Event
FAT Mankei is a restaurant and car culture outpost at 2,262 metres on the Grossglockner High Alpine Road in Austria, run by F.A.T. International as a year-round gathering point for driving enthusiasts. For one weekend each May, the format shifts: the Grossglockner becomes AMG territory, with Mercedes performance cars taking on 48 kilometres of hairpins, tunnels and elevation changes that have served as an informal test track since the road opened in 1935.
The Grossglockner is not a circuit and it is not closed to traffic, which is partly the point. You drive it in real conditions, with the pass itself – Austria's highest surfaced road, reaching 2,504 metres at the Edelweißspitze – as the backdrop. The AMG exhaust note in the tunnels is a recurring topic of conversation at the Mankei terrace.
The format follows F.A.T.'s approach across their events: organised enough to have structure, relaxed enough to feel informal. Convoy drives up and down the pass, meals at the restaurant, and the social dynamic that comes from a small group sharing the same road over two days. The invited cars tend toward current AMG production, though the selection varies by edition.
The Grossglockner lies in the Hohe Tauern national park on the border between Salzburg and Carinthia. The northern approach from Zell am See is the more dramatic entry; the southern approach from Lienz through the Möll valley is quieter and worth considering for the return. Both reward taking time.
