Mercedes-Benz World celebrates 1st birthday

Glitz, glamour, driving displays and a celebrity appearance from motoring icon Sir Stirling Moss, this was definitely a birthday weekend to remember for visitors to Mercedes-Benz World.

The buzz began early on Saturday morning as visitors waited patiently for the doors to open on what was set to be one of the most exciting events at Mercedes-Benz World since the Brooklands Centenary Festival.

Peter O’Halloran, managing director of Mercedes-Benz World commented: “We pride ourselves on offering exceptional experiences to our visitors on a daily basis, so it was important to pull out all of the stops to celebrate our first birthday.”

The unique motoring venue, situated in Weybridge, Surrey had been dressed for the occasion with blue and silver bows and balloons inside the atrium.

The weekend’s fun packed activities included a variety of prize draws, with 20 lucky visitors winning either passenger rides in the highly desirable SLR McLaren or with the Silver Arrows Display Team as they took to the handling circuits.

The highlight of the weekend was a visit from one of the world’s greatest motor racing legends, Sir Stirling Moss.

Sir Stirling arrived at Mercedes-Benz World on Saturday to collect the keys to his brand new smart fortwo, a present for his wife, Lady Susie Moss.

The keys were presented to Sir Stirling by President and CEO of Mercedes-Benz UK, Wilfried Steffen, during a special ceremony.

After the ceremony, Sir Stirling greeted his enthusiastic fans and signed autographs.

Mr O’Halloran continued: “It was an honour to have Sir Stirling with us to celebrate our first anniversary. For many visitors awaiting his appearance, it was a once in a lifetime opportunity to come face to face with their racing hero and for those unaware of his arrival it was an extra special birthday treat.”

Throughout the weekend, guests experienced passenger rides on the handling circuits in the high performance AMG, and 4MATIC off-road vehicles at a special reduced rate, and as a final memento of the day, guests were treated to their own miniature birthday cake.

Mr O’Halloran concluded: “The weekend was a great success and with next year’s events calendar already taking shape, we hope that visitors will continue to get involved with all of the excitement Mercedes-Benz World has to offer in 2008.”