08 Feb 07
The other main visual change, apart from red 722 badges ahead of the doors, is the front aerodynamic splitter. This clear-coated carbonfibre appendage increases front axle downforce by 128%. The flip-up rear wing, deployed at high speed or when braking firmly, now flips up five degrees further, adding a little extra to rear downforce which was already far higher than that at the front.
Otherwise, it's a matter of a red finish for calipers, dials and the engine's intake tract, plus red stitching on the leather. Oh, and the price, which rises by nearly £17,000 to £334,300. That seems like a hefty profit margin; the new components certainly wouldn't cost that much more than those they oust.
Does it all work? The SLR as experienced to date is not quite the driving machine it ought to be, despite its colossal pace, so maybe the 722 will have more reassuring brakes and more feelsome steering to complement the already awesome engine.
Turn key, flip-up the little lid on the gear selector lever, press the button thus revealed, and who fired those Kalashnikovs? I'd forgotten what a bombastic blast of sputtering malevolence is released by those two pairs of exhaust pipes exiting, for maximum sound effect, just behind the front wheels. There's 5.5 litres of supercharged AMG V8 here, and it's angry.
Its energies pour through a five-speed automatic gearbox with paddleshifters and a manual mode which really is exactly that: no kickdown, no rev-limit upshifts, no Mercedes-knows-best sabotage. As before, the auto can be in comfort or sport modes, while the manual mode can be set to one of three different shift speeds. We're heading out of Dubai, prime customer territory for a car like this, and on the first bit of open road (watching for the mushrooming Gatsos) I plant the throttle.
