http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCuTjbOdzmY...feature=related

Yes, that's a real advertisement alright.

At least they didn't screw this one up. (muffled laughter). Schumaker wouldn't have driven it, perhaps they got Specht to do it. The safety guys were standing in the wrong place. With the right tunnel geometry you don't need a very special car to do it. I vote fake.

Regardless of whether it's real, it's a pretty good advert. I love the wink at the end.

Completely fake if you know a thing or two about production. Car didn't even seem to have a roll cage. Many elements not logical if it was a real stunt.

For us people Youtube challenged I presume this is the red Merc tunnel 360?

Sounds about right.

Well then, Jeremy whatshisface in Top Gear did it recently in a road car with no prep, can't remember which episode or 2010 or 2009?

Not saying for a moment the Benz either did it or not and I'm sure MS wouldn't be allowed to drive the stunt if he wanted to or not.

I've never seen so many engineers with high cheek bones and chiseled features. The fireman was gorgeous in closeup, looks like Alessandra Ambrosio with stubble.

This one is much better.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12wSs4PEUWE

This is cool:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeBxtju52EY

I couldn't find the short non-documentary version, where you would only find it out in the end.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izrNv4nMxAg&NR=1

Here you go.

For me I think the wink kind of ruined it.

Good one, but who's the young lady?

All those knowing looks between the engineers... I had to have a cold shower. I agree that the wink was grim, but it just goes to show that, as money can't buy taste, so being able to drive an F1 car quite well does not signify any social skills or natural bonhomie.

Not being able to drive an F1 car does not signify any social skills or natural bonhomie either. I should know...

I meant from the Audi film. I had originaly seen it on a Cannes felstival reel, long time ago.

If the tunnel stunt is for real (which it isn't) it's the only part of the commercial that is. All the people and equipment are fake. Except Herr Schumacher, of course, but the wink is a little creepy even for him. Maybe it's an animatronic dummy.

Maybe Herr Schumacher is!

I thought Geoff Butcher was the driver...

This ad came out almost immediately after Schumacher was announced at Mercedes, it was probably the first media related to him after that photos from the Merc factory/first interview. So in that context the wink kinda works, because it's supposed to be cheesy. In that very German way. Like you said, it's the most accurate thing about the commercial, which is why I was amused by it.

I turned it down, I don't get out of bed for that kind of money...

Well, you may not have noticable social skills or natural bonhomie, but you've got style, I'll say that!

When you run a car through a tunnel upside down, you will naturally want to position your people and equipment so they are standing directly in the path of disaster if anything goes wrong. Also, be sure to block the ramp's escape route with a portable generator that is not hooked up to anything.

One of the clues may well be the light fittings which look standard to me.

When the Remy stunt team the the old Italian Job mini stunts they used a uncompleted sewer in the UK (!) as the tunnel. They wanted a complete 360 roll but the empty light fitings stopped them as it is too dangerous ( and they were not scary cats).

The light fittings seem to be in place in the MB video but whether you would really want to plant a monster weight SLS on one at high speed is questionable.

So I think this is very fake.

Driving 360's in a tunnel isn't dangerous enough on its own.

I believe this is much the same technique that was employed to sell the Chrysler buyout. Good lighting goes a long way.

Oz speak is "icing on a dog turd".

How do you get around the smell?

Never inhale.

I shower daily and use deodorant.

Hey, Schumacher: Quit looking at the adorable firemen and focus on the ramp. You are about eight feet too far to the right.

Heads up, men. There's an absurdly enormous Mercedes coming right at us. 150 meters and closing!

A great ad, but can anyone really even begin to consider that it's not a fake?

Oh, sure. Lots of people, including car enthusiasts. If life teaches us anything, it is that humans will believe most anything.

I believe that.

25 metres? I thought they were all that long? Maybe its a Grosser?