Mercedes-Benz

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mercedes-benz.com issn 1617–6677

shEEr sTylE Lewis Hamilton, champion in the

Silver Arrow

born rEbEl CLA: coupe with a perfect silhouette

InTEllIgEncE Eleven assistants for peak safety: the new E-Class

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CHANGING SIDES opens up new perspectives and insights. And helps us understand what may previously have seemed rather strange and remote. In Istanbul, it takes a few moments to switch from one continent to the other. The Bosporus Bridge links the districts of Besiktas and Üsküdar – one located in Europe, the other in Asia. Our travel feature portrays the alluring novelty and benefits of diverse styles and cultures that exist side by side. The first days of spring are also harbingers of the new – as are the small but crucial changes to the concept and design of this issue of Mercedes-Benz magazine.

Embracing the new

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0 06 Check-in mobility and innovation: skydiving in a wingsuit, ener-g-Force concept car, stunt coordinator alex king

014 Mission deep sea how the sea orbiter aims to cross the oceans while providing answers to crucial questions en route

016 Wild thing With its sensational aerodynamics and forward-looking design, the cla is guaranteed to turn heads

026 Star fruits Facebook, blogs and more: the best of mercedes-Benz' Web offerings

028 Hungry for victory What lewis hamilton expects of his first season in the silver arrow

036 The perfect sound architects, acousticians and singers in pursuit of perfection

0 42 Magic realism how Berlin gallerist mehdi chouakri came to appreciate what is arguably the most intelligent car of all time

052 Star quality it's in the genes: the e-class always was – and remains – a true style-setter

05 4 Man on the move Why freerunner jesse turner switched from the urban arena to the wilds of Western australia

058 Finely honed senses intelligent Drive: enhanced safety on the roads for drivers and pedestrians

06 0 Emotion Design, food, fashion: architecture in jakarta, Bowie in london, eating out in madrid, overnighting in amsterdam

06 4 Eastern promise istanbul has changed – nowhere more strikingly than in Beyoglu

072 P.S. time to share: why own what you only use occasionally ? swapping and sharing make life that much easier 076 She says, he says saskia and Bernd take a recent classic – the sl r129 – to milan for a test run

082 Icons attention assist: the secrets of a good espresso

0 03 I n T r o 074 F y I technical specifications 075 P u b l I C a T I o n d E T a I l S 080 M o M E n T S Fashion Week

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G factort H E S t y l I S H g-shaped leD headlights dazzle the eyes of off-road fans – and leave an indelible imprint on their memories. is this futuristic ener-g-Force concept vehicle a harbinger of things to come in the g-class? it would certainly be a worthy successor to the off-road icons that mercedes-Benz has been refining and improving since 1979. Design chief gorden Wagener is happy to let people speculate: “the ener-g-Force is both modern and cool – it just might herald a new departure for mercedes-Benz’s off-road design vocabulary.” What he is referring to is the 1:1 model, based on a computer image created for the los angeles Design challenge. the blue-sky thinkers at the mercedes-Benz advanced Design studio in california certainly found the idea good enough to give it wheels.

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Take it to the limitAlex King is a specialist in movie car crashes. He was responsible for coordinating the thrilling chase scenes in Die Hard 5 – and ensuring that Bruce Willis and the stuntmen were not put in any danger.

a u t o m o t i v e D i c t i o n a r y

e|call, noun; the term for an innovative emergency call system offered by Mercedes-Benz with its Comand Online multimedia system. In the case of a serious crash, the system automatically transmits the vehicle’s GPS coordinates and alerts the emer-gency services. The service has been available in 19 European countries since the start of the year.

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road warningl I G H t I N G A r t I S t Daan roosegaarde is the man responsible for inventing the “smart highway” concept. this involves applying road markings using a light-sensitive pow-der that stores light during the day and glows for up to ten hours at night. a special paint ensures that symbols like snowflakes light up to warn drivers of ice when temperatures drop close to freezing. studioroosegaarde.net

t H E M E l k w E G b r I D G E in the Dutch town of Purmerend describes a double loop across the Noordhollands Kanaal: pedestrians cross the high arch, and cyclists use the 100-meter (330-ft) track below, which has just the right degree of gradient. The bridge resembles a work of art, with the high arch merging with its reflection to form a circle. nextarchitects.com

Alex King, were many vehicles written off during the filming of Die Hard 5?We wrecked an astonishing number! We had a lot of duplicates, of course – so as to be able to repeat the major stunt sequences. and we had several mercedes g-class vehicles – which were great! i would never have thought a car would be so robust when dropped from a great height. What does your job consist of?together with my 20 colleagues, i am responsible for every vehicle that is seen in the film – whether it’s parked in the background or blown sky-high. We built more than 50 rollover cages – the steel and welding wire we used would have stretched all the way from london to edinburgh!

What do you have to modify?For safety reasons we use racing car fuel tanks and a dry battery. sometimes we even remove the airbags, as they can be dangerous during a stunt. our job is to ensure that the driver emerges unscathed when it’s all over.

Are there any limits to the type of car you’ll use? it would be too painful to destroy a classic car – that’s where i would draw the line and build a replica instead.

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I f y o u f A N C y the experience of driving on a road bordered by two different oceans, you should try us highway 1 from key largo, south of miami, to key West. on your left is the atlantic, and from the passenger window you can see the gulf of mexico. the highway crosses the Florida keys, a chain of more than 200 islands linked by 42 bridges. the best time for the drive is the morning or evening – in the afternoon the school bus drops off kids on the islands, and there’s no overtaking. fla-keys.com

f r o M Key largo t o Key WestD I S tA N C E 157 kilometers (97 miles)

D u r At I o N two hours

l o N G E S t b r I D G E seven mile Bridge (11 km)

9.8M I l l I o N H o u S E H o l D r o b o t S will have been sold by 2014 – used for vacuuming, dusting and cleaning. more than any other types of machine, robots trigger strong emotions: two thirds of owners of robots bought from manufacturer roomba have already given their home-helper a name. of all service robots, 40 percent are currently used by the military, ranging from hand-sized bird robots for surveillance all the way to drones. the smallest ones, so-called nanobots the size of a blood cell and chemically controlled, are designed to help find and treat cancer cells.

isayhello: travel dic-tionary in 10 languages with built-in language course

aDac maps: route planner for drivers and pedestrians, including extra info

merian scout now!: puts together travel tips according to your time and interests

a p p D a t e

downloads for travelersw I t H P r I N t S y you can send real postcards from your smartphone: choose a photo, write the text and, depending on the destination, the card arrives within two days to two weeks.

2 5 ° 6 ' 1 2 ' ' N , 8 0 ° 2 6 ' 2 4 ' ' W floriDA

Key lArgo

Key WesT

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I N J . r . M o E H r I N G E r ’ S novel, former bank-robber Willie sutton shows two journalists around new york and tells them about his event-ful career. over a period of 40 years, sutton robbed dozens of banks and managed to escape three times from high-security prisons. But he never-theless became something of a folk hero because he never fired a single shot. this sharply observed novel is a congenial mixture of reality and fiction. amazon.com

n o W i n a u D i o . . .

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How IS It DoNE? the jumpsuit has fabric between the legs and under the arms, which significantly increases lift, enabling the jumper to glide through the air rather than falling.

wHAt ArE tHE rEQuIrEMENtS? you must have made at least 150 free-fall jumps in the previous 18 months to be allowed to try out this sport.

wHErE CAN you lEArN to Do It? you can find instructors at phoenix-fly.com or sign up for a birdman course at the Freefall university spain at freefalluni.co.uk

“InspIrATIon And insight usually come from outside your personal field of vision. That is why, wherever possible, you should listen to people who work outside your professional area.” c h r i s a n d e r s o n , c u r a t o r o f t e d t a l k s

… Skydiving in a wingsuit

o N c e i N a l i f e t i m e …

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four MIStAkES can be found in the photo below: one of the roll bars is missing, as is the offside rear-view mirror, the doorhandle and the exhaust pipe, which stops just before the rear wheel.

mAshupSpin2 is a mixer console that doesn’t need a vinyl collection. All you do is hook up an iPad, iPod or iPhone, and the touch-sensitive jog-wheels allow you to mix, loop and scratch.

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original and fakeI t ’ S H A r D t o b E l I E v E this study for the F 400 carving was first unveiled in tokyo in 2001. the wheels on the outside tilt by up to 20 degrees when cornering, which distinctly improves directional stability

The world’s biggest digital cameraP E r C H E D atop the cerro pachón in chile, a facility is being built that will bring the heavens down to earth. the large synoptic survey telescope (lsst) is designed to take pictures of the night sky. the camera itself measures 1.6 x 3 m (5 ft 2 in. x 9 ft 10 in.) and weighs 2,800 kg (6,173 lb), while the telescope has three mirrors and an 8.4-meter (27.5 ft) aperture. the mission of the lsst is to map the milky Way and objects within the solar system, detect supernovas, and investigate weak gravitational lensing effects in order to find dark energy and dark matter. lsst.org

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UV WaVeleNgth spectrUm

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3.4 m secoNDarY mirror

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360 pagest H E G o o Dwo o D f E S t I vA l of speed is more a celebration of motor racing than a serious competition. But the drivers of the expensive racing cars involved often seem to forget this as they thunder round the track on the earl of march’s estate in West sussex, england. so it is hardly surprising that this album with spectacular photos covering the last 20 years of the event runs to a full 360 pages. shop.goodwood.com

blAck mAgIc2.45 kg (5.4 lb) per horsepower adds up to 631 hp or 464 kW – it would be difficult to find a sportier performer than the SLS AMG Coupe Black Series.

Further technical specifications and fuel consumption figures can be found on page 74.

Hover craftt H I S I N S tA l l At I o N by Dutch artist paul veroude offers visitors a unique opportunity to admire the intricate high-tech components that make up a Formula 1 racing car. it forms the centerpiece of the F1 exhibition at mercedes-Benz World in surrey, england. a trip further north to the grand prix event at the silverstone track on june 30, 2013 would be a good excuse to drop in and inspect the vehicle driven by michael schumacher in 2010. mercedes-benzworld.co.uk

H I G H - S P E E D M A r I o N E t t E :

around 3,200 parts hang in

perfect arrangement from the ceiling

not to be missed!mArcH 17, 2013 F o r M u l a 1 S Ta r Tas in previous years, the first race of this year’s Formula 1 season will take place at the 5.3-kilometer (3.3-mile) albert park circuit in melbourne, australia.

APril 10 –14 , 2013 C l a S S IC dr E a M Sthe techno classica in essen is celebrating its 25th anniversary – a good excuse to take a look around this dazzling exhibition of auto history.

mAy 5 , 2013 d T M bE G I nSseven wins in 11 years – an impressive record for mercedes-Benz at the hockenheimring. at the beginning of may, the annual Dtm competition starts with the first race at the famous track in Baden-Württemberg.

mAy 16 –19, 2013 M I l l E M I G l I ait is now more than 50 years since sir stirling moss drove from Brescia to rome and back at a record average speed of 157.65 km/h (97.9 mph). the slr he piloted has been a legend ever since – as has the race.

mAy 17–20, 2013 rou n d T H E C l o C Kthere can be nothing tougher than a 24-hour race. For the drivers who have to struggle around the impressive north loop of the nürburgring, it represents a huge challenge, while for the many fans who come to watch, it is the biggest party of the year.

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Mission deep seaf o r A l l t H E S P E C u l At I o N about the vast expanses of the universe, little attention is paid to the depths of the ocean. “An astonishing 95 percent of the ocean remains unexplored,” says Jacques Rougerie, the French architect who created the concept for the Sea Orbiter. This floating research vessel has been designed to circumnavigate the Earth propelled by ocean currents alone. The 550-ton observatory measures 58 meters (190 ft) in height, 31 meters (102 ft) of which will be submerged. Twelve levels provide space for various laboratories, multimedia equipment for the transmission of data and images, as well as living quarters for a team of up to 22 researchers. Expeditions lasting up to six months will gather important data on climate change, the world’s food supply and energy resources. Part-sponsored by the European Space Agency (ESA), the project is still at the financing stage, but if all runs to plan it could hit the waves in the summer of 2014.

u N D E r wAt E r P r E S S u r E M o D u l EAs well as cabins above sea level, up to eight aquanauts can live on Deck 2 in a sub-merged area that is adapted to underwater pressure. It al-lows researchers to go diving at any time without the need for pressure equalization.

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w E t l A bDeck 9 houses the diving zone, connected to the exit hatch by an elevator. It will also have a laboratory with aquaria for research into small organisms, since only a tiny percentage of the diverse spectrum of marine species has been studied so far.

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o b S E r vAt I o N D E C kFrom Deck 12, at a height of 16.5 meters (60 ft), research-ers will have a good view of birds, dolphins, whales and big fish. This deck will be equipped with state-of-the-art instruments for meteorologi-cal observations and studies of the night sky.

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D r y l A bOn Deck 7, next to the gym, is where the scientific heart of the Sea Orbiter will be: a multidisciplinary lab kitted out with the most advanced equipment, where researchers from around the globe can carry out their marine investigations.

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H A N G A rThis is where the equipment for depth research will be un-loaded. A two-man submers-ible and a remote-controlled one for capturing marine sam-ples can descend to 1,000 m (3,300 ft), while a deep-sea drone can reach depths of up to 6,000 m (20,000 ft).r

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worDS c h r isto F v i e W eg PHotoS a n ato l kot t e

SuPPlE AS A bIG CAt: sensationally streamlined, the new four-door coupe from Mercedes-Benz heralds a brand new design concept.

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Wild thing

SuPPlE AS A bIG CAt: sensationally streamlined, the new four-door coupe from Mercedes-Benz heralds a brand new design concept.

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outrageous, and yet mesmerizing

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eally, it was inevitable we should get together. Last summer, the CLA was still one of the best-kept secrets at Mercedes-Benz. Suppos-edly it was shut away behind solidly locked doors – but in fact the prototype was lurking at the back of a gigantic hall. A brief glance, a sense of sleek, predatory profile – and I was left with a lingering impression in my mind’s eye. As well as a strong desire to see it again, this time closer up.Months later I mentioned my brief encounter to Gorden Wagener. He listened to my story with amusement. “Okay, so clearly we did our job,” says the Mercedes-Benz design chief in satisfied tones. “That’s the kind of impact good design should have – the power to captivate, to make people dream, to make our cars desirable. Not just on a first encounter – you should get the same kick out of it day after day.”The next time I got together with the CLA, we were able to take our time. And the whole experience simply strengthened my first im-pression. There’s a sense of familiarity, un-dermined by refreshing differences. Take the radiator grille, with its great Mercedes star backed by dramatic chrome pins that sparkle like gemstones; or the LED headlights with their typical white-and-yellow glare. These are features we already associate with the new A-Class: young, dynamic, progressive.

The teardrop – a new design style Then there are the differences: the distinctive profile of the hood with its two bulging pow-er domes, emphasizing that this is something new, something special. This car may share its genetic heritage with the new compact class – but it also has some decidedly individual at-tributes. Gorden Wagener talks about elegance and dynamism, tradition and progress, sense and sensibility: qualities that – let’s face it – don’t really fit together. And yet in this car, they’re all part of the personality, adding up to a uniquely animal magnetism.A brief summary of the underlying concept already sounds paradoxical: a four-door coupe… okay. But Mercedes-Benz hinted at this new direction back in 2004, when the carmaker launched a model that combined the elegance of a coupe with the comfort and practicality of a sedan: the CLS. It was the template for a new species of car: excitingly gorgeous, dramatically different. Now Mercedes-Benz has recreated this same sense of presence in the compact class – because the new coupe expresses the firm’s latest design concepts even more clearly than the CLS or A-Class. “Previously, our model design was characterized by a forward-thrusting

rwedge shape; now the car’s lines all f low dynamically to the rear,” explains Wagener, as he traces the profile of the so-called “drop-ping line” in the air with his hand. A key characteristic of the new style, this line extends all the way from the front fender to the rear door, curving downwards slightly towards the rear wheel.Its counterpart is the “balance line”, which defines the lower portion of the doors while curving gently upwards, albeit still in the direction of the rear axle. “The result is an attention-grabbing teardrop shape,” is Wagener’s take on the new design. “Your eyes are drawn from the front of the car towards the rear; that’s where the focal point of our models is now concentrated.”

St r I k I N GNot a face you’d miss in a crowd: the chrome pins in the radiator grille sparkle like gemstones. D

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Dy N A M I Cthe front-focused wedge shape is out: the tail is the new center of attention.

A l l o f A P I E C E rims that radiate dynamism, with

a star centered on each hub.

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Excitingly gorgeous, dramatically different

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E y E b r o w S w I t H C H A r AC t E r– and that’s just the headlights: they blaze brightly enough to challenge a panther.

AvA N t- GA r D EThe clA combines the sportiness of a coupe with the capacity of a sedan.

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clA 220 cDi

engine / output2.2-liter four-cylinder diesel;125 kW at 3,400–4,000 rpm;max. torque 350 nm at 1,400–3,400 rpm

Transmission7g-Dct 7-speed dual-clutch automatic

Aerodynamicsthe most aerodynamic model in the cla range has a record-breaking drag coefficient of 0.22.

Driving assistance systemsamong the many electronic helpers available are active lane keeping assist and active Blind spot assist, as well as collision prevention assist plus, which brakes autonomously at speeds of up to 200 km/h (124 mph) if a collision is unavoidable.

further technical specifications and fuel consumption figures can be found on page 74.

mercedes-benz.com

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The car’s proportions exude power. Defined by the sweep of the hood, the long wheelbase, the short overhang and the passenger com-partment tucked right at the back, they help to highlight the new contours. From this per-spective, it’s like a work of art on wheels: the combination of arching surfaces with sleek curves and taut lines achieves a new expres-siveness that is emphatically emotive.

World-record aerodynamicsThe Mercedes-Benz design chief promises that future models will follow the example of this compact coupe by becoming even more styl-ish, sensuous and technically advanced. “A touch of glamour will surround all our cars,” he states, “further enhancing the fascination naturally associated with beauty.” The CLA is just the start. The teardrop is the key concept behind the new design style – and music to the ears of Teddy Woll, who heads up the Mercedes-Benz aerodynamic development team. It’s the ideal form, with the best f low characteristics. “The CLA’s basic shape is very close to a perfect teardrop,” he explains. “The front of the car is almost perfectly rounded, guiding the air-f low down the f lanks and underneath the body without impinging on the wheels. The arched roofline and gently sloping, elongated tail all help to guide the airstream far behind the car – so the design provides a perfect basis for our work.”This work started on a computer, because that’s where the aerodynamics engineers can analyze and modify each detail at the click of a mouse until the airf low is optimized. It’s a Sisyphean task. During the aerodynamic development of a new model, the team clocks up well over a quarter million hours of pro-cessing time. “To reduce the drag coefficient by a thousandth of a unit is a real battle,” admits Teddy Woll. “That’s why we need high-performance computers. The results of our f low simulations are then tested in wind tun-nels, so we can refine them even further.”The CLA’s near-perfect basic shape meant that the aerodynamics experts could concentrate on bodywork details at an early stage in the development process. Visible results of this aerodynamic refinement include the spoiler, which is elegantly incorporated into the lid of the trunk, and the trailing-edge profile of the rear light clusters and bumper. Other details are less visible but just as important. They in-clude innovative slit-shaped openings in the front wheel arches, designed to reduce the lat-eral outf low of the slipstream from the wheel arches, which can otherwise seriously dis-rupt the smooth f low of air down the vehicle’s

f lanks. Using computer simulations, the engi-neers discovered ways to improve the airf low in front of the wheels still further. Months of highly detailed work resulted in a small, inconspicuous, serrated spoiler positioned ahead of each front wheel. It’s a patented in-vention that achieves a precisely calculated effect: the notches in the spoiler profile de-f lect the slipstream past the wheels or under the wheel arch openings. “This simple improvement to the front wheel arches reduces the drag coefficient by 11 points,” explains Woll. In the language of aerodynamics, a “point” represents a critical thousandth of a unit – so 11 points are equiv-alent to a drag reduction of 0.011. All achieved by a few slits and a couple of tiny spoilers in the wheel arches.That’s all it took? “All these tiny details add up to make a big difference,” replies the engi-neer, and illustrates his point with some sim-ple arithmetic: “If we manage to reduce a car’s drag coefficient by 50 points (that’s 0.05), fuel consumption at typical freeway speeds – let’s say 130 km/h [80 mph] – is cut by 0.7 liters per 100 km on average. So it really does make sense to obsess over every thousandth of a unit.” Indeed, the new CLA confirms the Sindelfin-gen team’s calculations: the four-door coupe isn’t just impressive for its new design lan-guage, it also sports unequaled aerodynam-ics. The low f low resistance means that the car has broken the world record for produc-tion cars. Now that’s truly wild. Wild – with style.

I N S P I r I N Ginterior detail

based on airplane cockpit design.

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Star fruitsNEtwork MErCEDES-bENz: six digital destinations in the Web jungle for the spring

bloGthe independent fan blog (german only) for mercedes-Benz enthusiasts: well informed and with news delivered at “sls speed”. blog.mercedes-benz-passion.com

PHoto CoMMuNItyFashion Week, dream roads and history galore: stunning photos

from the mercedes-Benz uni- verse on a virtual bulletin board.

including, from mid-may, the best shots from the mille miglia. pinte­rest.com/mercedesbenz

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fA C E b o o k

the official mercedes-Benz page provides

information on new models, presents videos

online and also features thousands of photos

from a fan following that is growing by the

second. in the spring, a sensational new app

will be added here: a state-of-the-art racing

game that reacts dynamically to ambient

noises around the players.

facebook.com/mercedesbenz

MAGAzINEmb! is now published exclusively online. the young-at-heart Web magazine reports on the latest design, style, culture, music and travel trends – such as its visit to see surfer Ben adams (right) in action at the beaches of Byron Bay on australia’s east coast. mercedes-benz.com/mb

MotorSPortSto kick off the F1 season, everything there is to know about hamilton, rosberg and mercedes amg petronas, plus plenty of high-tech in pictures. mercedes-amg-f1.com

C o N f I G u r At o rhD photos, 360° views with zoom function, realistic colors, detailed surface textures, as well as day and night views: the vehicle configurator gives you a tantalizing taste of the latest models.mercedes-benz.com

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lewis Hamilt on has big plans: “no ot her team is as hungry to wi n as we are.”

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lewis Hamilt on has big plans: “no ot her team is as hungry to wi n as we are.”

s p o r t s

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r AC I N G t H E r A P y: Hamilton has been hyperactive ever since he was a kid. “i’ve found ways of channeling it,” he says.

World chAmpIon is a title Hamilton has held once so far. And he wants to savor that feeling again with Mercedes AMG Petronas. On the first working day of the new season, he tells us about the things that drive and motivate him, and thinks back to that title-clinching moment in 2008: “Sud-denly I saw the white car ahead of me. Going into the final corner, I darted to the inside and somehow made it past. I held my breath, got the spinning tires under control and piled up the hill to the finish line. I’d done it, I was the world champion!” p

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l E W I S H a M I lT on on…

Ayr toN SE NNA “his particular driving style and his character as a whole have always

fascinated me.”

MuHAMMAD AlI “For me, ali is the coolest famous

figure out there. the self-assurance of the guy is impressive.”

M. SCHuMACHE r

“he’s a legend. it’s a privilege to have been driving at the same time as

him and to have got to know him.”

rIvAl S “the toughest competition always

comes from within the team.”

tHE tE AM “it’s easy to drag down the people

around you. but as a driver you always need to think positively. it’s

important that you keep the team with you, even when things aren’t going

quite how you imagined.”

HE r o E S “an elderly man recently said i was his hero. i thought that was crazy. for me superman is a hero – and

i’m not superman.”

S H o w b u S I N E S S is a familiar world to lewis hamilton – not only thanks to his glamorous other half. his manager since 2011 has been simon Fuller, whose roster of clients includes stars such as the Beckhams and jennifer lopez. But hamilton doesn’t need any advisors to tell him how to play to the public eye. he likes to wear sports clothes, but is also happy to dress classically for special occasions. “if i’m going out for dinner with nicole i always wear a suit,” revealed hamilton in an interview. “as a man you should always make an effort to impress a lady.” his distinctive sense of style might also have something to do with his respectful attitude towards expensive outfits. “We never used to have much money. my mum didn’t have any fashionable clothes, never mind designer gear.”

Style

sTAmInA and discipline are key qualities for Hamilton. He has learned never to give up and is con-stantly working on his fitness. “I’ve got a new physiotherapist and train-er on board this year,” he reports. But his body isn’t the only thing set for a workout: “I was very excited by the team’s three driving simulators the first time I saw them,” he recalls.

t H E G r E At l ov E of lewis hamilton’s life is nicole scherzing-er, former singer with the band pussycat Dolls. the two have been together for five years now, give or take the odd time-out – which the racing driver attributes in part to their busy schedules. “We have a long-distance relationship and that’s tough sometimes. it’s a challenge for us,” he admitted in an interview a while back. the couple certainly doesn’t hide away. hamilton regularly tweets photos of himself and “my girl nicolescherzy”.

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M I l E S T on E S

1985 lewis hamilton is born in stevenage, north of

london, on january 7. his grandparents on his father’s

side are from grenada.

1995 he wins the British junior kart championship at the age of ten and receives the trophy from jacques

villeneuve.

2005 hamilton wins the Formula 3

euro series with a record 15 wins in 20 races.

2006

a total of five wins and nine podium finishes

earns hamilton the gp2 series title.

2007

hamilton tops the standings after six races of his debut Formula 1 season, making

him the youngest driver ever to lead the F1 World

championship. he defends his advantage until the

final race, but ultimately has to settle for second

place, a point behind kimi räikkönen.

2008 after five wins and a heart-

stopping finale to the season, hamilton becomes

the youngest ever Formula 1 world champion

by a single point.

2013 after 21 wins in 110 races, hamilton switches from

mclaren mercedes to the mercedes amg petronas

team. his aim: to win the world title.

EArly sTArTEr: Lewis was just five when he got his first ride in a dodgem car, and seven when he won a race with his remote-controlled car on the TV program Blue Peter. By age ten, he was spending every weekend at the kart track and telling McLaren boss Ron Dennis about his plans to become world champion. Three years later McLaren and Mercedes-Benz handed him a con-tract, and at 15 Lewis became the kart world champion.

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N I C o r o S b E r G and lewis have been friends for many years. the British driver and his new team-mate were even doing battle on the kart track at the age of 13 as members of the same team. today they live in the same apartment block in monaco and help each other out now and again. “When i got home late recently and had nothing in the fridge, i knocked on his door and his girlfriend vivian fixed me up a burger,” says hamilton. how- ever, there will be no such generosity between the two out on the track. “your team-mate is always the first person you want to beat,” confirms hamilton. “i’m expecting nico to be very quick and to fight hard.”

Friendship>

t H E t E A M k N o w S that with me they’re getting a driver who always gives 100 percent when he’s in the car. But i’m equally committed to helping the team as much as i can outside the cockpit. everybody should know that this is a long-term project we’re talking about here. We’re setting out on a marathon, not a sprint.

Motivation

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l E w I S H A M I lt o N looks forward with

confidence to his future with the

mercedes Amg Petronas team.

A N t H o N y H A M I lt o N wA S Q u I C k to recognize the talent his son possessed – and did everything he could to support him in his racing career. in the early days, anthony took on two extra jobs to enable lewis to compete in kart races, and later he guided him as his manager to the Formula one World championship. that arrangement came to an end in 2010, but lewis still regularly emphasizes how much he owes his father: “keep your feet on the ground, don’t forget where you’re from; my father taught me to be humble.” lewis’ younger brother also has a grounding effect on him. nicolas has cerebral palsy, but can regularly be seen at trackside. “Whenever i think i’ve got problems, i think of nicolas,” says hamilton. “he can’t do half the things that i can, but he’s still happy.”

Family>

I loVE cAr rAcIng, so I can’t wait to line up with the Mercedes AMG Petronas team. The people here have a greater hunger for success than any other team I know. If my car is within striking distance of the leaders, we’ll all be in for a lot of fun.

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worDS m a rg ot W eb er PHotoS m a rt iN k l im as

SoNIC Art in his series of “sonic sculptures”, artist martin Klimas

explored how music can be visualized – by dripping paint onto the diaphragm of a loudspeaker and

turning up the volume. This was the result when he played sirius by Karlheinz stockhausen.

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T H E

P E r F E C T

S o u n dArCHItECtS AND SouND ENGINEErS,

ACouStICS EXPErtS AND SINGErS now have at their disposal opportunities

to make music sound brighter than ever before. but no one is talking of perfection yet.

and for good reason.

C H A r A C T E r S

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bach, Beethoven and co. sound best in a shoe-box. The proportions are perfect: 1 × 1 × 2 (width × height × length). As a principle, it works for two mice or for two thousand peo-ple – provided the volume of air above each listener is commensurate with the size of the body: roughly 10 cubic meters (350 cu. ft) for humans, rather less for mice.

The Austro-Hungarian modelThe most perfect and exquisite shoebox ever built is to be found in Vienna, right behind the Hotel Imperial. The “Golden Hall” at the Musikverein, inaugurated in 1870, is world- famous today as the venue from which the leg-endary New Year’s Day Concert given by the Vienna Philharmonic is broadcast to the four corners of the globe. “While the rectangular box shape of the hall offers the best acous-tic basis for an auditorium, a variety of spa-tial elements – coffered ceilings, balconies, caryatids – ensure the sound waves are also ideally diffused,” explains Joachim Reiber of the Musikverein. And there are other details which serve to enhance the acoustic: “An enor-mous hollow space beneath the wooden f loor creates a resonance chamber not unlike that of a violin body. Moreover, the wooden ceiling is not simply superimposed, it is suspended from the roof timbers so as to allow the sound to resonate beneficially.” Theophil von Hansen, the architect of this golden box, relied on good intuition for his de-sign of the hall. Word soon got around about its sensational acoustic, and within three dec-ades multiple copies of the design had been made at other international musical ven-ues: almost identical auditoriums went up in Basel (Stadtcasino, built in 1876), Leipzig (Neues Gewandhaus, 1884), Amsterdam (Con-certgebouw, 1888), Zurich (Tonhalle, 1895) and Boston (Symphony Hall, 1900) – each of them still a mecca for today’s classical music lover in search of acoustic perfection.Unlike the royal and imperial architects of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, modern acoustics specialists have more than just their intuition to rely on. As architectural partners, acousti-cians work with detailed computer models and perform complex calculations. And they use realistic, room-sized 1:10 or 1:20 scale mod-els in which ultrasound experiments can be carried out. Yet even with resources such as these, designers are not immune to failure. Well known for its poor acoustic, for example, is the Philharmonie at the Gasteig in Munich, which opened in 1985. “Burn it,” was conduc-tor Leonard Bernstein’s angry comment in the Gasteig’s guest book following his first ap-pearance there on September 18, 1986.

Another reason for the dissatisfaction with certain concert halls stems from the fact that classical audiences expect a degree of perfec-tion from live sound that is never sought in pop music. Thanks to constantly improving recording and post-production techniques, the demands of audiences today are nothing short of unrealistic: CDs increasingly showcase notes, phrasing or coloratura passages which the artist could never sing live with such per-fection – the audio equivalent of airbrush-ing with Photoshop. For example, a studio can not only filter out a singer’s breathing in an aria, but remove it altogether. Or produce im-possibly quiet pianissimi. Or add the crispest of consonants.

Changing demandsThat’s why Lady Gaga has a much easier time of it on the live stage than Anna Netrebko. For when it comes to the solo voice, a polished dy-namic range is anyway virtually impossible in a sports arena or soccer stadium. At least pop and rock fans grumble less if they are served a pulsating, thundering beat that sets their trou-ser legs quivering and ribcage jangling.“These days in pop music, as well as in the mov-ies, mixing is brutal,” explains Carlos Albrecht, Emeritus Professor of Music Transmission and President of the Association of German >

C l A S S I C A l music lovers are very picky. With her fans accustomed to digi-tal recording quality, anna netrebko has a harder time of it than the pop stars when it comes to live performances.

S o u N D C o l o rklimas’ photographs show what can otherwise only be “seen” by synes-thetes: music as explosions of color. For his photos, the artist carried out hundreds of experi-ments in a machine specially designed for the purpose.

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J. S. bach: Toccata and Fugue in d minor

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C H A r A C T E r S

Sound Engineers (VDT). During his 40-year career, the 70-year-old has produced over a thousand records and CDs and was twice nominated for a Grammy. In his experience, “Frequencies are getting higher and higher, be-coming more and more invasive – it’s insane!” And as a trend it is not necessarily all for the good. “Such factors are partly the reason why our ears have changed dramatically,” he says. Today we expect a much brighter and more brilliant sound than people from pre- vious generations.”Johann Sebastian Bach was born in 1685. His tuning fork sounded the A above middle C at 415.5 Hz; for Handel, born the same year, A was 422.5 Hz; and for Mozart, born in 1756, it was 421 Hz. Not until the mid-20th century did a global agreement standardize concert pitch for orchestral instruments at A=440 Hz; even so, Germany and Austria opted to plow their own furrow with 443 Hz. And for some conductors it did not stop there. Under Herbert von Kara-jan, the Berlin Philharmonic ratcheted pitch up to A=445 Hz, while Carlos Kleiber made his Vienna Philharmonic players tune their instru-ments for gramophone recordings to an eye-popping A=450 Hz. His reasoning: the greater the tension of the strings, the louder and fuller the string sound.The one interest group overlooked in all this “pitch inflation” were the singers, who were now required to sing Mozart’s scores a semi-tone higher than the composer himself had heard them. So for roles as exposed as the Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute, for ex-ample, pitch inflation was in danger of leaving singers high and dry.In the quest for perfection in classical music, it is not just the pitch that has risen, but also the extra-musical demands placed on artists. “To get to the top in the present climate you have to have your face everywhere and make your-self a marketing expert’s dream,” says doctor and musician Eckart Altenmüller, Director of the Institute for Music Physiology and Musi-cians’ Medicine at the Hanover University of

Music, Drama and Media. He has good news and bad news. The good news: modern profes-sionals have become accustomed to the drive for perfection in their industry – and seek help where necessary. Altenmüller: “Those at the top today live healthy lives and don’t get sick.” The bad news: in the long term, only those with an iron will can stay the course in the contest for absolute perfection.In his personal search for the perfect sound, world-class pianist Krystian Zimerman depends more on his inventive gene than on his health. The Polish-born player’s relationship with con-cert grand pianos can best be described as one of advanced obsession: he keeps two dozen key-boards at his Swiss home in Basel and is con-stantly developing new ones. When he goes on tour, he takes a selection with him, each adapt-ed to specific composers. On arrival at a venue, he fits the required keyboard to his own grand piano, which also travels with him everywhere and which he tunes himself. Even then, tun-ing the instrument is made problematic by the varying sizes of hall and different styles of architecture. Vienna followed by Nuremberg? “That just wouldn’t work. We couldn’t handle the change in acoustic – it’s all to do with the keyboard set-up.”Sound engineer Carlos Albrecht has experi-enced many artists in close-up during a career spanning 40 years. He has come across scores of perfectionists like Zimerman, and com-pares their quest for the perfect sound with the search for the Holy Grail. It will never be found. That is no bad thing, perhaps, for as Albrecht puts it: “The day we achieve absolute perfection is the day the music dies.”

P o P M u S I C of the kind performed and recorded by lady gaga has changed the way we listen. today people want much brighter sounds than in the past.

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Steve reich and Musicians: drumming

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words tob ias mo orstedt photos marc tr au tmann

state of the art: Mehdi Chouakri deals in contemporary sculptures and objects. We accompany the gallery owner for a day in Berlin – in possibly

the most intelligent car ever built: the new sedan from Mercedes-Benz.

Magical realism

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p e r f e c t t o u c hMehdi Chouakri loves stylistic diversity. His apartment juxtaposes Biedermeier furniture with Eames tables.

here are passions which, once ignited, burn for a lifetime. Mehdi Chouakri, for exam-ple, remembers well how as a 12-year-old in Algiers he developed an interest in design, how he admired the work of Philippe Starck and tried to understand the principles of au-tomotive styling. “The Mercedes SL Coupe of the 1970s is a dream,” he says. “Even to-day it leaves you feeling king of the road.” Chouakri’s dream was to study car design. He later went to study in Paris, where he im-mersed himself in new ideas and beautiful ob-jects. He never became the car creator of his dreams, evolving instead into a highly suc-cessful gallery owner. Nevertheless, he says, a passion for driving has stayed with him.

reading the citySo when Mercedes-Benz magazine asked him to spend a day in Berlin driving the new, urbane E 300 Blue-Tec Hybrid Sedan, there was no hesitation. Chouakri set off from Charlottenburg at 9 o’clock to his gallery in Berlin-Mitte. The city’s congested streets are as much a part of his morning routine as reading the international newspapers. “When I’m driving here,” Chouakri explains, “I

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> smooth, and from 0 -100 km/h (62 mph) in just 7.1 seconds.

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> EDGY, CAPtIVAtInG: this painting of a three-pointed star is part of the “Anti-Illusion” series by the Swiss artist Philippe Decrauzat.

46

feel I’m right at the heart of urban change.” We head through the Tiergarten and on past Schloss Bellevue. He sees that Cirque du Soleil is in town. “It’s the best way to find out what’s on,” says Chouakri, who unlike most drivers is not irritated by the many building sites and billboards, but takes a lively interest in the city’s latest developments. For him, driving through the city is like reading it.

Lounge on wheels In this case, reading the city means gliding softly and effortlessly around the German cap-ital in the comfort of the new E-Class Sedan. The E 300 BlueTec Hybrid combines a four- cylinder diesel engine and an electric motor, accelerates from 0-100 km/h (62 mph) in a lit-tle over seven seconds – and yet barely makes a noise. At low speeds the car is powered by battery alone; then, when the lights turn green and the road ahead is clear, the diesel engine takes over with the lithium-ion battery provid-ing additional acceleration. An ideal set-up for urban traffic: the E 300 BlueTec Hybrid uses a little more than 4 liters per 100 kilometers (58 mpg) and produces fewer emissions – making it one of the most economic models in its class. Chouakri’s biography is closely linked to Ber-lin’s recent past. He moved here from Paris in 1996 and opened a gallery. It was the

e X pa N s I V e Chouakri visits installation

and object artist Gerold Miller at his studio.

c o N s c I e N t I o u s Intelligent Drive: “I like it when the car does something for me.”

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Just a car.

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e L e c t r I c The 300 BlueTec Hybrid is one of

the most fuel-efficient models in its class. LED High Performance head-lights are available

as an option.

Yet it is great art.

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right city at the right time. “Berlin had the flair of a free port,” he says. “There were few-er rules and more space than in other cities.” As he drives around the city he still sees in his mind’s eye the derelict land and abandoned buildings in which parties would be held at the drop of a hat. Chouakri is anything but nostalgic, however. He is full of praise for the virtues of urban renaissance: “Those were dif-ficult times, with little money to go round. It’s fantastic that the opportunities for shopping and eating out are so much better here now.”

Perpetual motion He has moved his gallery three times over the years. As he puts it, being constantly on the move is essential if you want to find new spac-es for new ideas. At the moment, his gallery occupies a courtyard building that is typical of Berlin-Mitte. It is the generously proportioned White Cube, created by star architect Jürgen Mayer H. The offices and functional areas are concealed in the walls. Chouakri is opposed to drawers and dedicated areas; he is more in-terested in “experiments and open process-es”. The focus of his gallery is on objects, in-stallations and sculptures. In recent months, he has also exhibited works by Sylvie Fleurie and Philippe Decrauzat, their splinters of color sharp enough to slice an admiring gaze.Chouakri leaves his gallery in the early after-noon and sets off on a Berlin road trip to meet up with colleagues and collectors, visit artists in their studios and take in an exhibition. As he closes the office door behind him and opens the car door, he finds himself suddenly back

in the office. During the drive he conducts his telephone conversations in three languages. He coordinates the flight plan for the weeks ahead (São Paulo, Paris, Geneva, Dubai) as well as his local appointments. He whispers figures into the hands-free system, and the names of art-ists who one day perhaps will also feature on billboards and magazine covers.When you spend so much valuable time in the car, it is important that the interior conveys a feeling of comfort and intimacy. Here, too, the E 300 sets new standards. The instrument dis-play is set in a handsome trim of real wood. Other features include meticulous seams and high-quality materials. The time is shown on an analog clock face rather than a digital display. It’s the perfect equilibrium between spaceship cockpit and Orient Express dining car.Mehdi Chouakri is a design connoisseur. And he is no fan of monocultures. His apartment,

E 300 BlueTec Hybrid

Engine / Output2.2-liter four-cylinder diesel engine plus hybrid module; output diesel engine 150 kW at 4,200 rpm, max. torque 500 Nm (368 lb-ft) at 1,600–1,800 rpm; output electric motor 20 kW, max. torque 250 Nm (184 lb-ft)

Transmission7G-Tronic Plus seven-speed automatic

FarsightedThe new E-Class can now be driven at night using continuous high-beam headlights without dazzling other road users. How does it do it? The optional technology identifies and masks out other vehicles in the headlight’s beam.

Two looksThree-pointed star on the engine hood or in the radiator grille? Both options are possible thanks to equip-ment lines Elegance and Avantgarde.

Further technical specifications and fuel consumption figures can be found on page 75.

mercedes-benz.com

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dY N a M I cNight owl: a spoiler lip in the wing design sets the tone.

h a r M o N I o u s Interior and exterior balance: optional nappa leather and ash accentuate the overall appearance.

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which has twice been the subject of a photo-shoot by leading design magazines, juxtapos-es Biedermeier furniture with Eames tables. Meta-qualities are what matter to Chouakri. “I appreciate the fact that someone notices when you give thought to something and make an ef-fort.” When he talks about design, he doesn’t just mean the outer shell and aerodynamic lines, but the design of the interfaces and in-teraction of systems. “It should be no more dif-ficult to operate the hands-free set than to fas-ten your seatbelt,” he says.The new E-Class is one of the smartest cars ever built – a claim underpinned by the ve-hicle’s 11 new or optimized assistance sys-tems. Combining comfort and safety features, this symbiosis is known as Mercedes-Benz Intelligent Drive. It includes an active Lane Keeping Assist, designed to prevent accidents with oncoming traffic, anti-glare continuous

high-beam headlights, and innovative systems to prevent collisions with crossing vehicles or pedestrians (see p. 58). “I love it when the car does something for me,” says Chouakri. Just before his evening appointment, he calls by the gallery one last time. The modern desk is the only piece of furniture in his office that fulfills a clear function. All other objects fall somewhere between art and consumption, idea and purpose. You are left with a feeling of in-security: is that sofa still a sofa or an installa-tion? Does the briefcase contain important doc-uments or is it trying to say something? There are prints on the wall by Mathieu Mercier, pho-tographs of the engine hoods of parked cars along Karl-Marx-Allee. Dust from the road, scratched paintwork and reflections of the sky all condense to create a road movie in which someone has pressed the pause button. They’re just cars. And yet it is great art. <

N e t w o r K e dContacts are not just

important in the art world: with 12 ultra-sound sensors, the E-Class is also able to “listen” acutely.

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D r I v E

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Star quality

tHE forEruNNErS of tHE E-ClASS didn’t just thrill millions of drivers. they also have a dazzling record of pioneering

innovations, celebrities and major movie roles to their name.

r o M A N t I C road trip: Béatrice Dalle and Jean-Hugues Anglade in Betty Blue

1953

- 19

62 w12 0/ w121 the “ponton” was the first- ever mercedes with a self-supporting body.

1961

–196

8 w110 the “Fintail” was the world’s first car to feature a safety body.

1968

–197

6 w114/115 the “stroke-8” was the first production mercedes with a semi-trailing-arm rear axle.

1976

–198

5 w12 3 When the W123 was launched, customers had to wait years for their new car.

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The popularity of the upper mid-range automobile was reflected in the sales figures, which reached a new record when the W123 racked up 2.4 million units. The most celebrated customer of this model series was a certain John Lennon, whose last new car was a 300 TD from 1979 – the very first W123 Station Wagon shipped to the USA.As well as the generally unknown private custom-ers, cab drivers also appreciate the great reliabili-ty of the E-Class, which has long since been shaping the face of city streets in Europe. So it was only logi-cal that the 1998 French film Taxi starred two E 500 models from the W124 series. Indeed, the E-Class boasts a wide range of movie credits: James Bond, for instance, takes the wheel of a white Stroke-8 in The Man with the Golden Gun, and in Betty Blue, Béatrice Dalle and Jean-Hugues Anglade steal a beige Fintail Mercedes. In Men in Black II, Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith take to the road in a black E 500 from the W211 series, complete with an array of special gadgets, including an inflatable chauffeur and rocket power at the push of a button – the shape of things to come for a future E-Class “Erlkönig”, perhaps?

ho drives there so swift through the wind and rain,” mused motoring magazine Auto, Motor und Sport in 1952 next to a sensational picture of the Mercedes 180 on a test drive, the first time a car had been caught on camera before its launch. In an effort to defuse the anticipated outrage at the photo, the editors composed an amusing eight lines of doggerel based on Goethe’s famous poem “Erlkönig” (“Erl-King”). This makes the W120/121 model series from 1953 the first ever spy-shot pro-totype – or “Erlkönig”, as they came to be known in German. What’s more, it was the first Mercedes with a self-supporting Ponton body – and an early pre-cursor of the E-Class, although strictly speaking its story began with the W136 that originated from the pre-war years and was built up until 1955.But it was with the Ponton that Mercedes-Benz revitalized the upper mid-range class and laid the foun-dations for its most successful product line ever, with over 10 million cars sold. The dynasty had long since acquired legendary status before being officially titled the E-Class in 1993. This was helped both by mem-orable names inspired by shape or debut year – the “Fintail” or “Stroke-8” – and the firsts that the mid-size models from Mercedes-Benz became renowned for. For example, some 20 years after the passenger safety cell’s world premiere in the Fintail, the W124 followed it up with the multi-link independent rear suspension that is still fitted today.

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6 w12 4 When this model was updated in 1993, it was rechristened with today’s name: the e-class.

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3 w 210 the striking twin-headlight face and coupe-like rear formed the hall-mark features of this model series.

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9 w 211 With 29 model variants, the e-class now offered the most extensive range in its segment.

2009

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2 w 212 the flared rear fenders evoke memories of the ponton from 1953.

James Bond in the Stroke-8: every bit as legendary as the Fintail and Will Smith’s official MIB car

C o o l customers: Will smith in the e 500 in Men in Black

S t y l E icons: Paul Newman and a stroke-8

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Man onthe move

frEEruNNEr jesse turner likes to run up the sides of buildings and dive and leap over walls, bridges and rooftops. now a spectacular video shows the 22-year-old introducing his skills to the australian desert.

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esse Turner likes a good run. Preferably a long one, with no pause for breath or let up in pace. Above his head the clouds skate by, but still trail in his wake. Grains of sand burst from under his feet as he pounds the white dunes near Cervantes, the unremitting wind coursing over his skin like an industrial-strength exfoliator. Cut! Just for a moment, Jesse is stationary. With an unflinching gaze the freerunner sizes up his route, the muscles under his black shirt tense into position. Then he’s off again, over the ochre-yellow sand of the Pinnacles Desert in Nambung National Park. Bizarre rock formations sidle into view. But instead of swerving, Turner hits them head-on, flipping over stones, tree stumps, slopes and rockfaces with a forward dive, turn vault or somersault. On and on he goes, under 35 degrees (95°F) of baking sun. This is a man in a hurry.

Breakneck stunts The 22-year-old Australian is at the center of a three-day shoot for a video to be posted on the Infinitylist and mb! by Mercedes-Benz online platforms. Standing in his way alongside the rock and sand are kangaroos, emus and a silver G-Class 350 BlueTec – a recipe for spectacular stunts filmed amid breathtaking scenery using a handful of cameras and a drone. The result is stunning, especially since the desert is anything but familiar terrain for the chief protagonist. The city is Turner’s regular stomping ground, and it was in his urban backyard that he discovered, and has since perfected, the art of freerunning. The sport he views as a calling has become a career. In contrast to its close cousin, parkour, freerunning is about keeping your whole body in a permanent state of creative movement;

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TUrNer for THe Worse

the new jesse turner video for mb! by mercedes-Benz and infinitylist is available here: mb.mercedes-benz.com there are numerous of his videos on the web. search “jesse turner’s hardest hits” to see what happens when things don’t go to plan.

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tA k I N G o N a g-class and a kangaroo. a drone (below and top right) gives spectacular pic-tures of a freerun in the sand.

the aim of parkour is to negotiate obstacles as efficiently as possible. Both disciplines call on moves from floor gymnastics, only here the leaps and vaults are over rooftops, walls, bridges, gar-bage containers – all to get from A to B. In the desert, however, Turner is faced with gnarled trees, crumbling rocks and a whole lot of sand. For a sport with such obvious potential for break-ing bones, there is an ease to the movements. It’s all, says Turner, based around “creativity and tenacity” – key attributes for a traceur (literal-ly: “he who smoothes the way”). As a teenager in Adelaide, he couldn’t afford gym membership, so the beach or schoolyard were the best places to keep fit. Out here in nature, that background is coming in handy.

desert challengeTurner’s skills have landed him stunt roles in movies such as 2012 and Wolverine 2. Australia’s geographical remoteness may be keeping him on the periphery of the popular radar, but he isn’t short of work. Big-time stunt coordinators have his number and he fills the gaps by working on his own videos. Parkour and freerunning grew out of the Parisian suburbs, but it wasn’t until 2006 that it reached a wider audience. Then, films like Casino Royale – with its spectacular opening sequence featur-ing Daniel Craig’s Bond pursuing freerunning luminary Sébastien Foucan – and a slew of music videos provided these masters of athletic body control with the perfect showcase. By that time, the teenage Jesse Turner had already dis-covered the sport for himself. His parents soon realized their son had a thing for moving quickly. There was barely a sport he didn’t try out in, and fear wasn’t something he seemed to experience.

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A one-arm handstand in a strong wind. Whether he’s vaulting gnarled trees or bounding over crumbling rock, Jesse’s moves exude ease and nonchalance.

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Soccer, climbing and track & field were his main sports. But it wasn’t until a high school teacher gave him a push in the right direction that he ze-roed in on a single focus: stunts. After graduating from the Australian Stunt Academy, he was hired for shows and productions around the world. His self-composed sequences reveal his creative juic-es in full flow. Despite his energy-sapping sets, Turner still has enough left in the tank during breaks in filming to entertain the crew with a cameo on the roof of the thankfully robust G-Class. And there are no complaints when he is woken from deep slumber after the director finds another good location. It is only over dinner that he begins to show fatigue – and is one of the first to head for bed. A good plan, as the sun rises early in Western Australia. At first light, Turner is in fine spirits and spring-ing from his first sheer rock face of the day. Then he’s off running again, sometimes with a rath-er surprised-looking kangaroo for company.

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The intelligent car: it’s a great notion, but what does it actually mean? Should as many decisions as possible be taken out of the driver’s hands, or should he remain in charge while being supported by computerized systems? Mercedes-Benz pursues the latter of these approaches. Intelligent Drive, as the Mercedes assistance systems are collectively known, is not designed to take over from the driv-er. It has been over a decade since the first real assist system – the radar-based Distronic adaptive cruise control – made its debut. These days, driv-ers of the new E-Class, for example, can call on the “sensory powers” of six radar sensors, six camera lenses and 12 ultrasonic sensors.

Generally, the idea is to improve safety. The tech-nology should help to detect precarious situations early and take appropriate action if things get crit-ical. This is precisely the aim of the new func-tions included with the BAS Plus Brake Assist and Pre-Safe Brake systems, which are being featured for the first time in the new E-Class and the future S-Class and are capable of spotting pedestrians as well as imminent dangers at road junctions.The second of these tasks is taken care of by the BAS Plus with Cross-Traffic Assist. It issues visual and acoustic warnings if another car is approaching from the side – thereby countering the inattentive-ness that is a frequent cause of accidents.

b A S P l u S A N D P r E - S A f E b r A k Ethe systems are now also able to recognize pedestri-ans in front of the car. By evaluating the camera and radar data, the driver can be warned with visual and acoustic signals. if he fails to react, braking is initiated automatically.

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Finely honed senses INtEllIGENt DrIvE: a network of cameras and sensors alerts to dangers – increasing safety for driver and pedestrians alike.

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The new assist system can correct misjudgments, too, by automatically increasing braking power if the driver reacts too tentatively to a danger ahead. The system operates at speeds up to 72 km/h (45 mph). According to a recent study, more than a quarter of all accidents at junctions resulting in personal injury can be mitigated or prevented al-together in this way. This boost to safety is partly down to a stereo camera built into the windshield that works in a similar way to 3D cinema technolo-gy: it has a three-dimensional view of the area up to 50 meters (164 ft) in front of the vehicle with a 45° field of vision, and can extend the maximum moni-toring range to a remarkable 500 meters (1,640 ft).

The information captured by the camera’s two “eyes” is amalgamated with the data from the radar sensors to calculate the trajectory of objects moving crossways ahead. This interaction between stereo camera and radar sensors is also behind the new pedestrian detection feature of the BAS Plus and Pre-Safe Brake functions. The system triggers an alert if it senses people in front of the vehicle, and can brake autonomously if the driver reacts too hesitantly or not at all. Experts estimate that, as a result, almost half of collisions with pedestri-ans will either be completely avoidable or at least have less serious consequences. More than reason enough for a little extra help from computers.

b A S P l u S w I t H C r o S S -t r A f f I C A S S I S tFor the first time, Bas plus is now able to help avoid collisions with cross-traffic at road junctions. the radar and stereo camera have a wide-angle view of the scene ahead. if danger threatens, the driver receives a dual warning – and brake pressure is boosted automatically, all the way up to maximum if necessary.

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J A k A r tA as in all major cities, space is increasingly at a premium in indonesia’s capital, jakarta. now the Dutch architects’ office mvrDv has made a virtue out of necessity and designed a mega-building – a daring concept that piles various blocks on top of each other instead of putting them side by side. “peruri 88 is a kind of vertical jakarta – it represents a new type of mini-metropolis that has been woven with the fabric of the city,” explains Winy maas from mvrDv. every block has a roof planted with trees in order to create more green spaces. on completion, the jakarta tower will be 400 meters (1,312 ft) high and provide 360,000 square meters (3,875,000 sq. ft) of floor space for apartments, businesses, cinemas, an outdoor amphitheater and a luxury hotel between the 44th and 86th floors. there will even be a mosque and a registry office. m v r dv. n l

High culture

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open-air computersitalian engineer carlo ratti is investigating the city of the future. Here he explains how the interaction of humans with sensors can revolutionize urban living:

PA r I S the seats in the “elevate” range have been designed on an aviation theme – and the backrests really do come from the interior of a former long-haul aircraft. marc venot created the seats with their distinctly 1960s feel for the company Flown. the curved walls with inset windows may awaken nostalgia for flying, but the seats themselves are considerably more comfortable than in an aircraft. flown.fr

D e s i g n

Swinging Sixties

C r E At I v E : based in spain, designer parolio has received multiple awards for his creations.

Midnight ExpressM A D r I D the “passenger” bar offers all the allure of the era of luxury travel on trains like the orient express – but without ever moving an inch. Designer parolio and his team transformed this narrow space in the trendy malasaña/triball neighborhood into an elongated train compartment complete with generous leather armchairs, dark wood fin-ishes and brass fittings. instead of windows, the walls have large-scale displays showing changing views of landscapes filmed from train windows all over the world – so every time you visit the bar, you embark on a different journey. ­facebook.com/thepassengermadrid

t H E C I t y o f t o M o r r o w will not necessarily look any different from today, but it will function differently. as its inhabitants, we will be in constant dialogue with our surroundings. our cities are already criss-crossed by digital technologies that make up the backbone of an intelligent infrastructure. there are extensive networks that support cell phones, smartphones and tablets, and we also have access to huge volumes of public data. then there is a growing network of sensors and digitally-controlled techno- logieslinked to computers. all in all, cities are rapidly becoming like giant outdoor computers. By evaluating the available data, we can identify the rhythm of the city and react accordingly. road users are kept informed of traffic congestion in real time and can take evasive action; public service vehicles know where passengers are waiting, and even climate change becomes visible if we use photographic data from networks like flickr. in our vision, the individual makes use of what the city has to offer – to the benefit of the entire community.

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“To my mInd, the greatest reward and luxury of travel is to be able to experience everyday things as if for the first time, to be in a position in which almost nothing is so familiar it is taken for granted.” b i l l b r y s o n , t r a v e l w r i t e r

a r t

raritiest H o S E w H o P r E f E r not to trail around galleries can now buy art online. every fortnight, artflash offers two limited-edition signed works by artists such as jonathan meese, Wolf- gang tillmans or jörg immendorff. the prices are reasonable, as the works are usually drawn from the collections of art societies. artflash.de

High aboveP H o E N I X paris has the eiffel tower, london the shard and seattle the space needle. and 2014 will see phoenix, arizona unveil the pin – a spectacular observation tower that rises from the ground like a gigantic skewer. the reinforced concrete tower will be 420 meters (1,378 ft) high and feature three glass elevators and a round viewing platform whose floors spiral downwards. as visitors descend from the highest point, they will be able to enjoy a 360° view of the rugged arizona landscape. inside, there will be exhibition areas, restaurants and bars. big.dk

E l E v E N D E S I G N E r S created travel accessories for louis vuitton. entitled “objets nomades”, the collection includes folding seats, leather-trimmed solar lanterns and a hammock created by spanish designer patricia urquiola. louisvuitton.com

B o W i e

Starmanl o N D o N thrilling music and dazzling outfits: David Bowie is a singer, producer, actor, painter, sculptor and photographer. From march 23 to july 28, a retrospec-tive at the v&a museum will be devoted to the work of this British pop icon. vam.ac.uk

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A M S t E r D A M if you are after the best a city offers and take the advice of the locals, you usually end up in some snack bar or little restaurant with just three dishes on the menu. the conservatorium, a luxury-class hotel in amsterdam’s museum district, is an insider’s tip of a rather different kind. most hotels are mainly frequented by paying guests, whereas the entire city of amsterdam seems to use the massive atrium of the conservatorium as its living room. Friends meet here for lunch in the Brasserie, par-ents with small children take tea in the lounge, and yes – the lobby is also popular amongst businessmen and women. architect piero lissoni has enlarged the listed 19th-centu-ry building that used to house a music academy by adding a large glass-fronted extension that brings the outside world into the interior of the hotel. in the indoor garden of the spa, the fig and olive trees tower two stories high. against the wall, a black metal staircase

ThE consErVATorIum hoTEl offers travelers a luxurious base where the city and its denizens like to gather.

looking like a piece of origami leads to the 129 bedrooms via historic corridors with arched ceilings and ceramic tiles. the clean lines and glass walls of the interior are in sharp contrast with the dark leather and wooden floors. almost half the rooms are duplexes on two levels. guests can relax in the hotel’s tranquil atmosphere or explore the nearby city center. alternatively, they can just go down to the conservatory, where the city will be waiting for them. conservatoriumhotel.com

t H E S PA and spacious rooms invite relaxation, while the city’s flair is reflected in the atrium and the tunes restaurant (clockwise from top).

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C o N t r A S t S istanbul is a

good place for exploding clichés – whether in the modern sakirin

mosque in Üsküdar or during a

shared meal in a trendy eatery

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Eastern promiseIStANbul has seen a lot of changes, nowhere more so than

in the entertainment quarter of Beyoglu, where asia encounters europe, ottoman splendor meets contemporary chic, and

the muezzin’s call mingles with the pounding beat of discos.

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D I v E r S I t y istanbul has it all: the mercedes-Benz c 250 Blueefficiency in front of the 14th-century galata tower (left), one of the city’s numerous landmarks. the coexistence of history and nightlife, of Byzantium and bars is what makes the city such an exciting place to visit. Babylon nightclub in Beyoglu (below) is always worth a nocturnal detour.

During the reign of Sultan Mehmet II, who conquered Constantinople in 1453, the area was still known as Pera: the Byzantine emper-ors were enthroned on the south side of the Golden Horn in Eminönü, while Pera (“across”) was settled by the Genoans, who controlled the trade on the Bosporus. On a hill overlooking the Golden Horn they founded a colony, joined later by Greeks, Venetians and Florentines. The merchants’ lavish parties were the stuff of leg-end: one historical travelogue claims in Pera they would dance “until the marble melted”.Gül Güngör is royalty as far as Beyoglu’s night-life is concerned. She runs Babylon, one of Europe’s premier live music venues and hailed as one of the world’s 100 best jazz clubs by Down Beat magazine. But jazz isn’t all that’s on tap: rock, hip-hop and ethnic music get equal time, with the club hosting DJs from all over the globe. At Babylon, 40 staff march to Gül’s tune, from bouncers to sound technicians. Istanbul is a great place for dismantling old clichés – like the one about the male-dominated business world. Women have no need for a work-place quota in the Bosporus – according to the World Economic Forum, 12 percent of all man-agement positions in Turkey are occupied by females. In Germany the figure is barely 3.2 per-cent. Istiklal Caddesi also forces visitors to take a hard look at their own prejudices. Things that might appear fundamentally opposed to each other mix it up here on a daily basis: tarted-up transsexuals parade behind devout women clad in headscarves, shopaholics hop between luxury boutiques, while destitute children beg in front of opulent store windows. Lots of simultaneous impressions, but concentrating too much on any

stanbul lives the day, but loves the night. Thus begins a verse of a song by the rock band Duman celebrating the city on the Bosporus. All the band’s musicians live in Beyoglu, Istanbul’s trendiest neighborhood. Located on the European side between Taksim Square and Tünel, this quarter around Istiklal Caddesi (“Independence Avenue”) is dominated by creative types during the day, while at night it becomes a place to celebrate life.

dance ’til the marble meltsBars, cafes, clubs and restaurants crowd the streets and alleyways in this district. The delectable odor of mezes – small warm and cold appetizers – emanates from doors and windows. The strains of live music fill the air. Occupying one of Istanbul’s seven hills, Beyoglu is one of the liveliest neighborhoods of the only city in the world that straddles two continents.

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I loVE IsTAnbul because it offers you a rare opportunity to live history and modernity at the same time.”g ü l g ü n g ö r

one of them means risking a collision with the old tram grinding its way from Taksim Square to the historic Tünel subway station.

History meets modernityAfter taking her law degree, Gül took time out to consider what sort of job would make her the happiest. She had always known her pro-fessional future lay on the Bosporus. “I love Istanbul because it gives you a rare opportunity to live history and modernity at the same time,” notes Gül with affection. She loves the splendor of Dolmabahce Palace, home of the last sultans, as much as the contemporary art at the Istanbul Modern museum. She prizes the jewels of Top-kapi Palace as much as the breathtaking dome of the Hagia Sophia, once the Eastern Roman Em-pire’s largest church, later a mosque and, since 1934, a museum. Photojournalist Ara Güler ex-perienced a good deal of these rapid changes

personally. Born in 1928 and honored in Turkey as “Photographer of the Century” in 1999, this living legend can often be found in the cozy Ara Cafe, just a stone’s throw from the bustling cen-tral shopping promenade. Güler was witness to Beyoglu’s precipitous decline in the early 1980s, when it degenerated into a zone rife with drugs and prostitution. It took full-scale resuscitations of both the Istiklal pedestrian zone and the nos-talgic streetcar line for things to start improv-ing again. The walls of the Ara Cafe are adorned with Güler’s photographs; even the placemats are imprinted with his images.

The eye of old IstanbulThe former Magnum photographer’s office and photo archives are housed in the venerable brick building’s upper floors. In the cafe below, sunlight pours through the colorful windows, while old teapots and coffee grinders grace the counter. Güler is holding court, weaving tales about his old neighborhood, stories of fisher-men’s pubs around the Galata Tower and crook-ed wooden houses, of the day the Bosporus froze over. A photo of a group of men standing on the ice contentedly puffing water pipes bears silent witness. Back when Güler was starting out as a photographer, Istanbul had just under 1.5 million inhabitants. Today, the official figure is 13 million, but it could just as easily be 18 million. Ara Güler is known as the eye of old Istanbul – but that doesn’t stop him searching for magical moments in the here and now. As a city, Istanbul is constantly performing a balancing act. It is a characteristic that the photographer and his city have in common – openness to influ-ences from all possible directions.

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For gül güngör (right), manager

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o l D - fA S H I o N E D E NJ oy M E N t Dishes are ordered right at the counter in the restaurants of the well-traveled musa Dagdeviren.

S E l E C t, r A r E recipes make up the currency of musa Dagdeviren’s gastro-nomic empire: lamb stew with quince, chestnuts, dried apricots, potatoes and saffron, for example. appetizer: toma-toes with almonds. Dessert: green walnuts cooked in syrup. Decorations are conspicuously absent from the dark wooden tables of his restaurant, ciya sofrasi, as is any trace of a menu. just like at its two nearby sister establish-ments, ciya kebab and ciya kebap ii, selections are made by pointing a finger. ingredients and preparation are all that counts, everything else is a waste of time, grumbles the chef. the delectable creations bubbling away in his pots and

pans are the products of painstaking re-search. Dagdeviren has spent four years of his life on gastronomic research trips: visiting isolated anatolian villages on horseback, riding camels and donkeys to the remotest corners of uzbekistan and azerbaijan. “i always spent time living with the natives in order to gain access to their most treasured recipes,” he says. nowadays he’s turning the tables, traveling the world showing professional colleagues the traces the ottomans themselves have left in the cuisine of far-off lands, even in places like the netherlands. ciya sofrasi, güneslibahce sokak 43, kadiköy, tel. +90 216 3303190. c i y a . c o m . t r

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E yE - CAtCHINGcihangir is an especially colorful section of the trendy Beyoglu neighborhood.

M E z Eplating up the ottomans’ rich culinary heritage: turkish appetizers (see recipe left) are extremely diverse.

ebegümeci Kavurma / roasted hibiscus

recipe by musa Dagdeviren

serves 4

750 g (1½ lb) hibiscus leaves

100 g (¼ lb) onions

20 g (1 oz) garlic

1 red pepper

1 cup olive oil

1 teaspoon paprika powder

black pepper and salt to taste

Dice onions and garlic, then brown in olive oil. add spices (except salt) and the diced vegetables to the pan and braise for 15 minutes. add salt and serve.

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Sweet talentD I D E M S E N o l (left), degreed psychologist and a graduate of new york’s French culinary institute, opened her eatery gram in Beyoglu in 2012. its open-plan kitchen gives customers a bird’s-eye view of the chefs at work. often-times the boss herself can be found lending a hand behind the counter. a combination pastry shop, bakery and restaurant, gram is a popular lunch destination for creative types between noon and 3 p.m., offering two main dishes that change daily, as well as sophisticated salads. such hearty fare is only available at midday, however. missed it? Don’t worry. a few sweet delicacies are all it takes to assuage one’s dis-appointment. gram, mesrutiyet caddesi 107/D g r a m p e r a . c o m

G o l D E N H o r NA view of the historic old

city including the Hagia sophia and the

Blue mosque.

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Hop across the bosporus

E v E N t H o S E with only a little time to spend in istanbul should take a boat ride on the Bosporus on one of the many ferries. the beauty of this metropolis reveals itself most arrestingly from the water: screeching gulls, the steel-blue sea of marmara and the splendid skyline can make your heart skip a beat. the lines con-necting the city’s various districts are plentiful and cheap, and render sightseeing boats unnecessary. travel by ferry is never boring. tea is served on board, there are lots of eye-catching landmarks to look at, and then there’s the fascination of observing the maritime traffic. up to 150 ships a day ply the narrow straits between the aegean and the Black sea, many of them massive oil tankers. Ferries can also be used for day trips – to the relaxed ortaköy district, for example – or starting either from kabata or from eminönü, a jaunt to the princes’ islands.

Prayers, pillows and puffsS A k I r I N M o S Q u E Zeynep fadillioglu was the first woman to design a mosque. built in 2009, the sakirin mosque in Üsküdar is the most modern house of worship in turkey, and signals a multiple break with tradition. Women enter through the main doorway, and once inside, the best prayer area in the building is reserved for them.

PE r A PA l AC Esultanahmet has the topkapi palace, besiktas has the Dolmabahce palace – and beyoglu has the pera palace hotel (pera palace.com). opened in 1884 for travelers on the orient express and recently renovated, it boasts a long list of prominent guests, from agatha christie to alfred hitchcock.

P u f f ’ N ’ S t u f ffrom pineapple to cinnamon – once nestled into the Nargilem cafe’s plush couches, guests face a bewildering choice of tobacco flavors for their water pipe. start puffing, and it’s pure relaxation, despite the billowing smoke and the hubbub. Nargilem cafe, tophane sali pazari sira magazalar 101.

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“Though ThE cITy itself is defined by world-weariness and endless failure, my innermost associations of the Bosporus are with the joy of life and happiness.” o r h a n p a m u k , w r i t e r

G r A M : lunch at a

group table

tr AvEl INforMAtIoNthe main recommendations, tips and links from this article are also available online. simply scan the Qr code with your smartphone (e.g. using the scanlife app) to discover istanbul. m b - q r . c o m / 06t

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Go, go, go!An old-fashioned streetcar ride is a good way to start exploring istanbul’s Asian side. A historic tram rattles its way between the Kadiköy and moda ferry terminals, and is utilized more by natives than by tourists. Departing every 20 to 30 minutes during the day, the route runs along bustling sögüt-ly cesme caddesi and Bahariye caddesi to moda’s venerable ferry terminal, returning to its point of origin via moda caddesi.

The hamam treatmentIN A H A M A M , people become malleable clay figurines. those who appreciate a decent massage should pay a visit to a turkish bath like cemberlitas in sultanahmet, where the unique ottoman traditions have been carefully preserved for centuries. a visitor to a hamam starts by resting atop a warm marble platform, subsequently gets doused with several buckets of hot water, and lastly soaped up, massaged, and scrubbed. the result: skin as soft as a baby’s bottom. the visit concludes with a glass of tea in the foyer. cemberlitas hamami, vezirhan caddesi 8.

nEEd To KnoW CHECk It outsplitting the bill is ill-advised for those wishing to stay on good terms with their waiter. known locally as “allman hesabi” (german bill), going Dutch is generally frowned upon. a 10 percent tip is considered the norm in turkey, as well.

SuNSE tSto experience istanbul’s most arresting sunset, take the ferry to Üsküdar and find a comfortable seat on the steps leading down to the shores of the Bosporus.

CloSE SHAvEif you happen to be a man and want to have your hair and beard trimmed, take care to go to the right shop: those venturing into a “kuaför” will immediately be shown the door. the “Barbier” is responsible for grooming the masculine set, while the kuaför remains – with a few exceptions – primarily a place for beautifying the female population.

HoNkING a green light is not an automatic signal for pedestrians to cross the street – at least not without carefully glancing to the right and left first. many istanbul drivers consider traffic lights nothing more than an unnecessary nui-sance. much more important – honking the horn.

NoSEblowINGtake heed if you catch a cold in istanbul: blowing one’s nose in public is considered bad manners.

fAtHEr fIGurEimages of kemal atatürk, the founder of the turkish republic, are everywhere – on public buildings, offices, restaurants, cafes and money. in Dolmabahce palace, the clocks in his former bedroom still show 9:05 a.m. – the time that atatürk died on october 11, 1938. so please – don’t disrespect devotional objects.

MANNErSForming the index finger and thumb into a circle means anything but “good job!”. it’s the turkish equivalent of raising your middle finger.

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In January 2011, I set off around the world with a suitcase weighing 22 kilos (48.5 lb); when I came home in January 2012, it weighed 21 kilos (46.3 lb). I had lived in apartments that I had found on the Internet via Airbnb. On my travels I met interesting people at private dinners, hired cars and bicycles as necessary, and in the process discov-ered how far you can go while owning so little and just how enriching that experience can be. I have now been back in my old life for over a year and am aware of some-thing gnawing at me: whereas I didn’t feel any sense of loss while I was away traveling, I started to miss virtually everything once I arrived home – the freedom, the ease, the mobility. But what made my journey so relaxing is now making everyday life back home in Germany easier as well. For I am gradu-ally opening up every area of my life to an idea that has the potential to create a social and economic revolution: a seis-mic shift from possessing to sharing, from owning to using.

The concept is quite simple: if you’re not currently living in your apartment, why not rent it out? Why own a car at all if it stands idle for 23 hours a day? Why buy an electric drill if it’s only going to be used for an average 12–14 minutes of its potential service life? Surely a more intelligent approach would be to have access to everything we need, without the bother and clutter of ownership? These days we are entirely comfortable with sharing photos, opinions, hotel tips and cat videos, not to mention carrying music and literature around with us on a tablet or smartphone wherever we go. Now the art of sharing is shifting from the digital back to the analog.For thousands of years, our posses-sions have been what defined us. Those who owned a lot were consid-ered to have status and identity. But in our mobile society, possessions have become a millstone around the neck, often more a burden than a blessing. As we fret constantly about mainte-nance, insurance, storage and depre-ciation, many of us are taking a long, hard look at the all the stuff we have amassed over the years: expensive cameras that come out for the annu-al holiday; DVD box sets, watched once or twice and never again; discarded children’s clothing; eveningwear – why shouldn’t other people have use of them also, and why shouldn’t we benefit through exchanging, selling or lending? The success of car and cycle sharing models such as Car2Go and

Rent-A-Bike, or rental platforms like Airbnb, are just the start. DIY tool exchanges, mobile bric-à-brac sales and clothes swap events are spring-ing up everywhere. Suddenly, the old model of “conspicuous consumption” has been replaced with one of “collab-orative consumption”. In fact, C is the key letter in this new sharing society: crowdfunding (private financing of projects by future customers), couch-surfing (the accommodation network), coworking spaces (short-term office rental) – it all comes down to commu-nity spirit and the common ground, the smallest common denominator of mutual benefit.

The sharing societyIt may sound like the ultimate hippie dream, yet it is the exact opposite: it turns all of us into potential entrepre-neurs, landlords or sellers, and gives us a chance to profit from other people’s needs. At the same time, this market-place of sharing and property redistri-bution is reviving a few old-fashioned values, such as trust, reliability and cooperation. Just a few years ago, it would have been unthinkable to leave one’s own apartment in the hands of a total stranger. But thanks to the feed-back functions operated by most plat-forms, social controls are suddenly as tight in the global world as in a moun-tain village. The age of the sharing soci-ety is just beginning, and its impact will certainly vary from person to person. But we can’t ignore it any longer. <

wHy do we own things we only use occasionally? as meike Winnemuth discovers, exchanging or borrowing can make life that much easier.

P.S. TIMETo SHarE

M E I k E w I N N E M u t H spent a year in 12 cities on all five continents. she describes her experience of living out of a suitcase in her book Das große Los (knaus). here she talks about the rules, surprises and implications of this new world of fluid ownership.

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sls Amg coupe Black series (page 12)

engine / output6.3-liter eight-cylinder, 464 kW at 7,400 rpm;max. torque 635 nm (468 lb-ft) at 5,500 rpm

Transmissionamg speedshift Dct 7-speed sports transmission

Acceleration0–100 km/h (62 mph) in 3.6 s

Top speed 315 km/h (195 mph)

fuel consumption urban: 19.7 l super plus/100 km (11.9 mpg)inter-urban: 10.2 l super plus/100 km (23 mpg)combined: 13.7 l super plus/100 km (17.1 mpg)

co2 emissions (combined) 321 g/km (516 g/mi)

energy class g

clA 220 cDi(page 16)

engine / output2.2-liter four-cylinder diesel,125 kW at 3,400 to 4,000 rpm;max. torque 350 nm (258 lb-ft) at 1,400 to 3,400 rpm

Transmission7g-Dct 7-speed dual clutch automatic

Acceleration0–100 km/h (62 mph) in 8.2 s

Top speed 230 km/h (143 mph)

fuel consumption urban: 5.6–5.3 l diesel/100 km (42–44.4 mpg)inter-urban: 3.8–3.6 l diesel/100 km(62–65.3 mpg)combined: 4.5–4.2 l diesel/100 km(52.2–56 mpg)

co2 emissions (combined) 117–109 g/km (188–175 g/mi)

energy class a+

tHE vAluES stated were calculated according to the measuring methods specified in the currently applicable version of Directive 80/1268/eWg. The data do not relate to a specific vehicle and are not part of the specification, but are merely for the purpose of comparing different vehicle types. The figures are provided in accordance with the german regulation “PKW-enVKV” and apply to the german market only.mercedes-benz.com

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C I t y to u r around istanbul with the c-class.

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P u b l i c A T i O n d E T A i l S

Published byDaimler AG · Mercedesstraße 137 · D-70327 Stuttgart

Mailing address Daimler AG · HPC E402 · D-70546 Stuttgart

Responsible on behalf of the publishersThomas Fröhlich · Mirjam Bendak

Publications ManagerDr. Denise Heinermann-Bieler

Publisher’s council Dr. Joachim Schmidt (Chairman) · Daniel Bartos · Thomas Fröhlich

Lüder Fromm · Julia Hofmann · Christoph Horn · Jörg Howe · Anders Sundt Jensen

concept and EditingCondé Nast Verlag GmbH · Karlstrasse 23 · D-80333 München

Managing director Moritz von Laffert

Editor at Large Philip Reichardt (responsible for editorial content)Art director Markus Rindermann

Managing Editor Tobias NeblChief Copy Editor Tjark Ericson

Editorial Contributors Jenny Buchholz, Tom Clarkson, Hadassa Haack, Christoph Henn, Sunny Kröger, Michael Moorstedt,

Tobias Moorstedt, Christof Vieweg, Margot Weber, Meike Winnemuth, Robert Zsolnaydeputy Art director Dirk Meycke

Picture Editor Bele Engels, Katjana FrischFinal Editing Edda Benedikt

Final Graphics Katja Listl

Advertisingdaimler AG Tanja Oder

distribution daimler AG Uwe Haspel

Mercedes-Benz magazine reader service Zenit Pressevertrieb GmbH · Postfach 810580 · D-70552 Stuttgart

Tel. 0800 0010001 · leserservice@zenit-presse.de

Annual subscription EUR 22 · CHF 34 · Free of charge for MercedesCard holders.

Production daimler AG Jennifer Helke

Pre Media Solutions Meyle + Müller GmbH+Co. KGMaximilianstrasse 104 · D-75172 Pforzheim

Printing Stark Druck GmbH + Co. KG Im Altgefäll 9 · D-75181 Pforzheim

Rightsreprints and use, as a whole or in part, only with the express written permission

of daimler AG. no responsibility can be taken for unsolicited texts and photographs. Signed articles do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the publisher

or the editors. no guarantee is given for information on vehicle equipment and accessories. For binding information and prices please refer to the official

daimler AG sales documentation. All other content in this magazine has been compiled to the best of our knowledge, but no guarantee is given.

Mercedes-Benz magazine appears quarterly, with editions published under cooperation or license in 40 languages.

number 328, 59th year of publication

Printed on chlorine-free paper · Printed in Germany6720032802 ISSn 1617-6677

e 300 BlueTec Hybrid(page 42)

engine / output2.2-liter four-cylinder plus hybrid module; output diesel engine 150 kW at 4,200 rpm, max. torque 500 nm (368 lb-ft) at 1,600 to 1,800 rpm, output electric motor 20 kW, max. torque 250 nm (184 lb-ft)

Transmission7-g tronic plus 7-speed-automatic

Acceleration0–100 km/h (62 mph) in 7.5 s

Top speed 242 km/h (150 mph)

fuel consumption urban: 4.2–4.1 l diesel/100 km(56–57.3 mpg)inter-urban: 4.2–4.1 l diesel/100 km(56–57.3 mpg) combined: 4.2–4.1 l diesel/100 km(56–57.3 mpg)

co2 emissions (combined) 110–107 g/km (177–172 g/mi)

energy class a+

c 250 Blueefficiency(page 66)

engine / output1.8-liter four-cylinder,150 kW at 5,500 rpm;max. torque 310 nm (228 lb-ft) at 2,000 to 4,300 rpm

Transmission7-g tronic plus 7-speed-automatic

Acceleration0–100 km/h (62 mph) in 7.2 s

Top speed 240 km/h (149 mph)

fuel consumption urban: 9.0–8.7 l super/100 km(26.1–27 mpg)inter-urban: 5.6–5.1 l super/100 km(42–46.1 mpg) combined: 6.9–6.4 l super/100 km(34–36.7 mpg)

co2 emissions (combined) 161–150 g/km (259–241 g/mi)

energy class c

D r I v I N G P l E A S u r E at the highest level – the new e-class.

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S

SHE SaySHE SayS

for HEr, all that matters is whether it maneuvers well despite its size. For him, on the

other hand, looks are everything. or is it the other way round? Women and men have different

priorities – especially when it comes to cars. here we ask a couple for their views – this time

on the sl r129 of 1998.

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askia Wunder and Bernd Katzmarczyk live in Munich (Germany). She’s a film editor, he’s a film director. They live in the central part of the city and can get around mostly on foot. Nevertheless, they normally use a car on a daily basis, either when work demands it or to transport their Tibetan Terrier, Bob. On our behalf, the couple drove to Milan for the weekend to test the 1998 Mercedes-Benz SL R129. Bob stayed at home on this occasion, much to Saskia’s relief: “The inside of this recent Mercedes classic was all light-colored upholstery and cream carpets. Not that Bob’s a mucky pup – but I fear the pristine interior would have come off second best.” >

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P E r f E C t M At C H saskia, Bernd and the sl

outside the teatro degli arcimboldi in milan.

saskia, 29

Profession televisioneditor

Kilometers per weeksometimes up to 500 (310 miles), depending on job

statusnever driven an automatic before

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Bernd, 38

Profession Director of publicity and image films

Kilometers per weekat least 50, usually over 100 (30 / 60 miles)

statusabsolute mercedes novice

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bIg, linear and yet elegant enough to create a feeling of restraint rather than ostentation.s a s k i a

o P E N A I r saskia likes her cars to have a bit of an edge.

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WhEn IT comes to the crunch, the SL casually accelerates from 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) as if out for a stroll in the park. b e r n d

sl 500

engine / output5-liter, 8-cylinder, 225 kW at 5,600 rpm; max. torque 460 nm (339 lb-ft) at 2,700 – 4,250 rpm

Transmission5-speed automatic

safetythe r129 was the first car to fea-ture an automatic rollover bar that activated in 0.3 seconds in case of emergency. other innovations showcased at its unveiling in 1989 included seats with integrated head restraint and seatbelt.

comfortin addition to an automatic soft-top, the r129 also came with a hardtop as standard. a partially transparent panorama hardtop was also available as ab option, giving the driver that open-top feeling even throughout the winter months.

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SASKIAI w A S I M M E D I At E ly taken with the idea of testing a young classic. I usually work with cutting-edge technology in my job, so in my free time I enjoy exploring the aesthetics of the past. A recent classic has a much more traditional appeal than most of the round-edged, voluminous spaceships we get today. I liked the SL from the moment I caught sight of its angular lines – big, linear and yet elegant enough to create a feel-ing of restraint rather than ostentation. Inside, it was like being in a cloud, even the lower part of the instrument display was carpeted. When I got in, I seemed to sink into the seat, just like sit-ting in an armchair. Legroom was on a par with a private jet, there was so much space you didn’t really need the trunk. But I have to confess I only tried the passenger side. As I had never driven an automatic before, I thought it best not to prac-tice on such an expensive model. When we drove with the roof down, it felt like I was right at the heart of the action. I felt like I could look right out over the low windscreen. In general, I don’t like gimmicks and gizmos; I prefer things to be simple. And sometimes it amazes me that cer-tain ideas aren’t used in all cars. For example, the three numbered buttons with a pre-set for the seat position. That’s a really practical solution for families with several different drivers: after all, it puts an end to arguments about who last adjusted the seat.

BERNDt o b E H o N E S t, I was a little concerned that the car would look a bit antiquated – but in fact I really liked it. The SL is kind of the automotive equivalent to James Bond: cool and elegant, but when it comes to the crunch it can casually accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) in 6.5 seconds as if out for a stroll in the park. The V-8 engine makes a terrific sound: not over-ly domineering, but gentle and powerful. Actually, I always combine driving with listening to music, but in this case I chose to do without my CDs so as not to drown out the sound of the engine. I love the car’s analog charm, the fact that each switch on the instru-ment panel has only one function. And those tiny wip-ers on the headlights are real cute, you don’t often see gadgets like that anymore. I was also impressed by the turning circle, which – despite the car’s size – was smaller than that of any compact car. It felt like you could turn the wheels 120 degrees. Of course, a car like this is bound to attract a certain amount of attention. It wasn’t long before we were spotted by aficionados, who would slow down and then pass us in slow motion to observe the SL’s detail at their lei-sure. When we got home again, I spent some time researching how many of these cars are still around and at what kind of price. But I wouldn’t have enough space to own one at the moment – a model like that deserves to be kept in the warmth of a garage.

r E S P E C t !Bernd is impressed with the sl’s small turning circle.

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Fashion,glamour, celebrities

There’s plenty to discover in Berlin. Not just in the city itself, but at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in particular. Unlike Milan and Paris, the German capital majors in young labels showcasing their debut col-lections. It’s a real magnet for fashionistas, trend-conscious creatives and style-aware Hollywood stars such as Renée Zellweger, Edward Norton and Joseph Fiennes. They flock to Berlin for shows by the likes of Issever Bahri, Kätlin Kaljuvee, Kilian Kerner or Laurèl. Highlights include the Fashion Night jointly staged by Mercedes-Benz and Vogue. Its focus was on the new campaign motif for the CLA, a spectacular piece of teamwork by star photographer Ryan McGinley, creative director Jefferson Hack – founder of legendary style mag Dazed & Confused – and supermodel Karlie Kloss.

NEvEr bEforE had mercedes-Benz Fashion Week sparked so much interest as for the shows in which young labels presented their collections, looks and trends for autumn/winter 2013.

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1. new line: the mercedes-Benz Fashion show at the Brandenburg gate 2. all white on the night: karlie kloss 3. chris-tiane arp, editor of german Vogue (left), with photographer ellen von unwerth 4. British actor joseph Fiennes with partner maria Dolores Dieguez (center), model Franziska knuppe and catwalk guests 5. streetstyle by hugo Boss next to the cla 6. Fashion show by agne kuzmickaite, igrida zabere and kätlin kaljuvee 7. rapper B-tight 8. celebrity guests renée zellweger and 9. edward norton 10. the Barre noire show 11. actor/ singer eddie redmayne 12. photographer ryan mcginley (center) with karlie kloss and jefferson hack

M O M E N T S

combInIng cars and fashion in one photo is fascinating.r y a n m c g i n l e y

kArlIE is fearless. She’s always prepared to go one step further. That’s how art is created.j e f f e r s o n h a c k

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IConSAt t E N t I o N A S S I S t

A CoffEE CuP in a mercedes display is

attention assist’s way of warning the driver of creeping fatigue.

time, then, for a hit of caffeine. But what’s the secret of a good espresso?

t H E r u l E S o f C o N D u C t purists drink it neat, hedonists like to treat themselves to a sprin-kle or two of sugar. unrefined muscovado cane sugar is what you really want; it comes in a sliding scale of light (for a hint of caramel) to dark (for a mild malt/licorice taste). or why not try a drop of honey…

t H E f o r M u l A 7–9–25–25 – there’s no other way. seven grams of ground coffee meets 9 bar of pressure; 25 seconds in the making = 25 milliliters of the black gold. this is true espresso.

t H E C u P it should be thick-walled and preheated to prevent the espresso shedding taste during extrac- tion – and going cold in seconds.

t H E C r E M A an indication of the taste to come. if there isn’t any crema, walk away. ideally it will be light reddish-brown in color. if it’s a very light hue, however, the espresso will often be too bitter.

t H E G r I N D grinding your coffee in advance is a no-no. ask perfectionists why they grind their beans “on demand” in the portafilter and they’ll tell you: coffee loses around 60 percent of its aroma in the 15 minutes after grinding.

t H E M AC H I N E good coffee arrives via a portafilter, not a vending machine. the handsome Faema e61 espresso maker is a classic of its kind. it went on sale back in 1961, but the technology under all that chrome remains relevant today.

t H E b E A N S arabica or robusta? robusta beans, which contain far more caffeine, were looked down upon in days gone by. But now they are much more refined, and well-balanced blends are increasingly gaining in popularity.

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