Test driver carelessly slid and skidded a Mercedes $330k AMG C63 coupe to ‘check for rattles’
He reckoned he heard ‘rattling’ in the Mercedes AMG C63 he was driving and thought the easiest way to find out for sure was to skid the powerful car all over the road. But he didn’t realise cops were watching his every slip-sliding move.
South East
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A hapless hoon caught by motorbike cops “testing” a super coupe by erratically skidding and sliding it side to side all over the road reckons he was “checking it for rattles”.
Anthony Pesch was giving the ultra-high performance – and very expensive - Mercedes AMG C63 a serious shakedown when he was seen by police.
The 45-year-old from Pakenham was behind the wheel of the twin turbo V8 motor when he was pulled over by officers who feared he was a serious risk to himself and other road users.
At Dandenong Magistrates’ Court yesterday he pleaded guilty to careless driving, while two other charges were dropped.
The court heard the long-time workshop worker was motoring along Narre Warren North Rd in Narre Warren at 3.43pm on November 19 last year.
Motorcycle police saw him purposely skid and slide the white coupe violently to the left before swerving and hanging it out to the right.
He then straightened up the car and carried on driving as though nothing had happened.
But soon the watching cops caught up with him and asked him why he was driving so recklessly while there were other cars on the road.
Pesch said he was “road testing” the coupe for work and was only “accelerating out of a corner”, and not driving carelessly.
His defence lawyer told the court although Pesch did have some traffic priors on his rap sheet, they were from at least 13 years ago.
He said he had been working for Mercedes for over nine years and was a respected employee, with excellent references supplied by his bosses.
He said it was part of his job to road test vehicles and he was checking to see if he could “find a rattling noise” in the “close-to-$300k” vehicle before they decided to on-sell it.
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Magistrate Costas Kilias said he was very surprised police officers didn’t impound the car, which would have caused an expensive headache for Pesch’s employers.
He said although powerful cars were “more tempting and somewhat harder to handle” than other vehicles, Pesch should have restrained himself.
Pesch was fined $600, with no conviction or licence loss imposed.