the car more of a single purpose object, with that purpose being driving faster, better, with more control.

Which, not at all coincidentally, is also the objective of the AMG Driving Academy.

Chief instructor Reinhold Renger has several top staffers running his teams, including Bernd Schneider, who had a brief career in Formula One with Zakspeed in 1988 and '89. It was in sedan racing that Schneider really hit his stride. He won several Deutsche Tourenwagen-Meisterschaft (DTM) and FIA GT championships, which were among the fiercest sedan racing series championships in the world at the time.

I was assigned to the Red Group, under Thomas Jäger. The 33-year-old Munich resident also has DTM experience, won the MINI Challenge Series Championship in 2006, moved to the hotly contested Porsche (911) Carrera Cup in 2007, and won that title in 2009.

By coincidence, the very Saturday before my Monday-Tuesday Spa session, I had witnessed Jäger score a victory in the MINI Challenge race at Silverstone, England, which was part of the 50th birthday party celebrations for the Mini.

As evidence of Jäger's talent, his trap speed as recorded by the on-board telemetry through Maggotts and Becketts, one of the fastest, most fearsome corner combinations in all of Formula One, was some 12 km/h faster than the next fastest driver. Given that these cars are as equally prepared as humanly possible, this is a stunning gap.

We WARM UP with slalom and braking exercises to become familiar with the cars.

The instructors utilize something called "sector training," breaking the track into sections so we can try to learn the braking point, turn-in point, apex and exit point for a few corners at a time, on the entirely reasonable theory that especially at a long and complex circuit like Spa (as it is universally called in the racing world) trying to learn it all, all at once, is impossible.

Spa may be a shadow of its former self, but it still casts a mighty big shadow. It is nowhere near enough for a driver to be fast or even a successful racer to be a good instructor. He has to drive ahead of his gaggle of three or four goslings, spot what we're doing, right or wrong, in his rear-view mirror, offer encouragement in the former cases, and suggestions for improvement in the latter via walkie-talkie – all while driving at considerable speed with one hand on the steering wheel.

Professional driver; do not attempt at home. Especially if your home is in Ontario.

Our session comprises largely auto writers from a variety of countries. Most of us have some experience at this sort of thing.

The exception to both rules is Paul Henderson of GQ's Britain edition, who is actually – gasp – a lifestyle writer, taking his first-ever advanced driver training program. By luck of the draw (good luck or bad; his luck or mine – I'm not sure) he and I are paired together. It's interesting, as it always is, to see how steep the learning curve is, yet how quickly Henderson ascends it under Jäger's watchful eye.

There are a few truths I have learned about advanced driver training.

First, this sort of thing is about as much fun as you can have in a car with your clothes on.

Second, as clearly shown by Henderson's progress during the two-day event, the learning curve is nearly vertical. I don't care how long you have had your licence; if you believe that the only option you have when the tires start to squeal is to cover your face with your hands and let the car crash into whatever it chooses, you need to take a course like this.

At the very least, you might be able to choose which tree you're going to hit.

Third, I also don't care how many of these courses you have taken. Personally, I have taken or given an average of one per year for 30 years, and I never fail to learn something new every time.

Am I just a slow learner?

Maybe.

But consider this: the best race drivers in the world have coaches. Heck, the best athletes in any sport, the best musicians, the best in any field of endeavour – all have coaches. One of the reasons they are so good at whatever it is they do is that they never stop learning.

Also consider this: if Roy Halladay grooves a fastball, the worst that could happen is Mark Teixeira slams it out of the park. If Ben Heppner doesn't quite nail that high B-flat, a few opera fans in the front row might wince a little.

But if you (or a race car driver) make a similar little mistake, you or some unlucky innocent might just become one of the nearly 3,000 statistics we rack up on our highways every year in Canada.

Why would you not want to become as good as you can be?

The Advanced course costs nearly four grand Canadian, and you still have to get yourself there.

Not cheap, but if it saves you one fender-bender in your AMG Mercedes, it will have more than paid for itself.

Mercedes-Benz Canada offers driver training programs as well that are considerably more affordable ($395 to $1,595). You'll have to have quite the imagination to turn Shannonville into Spa, but you can't drive from the GTA to Spa.

For whatever reasons, I don't have trouble with the higher-speed corners at Spa. No, I'm not going anywhere near as fast as Jäger would in the same car.

But at least my turn-in point, apex and exit point are in the correct area code. For me, it's the slowest part of the circuit I can't quite nail, the chicane just before the start-finish line.

It's a hard right, up a short hill, and a hard left onto the straight leading to La Source.

Jäger makes a few suggestions that I try to follow, but the printed trace from the telemetry shows I'm turning in too soon both for the right hander, and the critical left.

I'm sure I can improve with more time.

Can I come back tomorrow?

Please?

Travel was provided for freelance auto reviewer Jim Kenzie by the automaker.jim@jimkenzie.com

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