08 Feb 07
What must it be like to have so much wealth that you could buy any car you wanted? It wouldn't matter to you that a Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren costs twice as much as even a mega-expensive toy like a Ferrari 599, because you'd probably have both. And if Mercedes offered an even faster, even more expensive version of the SLR, then you'd probably have to have that as well.
Mercedes has now done exactly that. If you think a 208mph maximum speed and a 3.8-second 0-62mph time are really a bit feeble in the modern world, and that too many of the carbonfibre uber-GTs have fallen into footballers' hands, then clearly you need the new, enhanced version. Just 150 examples of the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren 722 Edition will be built, with 650bhp instead of the usual 626, a torque rise to 605lb-ft from 575, and an extra 1mph on the top speed. Oh yes, 62mph now arrives 3.6 seconds after blast-off, too.
So, what's this '722' business? The first Mercedes SLR was a rather famous sports racing car, best known for being the mount of Stirling Moss and Denis Jenkinson when they won the 1955 Mille Miglia at an average speed never to be beaten. That car wore race number 722, denoting the 7.22am start time. So with the current regular SLR named after that racing original, why not name the ultimate version after the, well, ultimate version?
One thing you'd think the SLR did not need was more power, but as it's achieved simply enough by revisions to the electronic mapping, it seems churlish not to add a little extra explosiveness. Owners have been calling for more sportiness, it seems, and the power is just part of it. The ride height has been lowered by a centimetre and the steel-bodied Bilstein dampers have been replaced by aluminium-bodied Konis which are 15% stiffer on bump (but unchanged on rebound). These lighter dampers reduce unsprung weight, as do the more skeletal, black-spoked wheels. Together they more than compensate for the bigger diameter of the carbon-ceramic front brake discs. There's a lighter oil tank for the dry-sump lubrication system, too, all contributing to an overall 44kg weight loss.
