IN THIS FEATURE "I will have to shoot you if you do that!" Rain, rain everywhere Sounds like James Brown Culture clash of the titans Making mincemeat of an SLK 55 Deserving of a GT title?

Rolling through the wet gloom, we take bigger bites of the car's performance, and in return, that colossus of an engine reveals its character. This car might wear the Mercedes three-pointed star, but forget any notions of refined, civilised power delivery. In short, this engine is a bellowing thug, a vicious jackhammer under full throttle, all of it overlayed with the piercing scream of the supercharger. It's a noise like no other in motordom, making even Jaguar's supercharged V8 sound like an over-revving Cuisinart. And then when you lift after a big-throttle moment, the supercharger gives a little yelp as it shuts down, a noise not unlike the one James Brown makes just before delivering the lyrical line 'I feel good!'.

We point the SLR's nose southward, joining a three-lane autobahn. And soon, we encounter the world's most exciting road sign, round with a white background and three diagonal black lines. It means we have entered a derestricted stretch of autobahn, which offers a rare opportunity to explore the upper reaches of the SLR's 208mph top speed.

SLR's wheels aren't enormous: just 18-inch alloys all round

Indicating 110mph. Traffic moves over. We have a clear centre lane for safety margin, so its time to open the throttle as wide as it will go. Even at this speed, the acceleration is titanic, the noise an epic, hammering blare and in an instant we're doing 150mph and still the SLR rockets toward the horizon. And then the black clouds overhead release a torrent, and it pains me to say that we do the sensible, middle-aged thing. We let the speed wash off, having been more than adequately convinced that this is a genuine 200mph-plus car.