See a CNN Money Report Video on SLS Gullwing
First Drive: 2010 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG
We Fly the New Gullwing -- the First-Ever All-AMG Benz -- Through the World's Greatest Race Track: The Green Hell. July, 2009 / By Arthur St. Antoine
I'm barely three turns into my first lap, and already my brain has automatically activated its auxiliary data logger, the one reserved for "extra-special events." I don't want to forget a nanosecond of this. Partly, it's a result of the venue. For the first time in my career, I'm driving on Germany's 13-mile-long Nurburgring Nordschleife, a.k.a. "The Green Hell," the most fearsome, challenging, and dangerous racetrack in the world. But my highly elevated pulse is also due in large measure to the screaming, whirling vehicle at hand. I don't entirely know what it looks like -- the prototype's bodywork is still masked by tape and cardboard camouflage -- but if these first few blitzkrieg corners are any indication, the all-new Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG "Gullwing" is going to disrupt the supercar pantheon when it hits American roads next spring.
We journalists love "firsts," because via benefit of a good "first" or two the copy flows easily, the headlines write big, and in no time our report is posted and we're headed to the bar, job done. Alas, no wood-paneled celebratory saloon for me -- I'm writing this at 37,000 feet -- but as "firsts" go, the new SLS boasts so many I should be finished writing this piece before the next spellbinding serving of warm mixed nuts.
For one thing, the SLS is the first automobile built entirely from scratch by Mercedes-Benz's Affalterbach-based performance division, AMG. As such, it shares its platform with no other Benz; it's a clean-sheet, just-as-we-want-it effort from the team that's been hyper-tuning regular Benzes for decades. The SLS is also the first production Mercedes crafted entirely in aluminum (excepting an extremely small number of custom-ordered 300SLs). The curvaceous aluminum body panels wrap around an all-alloy spaceframe. And, as you'd expect, the SLS presses down upon the earth with a commensurately feathery footprint, just over 3500 pounds by AMG claims.
Click to view GalleryEach corner of the SLS is suspended by dual control arms ("double wishbones") -- another Benz first. Two suspensions will be offered: a normal setup and a performance version with stiffer springs and shocks. Unlike some competitors -- say, the Ferrari 599 -- the SLS uses no electronics to control ride motions (similarly, the rear-differential is a conventional limited slip). Standard brakes are steel (six-piston calipers in front; four-piston at the rear), with carbon-ceramics optional. AMG claims the SLS can stop from 60 mph in less than 100 feet. The wheels are lightweight 19-inch alloys up front, 20-inchers in back. Continental and Michelin each developed tires especially for the SLS. AMG chassis engineers haven't yet decided which compound they prefer; Mercedes will likely offer both.
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