Alex Unleashed on Cars: Mercedes SLR McLaren (Black Sheep of Hypercars)

 

The Mercedes SLR McLaren (or McLaren Mercedes if you prefer) is a bit of an oddball in the world of hypercars and the 200 MPH club. It has an automatic gearbox, the engine is in front of the driver and it packs a lot of Mercedes creature comforts. And yet, we're talking about the 2nd fastest Mercedes ever made (AMG-ONE is fastest), about a car that can stop from 120 MPH in the distance the Highway Code says it should stop from 60 and a car that packs a mighty supercharged V8 engine.

The SLR owes it's existence to the 15 year long partnership between McLaren and Mercedes in Formula 1 that gave Mclaren 3 world titles: '98, '99 & '08 before Mercedes became a team on it's own, though McLaren still mostly used Mercedes engines after the split.

The SLR project, owing it's name to the old 300 SLR that Sir Stirling Moss & Denis Jenkinson won the 1955 Mille Miglia was first unveiled in 1999 with a projected release in 2003, the concept had a smaller 5 litre engine but still made an impressive 557 BHP. Since Mercedes had a 40% stake in McLaren, Mercedes would style the car and McLaren would handle everything else. Gordon Murray (of McLaren F1 fame) designed the chassis made purely of carbon fibre following in the footsteps of the old F1. 

The basic car was very light but the addition of air-con and the auto box puts the weight up to over 1700 KG, but McLaren were clever at dealing with this. The engine may be in front of the driver, but, if you look carefully it's actually behind the front axle, making it front-mid engined much the Ferrari 612 Scaglietti which helps with both weight distribution and handling as the huge engine isn't hanging over the axle like an old Audi Quattro. That front badge is actually an air intake, believe it or not, McLaren used TVR Cerbera's as mules to test it's effectiveness. The side exhausts also allow the SLR to have a flat floor and a rear diffuser to help with cornering and high-speed stability. 

The SLR has received criticism in the past for not feeling special or too much like a regular Mercedes. And the interior is too plasticy for a car that cost over £300,000 especially compared to what Porsche, Pagani and Koenigsegg were offering in their hypercars. But the SLR does have one trick up it's sleeve, the starter button, you flip a switch on top of the gear lever and the mighty engine comes to life.

What an engine too! Whilst it is the same basic 5.4 litre supercharged V8 used in the SL55 & E55 AMG, its thoroughly reworked to produce 617 BHP and 576 Ib/ft giving the SLR a 0-60 time of 3.8 seconds and a top speed of 208 MPH. Then there's the noise, the high-pitched shriek of the supercharger combined with the deep rumble of the V8, it's one of the all-time great sounding engines, and does sound quite different to the aforementioned SL & E55 AMG.

All that combines together to a car that immediately went straight to the top of the Top Gear lap board, and by some margin, a time of 1:20.9 was 3 seconds faster than the Lamborghini Murcielago, Pagani Zonda S & Koenigsegg CC8S. That's an incredible performance for a car that isn't optimised for hard track driving but shows just how usable it's incredible power is, it's great, even if it was beaten by the Porsche Carrera GT two episodes later.

The SLR lived a relatively long life, a Roadster version came in 2007 and a hotter limited run 722 version too, it's name being a reference to the start time of Moss & Jenkinsons 300 SLR. Speaking of Moss, a very special version called the Stirling Moss was made in 2009 complete with speedster style body; in other words, it has no roof or windscreen and a heavily reworked body that bares little resemblance to the hardtop SLR (I don't like the look of it) but is a whopping 200 KG lighter than a regular SLR. 

In the world of 2000s hypercars, the SLR gets looked down upon for being more user friendly and not being as focussed on being an ultimate driving tool, but, if I were to liken the SLR to food, it's a prawn and avocado sandwhich, exotic and hard to handle ingredients in between the familiarity and safety of the bread whereas say a Porsche Carrera GT is more like spicy chicken wings, there's very little between you and the extreme heat that without care will burn you. See what I mean?   

Years Produced: 2004-2010

Engine 5.4 Litre Supercharged V8

Top Speed: 207 - 211 MPH

0-60: 3.8 - 3.6 Seconds

Power: 617 - 641 BHP

Torque: 576 - 605 Ib/ft

Weight: 1551 - 1793 KG

Rivals: Porsche Carrera GT, Pagani Zonda C12 S, Ford GT, Koenigsegg CC8S, Ferrari 599 GTB, Lamborghini Murcielago

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