A Supercar: The 2011 Mercedes Benz SLS AMG

The 2011 Mercedes Benz SLS AMG is one sight that should be seen. Completely retro in its restyling it's a far cry away from an SL65 AMG. The new Mercedes SLS AMG has body styling that says no matter what you're driving I'm faster than you and I look better while I'm doing it. The Mercedes SLS AMG has taken many cues from days of ole from the Mercedes 300SL from the 50's and 60's. For starters the doors don't open normally nor are they Lambo style, they are in fact authentic Gull wing style from the late 300SL; the front grill also receives the vintage treatment while the rest of the SLS AMG's body says super car. The SLS AMG looks like a jet fighter from the rear with its twin encapsulated exhaust tips mounted flush with the rear bumper and there is an outline of a speed sensitive rear wing that is inlaid flat to the deck lid. There are cooling vents all over this car for the brakes and for the engine starting in the front bumper and carrying their cooling trend to the vents in the front fenders. With body styling aside what's really spectacular is the actual body its self, with all aluminum frame and unibody construction it comes in weighing 200 pounds lighter than carbon fiber mono chassis SLR roadster; which is an amazing feat unto itself considering they were still using metal over light weight carbon.

The body of the Mercedes SLS AMG isn't the only thing that has been redesigned, the 6.2 liter all aluminum V8 that comes in many of Mercedes top of the line vehicles has been completely redesigned and checks in at an amazingly light 453 pounds. This weight savings is the direct result of many lightweight engine components in the Mercedes SLS AMG including: Forged aluminum pistons, aluminum bolts, and an unbelievable magnesium intake manifold with eight individual velocity stacks. All in all AMG says that 120 engine components have been changed. So, what do we get for all these changes and hard work done to the Mercedes SLS AMG? How about 563 horsepower at 6800 rpm and 479ftlbs of torque at 4750 rpm. With this insane amount of power on tap in a 3,573 pound automobile there's no wonder why the SLS AMG rockets from 0 to 60 mph in 3.8 seconds and can speed from nor to 124 mph in only 11.8 seconds. With these kinds of performance figures there's a reason why the Mercedes SLS AMG is electronically governed to 197 mph.

Getting 563 horsepower to the ground is no simple task for the Mercedes SLS AMG, power is transferred directly from the SLS AMG engine to a carbon fiber driveshaft that in turn transmits power to a rear mounted dual clutch seven speed semi-automatic transaxle. The Getrag transmission has been located in the rear of the SLS AMG as well as moving the location of the engine itself behind the front axle in an attempt to get a very satisfactory front to rear weight distribution which is 48% and 52% respectively. So, with all this power you may be wondering how the Mercedes SLS AMG is supposed to stop. Braking is done by a carbon ceramic braking system which utilizes 15.4 inch rotors in the front and 14.2 inch rotors in the rear and of course the patented AMG six piston calipers are used. Actually putting the power to the ground is done by 19 inch front and 20 inch rear wheels wrapped in 265/35zr19 and 295/30zr20 sticky summer treads. With complete race inspired suspension and large diameter wheels with soft tires the Mercedes SLS AMG manages an amazing 1.38g rating on the lateral skid pad test. So, how much is all this performance and technology going to cost you? Time to sell your house; about $200,000 dollars, but you'll surely be the only guy on the block with one of these puppies.

source:
http://www.insideline.com/mercedes-benz/sls-amg/2010/2010-mercedes-benz-sls-amg-first-drive.html
http://www.autoblog.com/2009/11/09/2011-mercedes-benz-sls-amg-first-drive/