Remember the first time you saw Star Wars and Han Solo kicked the Millennium Falcon into hyper drive and the stars became speed lines in space?
That’s a bit what it’s like to drive the Mercedes-Benz McLaren SLR.
This front-engine, carbon-fiber-and-aluminum supercar launches to 60 mph in a reported 3.8 seconds and doesn’t run out of breath until it’s just over 208 mph.
Now, Mercedes and McLaren have created 150 editions with a “722” emblem in honor of the SLR that Stirling Moss and Dennis Jenkinson used to win the 1955 Mille Miglia. Their starting time was 7:22 am., hence their racecar number, hence the new model designation.
Heart of the SLR is a 5.5-liter supercharged V-8 handbuilt by AMG, producing 641 bhp at 6500 rpm, 605 lb.-ft. of torque at 3200 rpm, and a way-down throaty growl that will rattle your toes. With the manually shifted 5-speed automatic, the Sport mode, the 722 cuts a claimed 0.2 sec. from the SLR’s 0-100 km/h time, down to 3.6 and adds a few mph at the top end.
Mercedes tells us there are some 300 changes in the SLR to make it the 722, and you can see a few of them. Its firmer suspension sits about one-third inch lower with new 19-in. wheels that are lighter, cutting unsprung weight. The wheels are also painted black and open enough to let the Brembo brake’s red calipers show through.
Down front, a new splitter juts out from the SLR’s chin, and we’re told it and other aerodynamic fine-tuning increase front downforce by 128 percent.
Mercedes has set the price of SLR 722 at around $480,000 in the U.S., but if you aren’t trading up from a original SLR...sorry, they’re gone.
Source:
RoadandTrack.com 