[Cartoday]
Mercedes is getting into the swing of preparing some seriously niche sports models for the road by lopping the roof off its SLR and breathing new life into the old gullwing.
Normally a speculative rendering doesn’t warrant much attention, but Leftlane’s latest piece of airbrush artistry gives us a good idea of what Mercedes’ SLR Speedster will look like when it emerges next year.
Granted, it’s no stretch of the imagination – cut the roof off an SLR and add a pair of cowls behind the seats and a pair of Stig-esque occupants – but the rendering takes in all of the AMG-flavoured design cues that will probably permeate through to the production car without the crazy-paving
Reports suggest that just 75 examples of this lightweight speedster will be produced. By omitting the roof, air conditioning system and electric windows in favour of several thousand meters of headroom and a small windscreen, as well as adopting composite materials in several of the body panels, Mercedes engineers have managed to peel 200 kg off the SLR’s kerb weight.
Power is thought to come from the company’s 6,2-litre V8, and while outputs are yet be confirmed it’s been suggested that the combination of fire-breathing powerplant and light weight will allow this car to dash from 0-300 km/h in 26 seconds on the way to a top speed of around 350 km/h.
Mercedes has also been testing the successor to its SL gullwing coupe and, despite the bin bags and cladding, its safe to say this car will not bear any resemblance to last year’s rather fanciful renderings.
The car looks as though it will bear some resemblance to the SL/R, with a long bonnet, compact cabin and short rear deck. Earlier speculation had the SLC (as the model is believed to be named) pegged as a direct rival to Audi’s R8 and hinted at a mid-engined platform. Although the car’s proportions could negate such a suggestion, it is plausible that it might have a “front-mid-engine” configuration, with the engine positioned between the driver and front axle to gave a similar weight distribution bias to that of a mid-engined car.
AMG’s hand-built 6,2-litre V8 engine mated with a newly-developed dual clutch transmission is expected to propel this model. The power output is yet to be announced, but a (very) tentative figure of (cough) 433 kW has been bandied about. This powerplant, combined with a 1 650 kg kerb weight, should allow the SLC to accelerate from 0-100 km/h in 3,8 seconds and reach a top speed of 315km/h. Sales of the SLC will commence in Europe from early 2010.