Mercedes-Benz Club rally heads to Jaffna to mark anniversary

20 July 2015 05:17 am Views - 2241

The Mercedes-Benz Club of Sri Lanka celebrates their 25th anniversary this year.

The Mercedes-Benz Club of Sri Lanka is an exclusive club, a group of automobile enthusiasts who have an exceptional deep-rooted passion towards the three-pointed ‘Star’. They are involved in many activities throughout the year, with the Annual Mercedes-Benz Pageant being their flagship event.

Recently, the Mercedes-Benz Club of Sri Lanka organized a fun rally to the Jaffna peninsula from 10th-12th July. Committee Members and their families organised the rally, which consisted of twelve Mercedes-Benz vehicles ranging from Pre-War era to the latest.

The journey started off on 10th July early morning from DIMO 800 ‘Mercedes-Benz Center’ premises and made its first stop at Bethany 101 Restaurant in Puttalam for breakfast and then at MAS Active - Vaanavil factory for lunch. Subsequently they stopped over at windmills at Elephant Pass prior proceeding to Jaffna – Thalsevana Holiday Resort, their home for the next few days.

On 11th July, the group explored interesting sites in Jaffna peninsula such as Kytes, Keerimalai, Jaffna Fort, Library, Dambakolapatuna etc. They also visited the DIMO Jaffna branch, which is the most modern workshop in that part of the island and headed back to Colombo on 12th July.  The return route was through Mannar, Wilpattu and Puttalam where the terrains in the Wilpattu jungle was challenging for the older models where all cars that participated cleared the jungle trail without any difficulties whatsoever. This once again proved the dependability and the ruggedness of Mercedes-Benz sedans irrespective of the age or model.

The ‘Stars’ that took part in the rally were 170S (a Pre-War Model), W108, W110, W115, W116, W123, W124, W126, CLK 320 Cabriolet, W212, W221 and the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter. The rally to Jaffna and back in these Pre-war, Classic and Young Classic Mercedes-Benz models showcased the reliability of German technology and the dedicated aftercare of DIMO. Incidentally, all these vehicles were refurbished and maintained by DIMO throughout.

The first-ever rally of this nature provided a great opportunity to the general public and vehicle enthusiasts in the Northern peninsula to witness some old and new models of Mercedes-Benz, which they may not have seen
ever before.