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Not that the discs do all the work. There's also an air brake, a pop-up rear flap as seen, in much larger guise, on that Mille Miglia car. It rises automatically by 10 degrees beyond 56mph to improve stability, but the driver can press a button to increase this to 30 degrees if s/he senses the need for more rear downforce. If you brake hard from high speeds it pops up to 45 degrees, the extra downforce helping the rear brakes to contribute more to the stopping power, and stays up until you drop back below 56mph so the aerodynamics don't suddenly change.
After four high-speed laps, Sheriff by my side and pleasingly relaxed, I'm on a high. They're so easy, these big SLR speeds, and I just want to go faster and faster and hold it at the 7000rpm rev limit in fifth gear. Will it do that? If it does, that would be about 217mph. We'll just have to wait and see what the official specifications say at Frankfurt.
Meanwhile Mercedes has plenty of advance orders, including five from one buyer who wants one for each of his worldwide houses. The owners won't be in such an exclusive club as those of a Carrera GT or an Enzo, though, because the plan is to build 500 SLRs a year for five to seven years, depending on demand. The cars will get serviced at Maybach dealerships, which will have the correct lifting ramps to fit the carbonfibre chassis.
Buyers will be able to see their cars being built on-line, too, or visit the all-glass factory. The handover promises to be quite lavish, with Armageddon-style flashbacks of the car's build process before the finished SLR emerges into view. One final thought. The likely price is about £250,000. Compared with its recent rivals, that's almost a bargain.
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