2011 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG
In the classic original the guy in my seat gets a vulture in the face, ignores the bleeding and the shattered windshield, and goes on to win the Carrera Panamericana.
It was 1952. Mercedes-Benz introduced its gull-winged 300SL to North America by racing the length of Mexico. Karl Kling was at the wheel and Hans Klenk calling out the corners when the big bird burst through the glass on the first day of the competition.
Mechanics installed eight vertical bars over a new windshield that evening and Kling and Klenk motored on to a legendary victory.
Nearing six decades later, Mercedes-Benz has returned to the scene with its second gull-winged model, the 300 SLS AMG, with the intention of affirming the new car's ranking among premium sports cars.
This time, auto journalists are following portions of the same Panamericana route - at speeds occasionally higher than those achieved by Kling and Klenk, the new car having approximately triple the power of the original.
Nary a vulture stirs in our wake, I'm pleased to report. Mules, yes - untethered and grazing along the roadside - but no carrion birds. Mercedes has gone to such lengths in its efforts to showcase the SLS AMG, you half expect captive vultures to be released from the roadside by a low-ranking public relations staffer.
"No, we didn't think of doing that," company communications specialist Pietro Zollino said later, "perhaps some form of hologram could create the moment without any real harm."
The SLS requires no special effects, effortlessly producing its own. With 563 horsepower and 479 lb-ft of torque, superb balance as a result of the V-8 being positioned behind the front axle for 47/53 weight distribution, and race-proven wishbone suspension, it is a sports car without compromise. Other Mercedes two-seaters may be built for comfort, but this one was designed by AMG, the Mercedes performance subsidiary, to go fast.
The speedometer touches 140 mph between curves - 224 km/h - and lingers around 80 mph (130 km/h) as the two-laner undulates through Sierra Madre country with scarcely any traffic.
Where are the police, Ontario top cop Julian Fantino might ask? In front of us, actually. A hired Federale pursuit car leads the way. Mercedes really has gone to extraordinary lengths.
Chasing a speeding police car with its roof light bar flashing blue is the polar opposite of finding one in your rear-view mirror flashing red.
If the expertly driven Dodge Charger occasionally impedes progress somewhat as it must brake harder for corners, if its tires howl while ours grip silently, the police car more than makes up for it by alerting approaching traffic that a collective blur is coming their way.
But we're racing ahead of the details you need to know about the $198,000 SLS AMG, which goes on sale in May. Getting in, for example. Although easier to climb into than was the 300SL we drove three years ago - the original gull-wing's tubular frame necessitated high and wide sills - maintaining customary elegance and modesty will not be achieved by everyone in a skirt or kilt.
Once seated, you discover the need to rise again to reach and pull shut the gull-winged door (those with sleeves 35 inches or more may avoid this Pilates-like stretch). Clunk. Suddenly you're encapsulated. It's like the start of a roller-coaster ride when the bars swing into place imprisoning the passengers - assuring your safety but stepping up the tension.
Better Kling's seat than Klenk's. As a passenger, you're pummelled by bumps, unsettled by upcoming corners, reacting emotionally to those numbers glances at the speedometer reveal in mph, not km/h. Driving, though, all is calm.
So much is right with this car but the steering and seven-speed dual clutch transmission are particularly on the money. The speed-sensitive steering never feels too light nor too heavy, serving up a direct connection with the huge contact patches of the 19x9.5 Continental tires on the front wheels. The positioning of the engine behind the front axle undoubtedly contributes to this steering feel as well as overall balance.
In the Kling and Klenk 300SL that Mercedes brought here as a static display, the thick, cumbersome gearshift resembles a tractor's. Shifters aren't like that any more.
Turning a knob on the centre console of the SLS establishes whether you progress through its gears manually employing paddle shifters, or if automatic shifting is preferred, how those shifts occur.
Selecting S+ yielded fastest progress: higher rpm, maintained longer, in lower gears, made the SLS feel more like it was running a modern Carrera Panamericana and less like a cruiser. Not that it felt like an E-class sedan when I turned the knob to C for Controlled Efficiency - but in this mode the transmission shifted more frequently, selecting higher gears for improved fuel efficiency.
We averaged 17.9 litres/100 km at best, and 28.4 dancing up and down and around the mountains. Fuel consumption wasn't a priority going into this project. Top speed is electronically limited to 317 km/h. Claimed acceleration to 100 km/h is 3.8 seconds.
In tighter turns, it became obvious the SLS AMG is not as agile as those competitors with shorter wheelbases. The 2,680 mm between the front and wheels is on par with a Corvette or Audi R8, but a Porsche GT3 with 2,350 mm or even the 300SL with 2,400 would get around switchbacks easier.
The suspension itself was beyond reproach in faster cornering, the SLS AMG always feeling planted and balanced.
But the car is heavier than hoped and you felt that, too. Despite its aluminum chassis, it totals 1,620 kilograms against the ZR1 Corvette's 1,512 or Porsche GT3's 1,395.
The heft of those gull-wing doors is high up, where some performance cars employ carbon fibre roofs in order to save precious kilograms, countering AMG engineers' specification of a dry sump engine in order to place the car's centre of gravity lower.
We slowed for every village. Crossing the mountainous speed bumps on their streets required coming to a near-stop and angling across, crab-like, to avoid scraping the low exhaust system. So much heat leaked through from that exhaust into the very compact luggage space (176 litres), incidentally, a tube of Ozonol in my bag had liquefied by the end of the 420-kilometre drive.
This is not a passenger-friendly car. For one of those, a selection from Mercedes' SL lineup might better serve. This is a true sports car so tightly focused on style and speed as to not be to every taste.
The Carrera Panamericana was cancelled in 1955 with the death count at 27. Revived in 1988, the event continues with unlimited speeds on closed stages, similar to Canada's Targa Newfoundland. The modern race is won most years by all-out race cars decked out in 1953 Studebaker Starliner bodies, but an SLS AMG entry, complete with buzzard bars, would be a sentimental favourite, and competitive with its peers.
2011 MERCEDES-BENZ SLS AMG
TYPE: Two-door sports car
PRICE: $198,000
ENGINE: 6.2-litre, DOHC, V-8
HORSEPOWER/TORQUE: 563 hp/479 lb-ft
TRANSMISSION: Seven-speed automatic
DRIVE: Rear-wheel-drive
FUEL ECONOMY: Not available
ALTERNATIVES: Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1, Porsche 911 GT3, Audi R8
******
Like
- Eye-widening power
- Eye-focusing handling
- Zero-compromise sports car
Don't like
- A tad too heavy
- Doors a stretch
- Rough ride