After an hour, we were already on the track swerving through a slalom course or trail-braking through a curve. After each run, the instructors give you easy tips for improvement the next time around.

Photo: Mercedes-Benz Canada

After lunch, we were lapping around the circuit using the techniques we learned a couple of hours earlier. Each participant got seat time in every car available: SLS, C63, E63, SLK55, SL63, S63, CLS63 and ML63. The AMG 6.2-litre V8 that resides under the hood of all these vehicles save for the SLK is one fine piece of spine-tingling machinery.

Ironically, the most satisfying car of the day--besides the SLS, obviously--was the C63, a well-balanced and athletic beast that just happens to be the least-expensive of the lot. And for the 2010MY, the AMG Performance Package Plus adds upgraded brakes with red calipers, a carbon fibre rear spoiler, the removal of the electronic speed limiter as well as 30 extra horsepower, for a total of 481.

Now, what's the purpose of all this? For the customer who gets selected to participate, it's a way of thanking them for their business and a great opportunity to exploit the cars much closer to their full potential than they could do on public roads, and a way to satisfy their desire for speed.

For us journalists, we get much-needed track experience, which doesn't happen every day and, of course, a good reason for us to talk about the Mercedes-Benz Driving Academy which I attended last fall. It's a good way to become a more-skilled driver, and these courses include the half-day Driving Experience as well as the full-day Mastering Performance, the latter including racetrack sessions. They set up these training programs across Canada and you can check out their schedule and vehicle line-up by clicking on the link just above.

As for the Mercedes sales reps that were also part of our track day, their trip also served for classroom training, and they will become AMG Experts that will serve clients in 14 AMG Performance Centers that will open in various dealerships across Canada, which are basically separate sections of showrooms that will cater AMG customers with an extra dose of involvement and advice. However, Mercedes-Benz assures us that AMG products and parts will continue to be sold in every dealership.

The first dealer that will open its AMG Performance Center is Victoria Star Motors in Kitchener, Ontario. The remaining 13 dealers will open their centers shortly after, including ones in Montreal, Oakville, Toronto,  Mississauga, Thornhill, Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver.

Time to pack up and go, as my plane leaves Sin City in a couple of hours. I didn't gamble, I didn't get drunk, I didn't get a tattoo and I didn't get hitched with a floozy I met in a bar on the strip. I did get to spend a day on a racetrack behind the wheel of 500-plus-hp cars, which is all the thrills I need. But that can't be called a sin, now, can it?

Photo: Mercedes-Benz Canada