First Drive Review
With most of the world’s roadways growing ever more crowded, and with penalties for speeding becoming ever more draconian—a Swedish man faced a $1 million fine in Switzerland for doing 180 mph in a 75-mph zone in his Mercedes SLS AMG last year—it’s getting harder and harder to exercise exotic sports cars at anywhere near their limits. And yet, in this golden age of performance, there have never been more high-horsepower cars on the market.
So it stands to reason that track-day events are becoming increasingly popular globally. Automakers, especially sports-car companies, have struck gold in track-ready machines such as the Porsche GT3 Cup S, the Ferrari 599XX, the Lotus 2-Eleven, and, now, the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3.
The $456,500 (334,000 euros) SLS GT3 is a non-streetable racer built to comply with FIA (Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile) GT3 regulations, for customers who want to compete in long- and short-distance events. Certification will be finished in March. According to AMG project leader Christoph Jung, however, most of the 20 units built this year will be bought by enthusiasts to drive at weekend track-day events. (AMG will build 30 SLS GT3s a year starting in 2012.)
We drove an SLS GT3 on the Hockenheim ring in Germany. At first sight, it’s clearly an SLS, only meaner-looking. The body sits 0.7 inch lower, it’s 2.0 inches wider than the stock version, and it has been de-domesticated with all manner of race-car mods. There are vents and slats and strakes and spoilers everywhere—all for function, not frivolity. Inside, the GT3 has racing-style seat shells, six-point harnesses, and a steel roll cage that imparts extra body stiffness. Other race-car-style alterations include a 31.7-gallon carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic gas tank and onboard air jacks to surprise and delight your pals at mock pit stops.
The SLS GT3’s lightweight, forged aluminum control-arm suspension is fully adjustable for track, camber, and ride height, as well as for damper compression and rebound. The GT3 comes with forged aluminum, center-lock 18-inch wheels wrapped in racing slicks. It also features motorsport-spec steel brake discs with six-piston front and four-piston rear calipers (the SLS road car’s optional carbon-ceramic brakes are outlawed in GT3-class racing).
The weight and power of the GT3 have yet to be finalized because AMG engineers are waiting for the FIA to publish definitive figures in its 2011 rulebook; in GT3 racing, the FIA tries to equalize performance throughout the field via the use of engine-air restrictors and/or ballast to keep power-to-weight ratios fairly close among the different manufacturers. According to AMG, however, the 6.2-liter V-8 will likely make 600 horsepower—up from a stock 563—and the car will weigh just less than 3000 pounds, considerably lighter than the 3748-pound street version. A six-speed automated manual replaces the road car’s seven-speed dual-clutch transmission.
Push the starter button, and the SLS GT3’s V-8 fires to a noisy idle, made all the more noticeable because the side pipes exit right behind the front wheels. Once on the track, mash the accelerator pedal, change up to second and third without lifting off the throttle, and thunder down into a corner as the sharp, direct, rack-and-pinion steering feeds information into your hands. The engine blares loudly, a barely muffled stock-car bark that explodes as the revs rise. It’s enough to send the average track-day gazillionaire into rapture. As you’d expect, the brakes are powerful and responsive, and it’s pure joy to bang the transaxle down a couple of gears before cornering. The GT3’s rear end reacts a bit nervously if you brake and turn simultaneously, but the combination of a multiplate limited-slip differential and the race-tuned traction control keeps this wobble in check. You can jump on the throttle good and early, and the traction
control manages corner exit for you. It’s almost magical.
Obviously, owning this near-race-ready car requires commitment: Because it’s not street legal, you need to haul it to tracks before you can play. But Mercedes may redress that problem. Though not officially confirmed, AMG may offer a street-legal version. We hope its owners will have the sense to keep it away from the morning commute.
