14 Oct 04
It's based loosely on Merc's hardly slow CLK 55 AMG, but instead of its 5.5-litre V8 engine being normally aspirated and developing 362bhp, this one's supercharged and puts out a rather more attention grabbing 582bhp. Mercedes says it will reach 62mph from rest in 3.9sec, a simply extraordinary figure for a car lacking the traction advantages of either four-wheel drive or an engine sitting on its rear wheels. But the stat to end them all is the fact that it will take you from rest to 125mph in an apocalyptic 10.9sec.
Its suspension is race stiff, all the rubber has been removed from its steering and its brakes are so big it needs 19- and 20-inch rims front and rear to accommodate them. There are no rear seats, just two racing buckets with six-point harnesses attached. The dashboard is carbon fibre as are the insides of the doors. The steering wheel is covered not in leather but rather more grippy suede and behind its rim sprout two rather convincing-looking paddles. Down on the centre console, where you'd find soft, smooth buttons in a normal Merc, you'll see just short, sharp toggles similar to those you might find in a 1960s fighter jet. In fact, were it not for the fact that there's air-conditioning, central locking and electric windows in here too, it would be easy to conclude that this was racing car with no business at all on the public road.
But, in fact, it's a road car, albeit it the most track-focussed Merc since Rudi Ulhenhaut, Merc's legendary 1950s test driver and engineer, decided to make a coupe version of the all-conquering 300SLR racer - itself an F1 car with a sports car body - and use it as his daily driver.
