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Sun king



We've had to wait eight years for it to happen, but Mercedes has now confirmed that it's going to make the Roadster version of the SLR super GT Coupe. And here it is. It'll hit showrooms this September and will hit you around 10 per cent harder in the pocket compared with the Coupe.

Boasting the same face-peeling 200mph-plus top speed and eye-blink quick 3.6secs 0-60mph time as its hard-top Coupe brother, the Roadster could be the finalversion of the McLaren-built range-topper. It could also be the most successful of them, according to Mercedes-Benz's Beverly Hills sales guru, Vinnie 'The Car Man' Mandzak, who sells SLRs to the stars.

"I know a lot of my customers will rather have the Roadster than the Coupe," says the man who sold comedian and car nut Jay Leno his SLR. "The cabin on the Coupe is very tight and quite dark, with no sunroof and limited shoulder room. The Roadster solves all that, so I see it selling much better than the Coupe."

That'll be a relief to him, Mercedes and McLaren for sure, as the Coupe's sales have been on a roller coaster since the car was launched. But before we get into that, let's have a closer look at the car.

First thing to deal with is the semi-automatic roof which, as you might expect on a piece of car confectionery like the SLR, isn't simple. The front section is made of aluminium, to stop the top from blowing away like an umbrella in a storm. The rear section is made of a newly developed cloth-like material, to save on space and weight, and can be specced in one of three colours.

'Conversation is still possible at well over 124mph on open-air journeys'

The roof has to be manually released from the front, but then electric motors take over to clunk it into place behind the seats in under 10 seconds. The aluminium front section then neatly forms the lid for the folded roof as it nestles into the rear of the car.

If you're thinking that it would have been altogether better with an SL-style folding metal roof - still the best design of its type - the extra weight and complexity that would have added make it a complete non-starter.

Unlike having a conversation at high speed with the roof down. Mercedes reckons that, unlike the majority of cropped-top motors, 'conversation is still possible at well over 124mph on open-air journeys thanks to the favourable aeroacoustics'. Key word there is 'possible'. It doesn't actually say 'without shouting your lungs out'.

You can just imagine the M-B and McLaren lab technicians who discovered this fact, blasting down the A3 in an SLR overflowing with wires, gizmos, mics and sound recorders. "123mph - conversation possible. 124mph - conversation possible. 125mph - Woooooshhhhhhhh." Typed note - conversation not possible.




What they also could have found out on that drive, as they hit the slip road at three-figure speeds, was that the SLR Roadster handles just as well as the Coupe. While that's far from perfect, thanks to its truck-like wheelbase, it's quite an achievement all the same.

The reason for this is the Roadster's pure carbon-fibre monocoque chassis, which has been strategically redesigned and reinforced to cope without a roof. McLaren knows a thing or two about building super-fast, open-topped cars, as Lewis Hamilton is happily and so gloriously demonstrating most weekends, so maybe this shouldn't come as such a surprise.

Rather like the doors. Concerns that the gullwing design from the Coupe would be ditched for a regular hinge are unfounded. The Roadster keeps the flip-up doors, but not without some nifty work to the fatter, steel-reinforced A-pillars to make them fit.

Safetywise, apart from the bigger, stronger A-pillars, there are two rollover bars and enough airbags and electrickery to protect you from almost anything you're likely to meet. Other than yourself coming the other way.

The standard equipment list is longer thana curry house menu. It starts with leather-upholstered, carbon-fibre bucket seats, which can be fitted to both the driver and passenger sides, then finishes with the usual avalanche of in-car electronics that allows you to tailor the sound, heat and direction of the car to your desired setting.

What it doesn't do is allow you to adjust the price. This, I'm told, will be very close to $500,000 (£250,000) in the US, and Mercedes is very keen that the cars don't drop below, or rise above, that amount.

'I call them The Lucky Sperm Club. These are the people who were born with the money'

The original SLR's sales were hit in the US and elsewhere by car collectors trying to makea fast buck, asking up to $1m for the first cars in the country. "But these [SLRs] aren't worth $1m as there's too many of them," says Mandzak. "So people got rid of them, and the prices dropped fast. From $1m to $750,000to $360,000. That scared some dealers, who panicked and sold their SLRs cheap, wellunder list, just to get them off the lot."

It's all calmed down now, and around 140 SLRs are sold each year in the US. The 722 sold out immediately - to existing owners - so the signs are good that the SLR Roadster should sell well. But to whom?

"I call them The Lucky Sperm Club," says Mandzak, who has sold 12 SLRs. "These are the people who were born with the money. They buy whatever's new and hot. They'vehad Carrera GTs, Enzos, etc. Now they'llwant one of these SLR Roadsters."

Like who? "Well, let's just say that a couple who aren't driving at the moment [SLR driver Paris Hilton has been jailed for drink-driving and co-star Nicole Ritchie is waiting to see if she'll face a similar conviction] should be near the top of the list," says Mandzak.

Both of them will be out of prison just in time to get hold of their new SLR Roadsters. Some of us will just have to hold out for another eight years, living on bread and water alone, to get our hands on one. Let's hope it's worth the wait.

Tycoon

Loving this last pic...