Mercedes SLS AMG Black Series: German Tyre Killer - /CHRIS HARRIS ON CARS

The new SLS AMG Black Series is the fastest, most hardcore AMG ever. It costs 230,000 pounds, weighs 1,550 kilograms, has 631 horsepower, and, on track, intends to ingest GT3 RS's. This is Paul Ricard Circuit. And we're not paying for tires. Let's start with the chassis. Pretty much every aspect has been improved or sharpened for the track. The front track itself is 20 millimeters wider. The rear is 24 millimeters wider. The springs and dampers are stiffer. The wheel carriers are new. The wheels are wider and use sticky Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 rubber. Being a Black Series, the body work's been mildly inflated-- 13 millimeters wider at the front, 26 wider at the rear. There are spoilers and diffusers to reduce lift, and it has to be said, a slightly apologetic adjustable rear wing. The motor is the classic M156 6.2 liter V8. And this is its last night on beers before everything is turbo charged. Boo! But there's new valve gear, a trick intake with shorter runners, bigger bearings, and a new oil system. It likes to rev to 8 now, and that means it actually loses nine foot pounds of torque to the standard motor. Gear shifts have been made faster. The gear box sits a little lower. There are proper bucket seats, and, well, it's now 17 kilograms lighter overall. And this is how. Quite often, at launch events you end up with a load of useless tat on display that means absolutely nothing. But in the case of this Black Series, they've been quite helpful because they've shown us the parts that shed all of the weight. So first of all, ignore the cutaway and follow me. Exhaust systems. That one there, stainless steel. Very nice, but heavy. This one here, titanium. It says on the wall, "titanium system, 13 kilograms." You take a kilogram weight, and you get 13 of them together, it's quite a lot. Follow me around the corner. This is a prop shaft. OK, normally, cast aluminum. in the black Series, carbon fiber. I don't I think it's as sexily finished as that underneath the car. Minus 13.3 kilograms-- quite a lot. Here's a freaky one-- batteries. This one here, normal battery. [GRUNT] This one here, lithium ion. These are the things, I think, that go pop in Boeings. Ready? I'll do that again for you. [GRUNT] They don't lie. That is eight kilograms saved. For all you Americans, this is called a hood. For all of us that live in Europe, a hood is some thing you put on your head when it's raining. We'll call it a bonnet, shall we? OK. This one's made of carbon. I can't tell you how much weight it saves because there's no label saying it. But it definitely saves weight. Come to the cutaway. OK, everything that is new on the car is painted orange, very healthy. OK, so we've got a different damper. We've got a nicer damper. We've got a more expensive damper. And we've got different spring rates, obviously, because the car weighs a bit less. But it also needs to be a bit firmer because it's more sporting. This bit here is very interesting. That is a differential. There's an electric motor in there, and Jaguar pioneered this thing many years ago with the current XKR and XFR. So you have an electric motor that's altering the amount of locking factor in the differential. This is really clever, and certainly more powerful than the Jaguar one. And it works really well in the car, as you'll find out in the video. This is quite clever. So one diff, there's the electric motor. Look at the amount of gears in here, christ. OK, so the motor is basically applying totally different amounts of locking factor into the differential. But it is mechanical. It's a clutch type diff in there as well. It's really clever because it means that you can have quite a lot of lock when you need it, and the diff can be quite open when you need it as well. Open, at high speed in a straight line to give you more stability. Tight, coming out of second gear corner, when you want to get both wheels spinning up nicely. It's not a profoundly different car to an SLS, or an SLS GT, but it just, incrementally, in so many areas, takes it to another level. And the driving experience, yeah, as you're about to find out, that's quite special too. Time is tight at Paul Ricard because they're working rather fast. Didn't get as much as I'd hope with the car. However, we have got the circuit. We're going to do two laps in this new car. We're going to do one lap past a straight, then we might do one lap with a little more movement in the car. This SLS Black Series is a very serious piece of kit. A lot more power, a lot more torque, and less weight. So let's see what it's like onto this mean main straight. It now revs all the way out to 8,000 RPM, a faster gear shift than I remember from the car that I ran. Brake at around 150 meters, you don't need anything less than third gear here. Full recovery, flat circuit. There's oversteer straight away. Back out to the ones that move around, I've got the chassis electronics in sport mode. That means it's allowing a bit of slip. Gear shift definitely more aggressive than before. Little bit of understeer in front of the car there. So we have got some slip either way. Pilot sport not too tight. Little hip waggle there. But the shifts are quicker with this engine. 6.2 liters revving out at 88,000 RPM. There's a lot going on, isn't there. This is a fast corner. Tip it in. Really nice front end speed. I like that a lot. This thing's going to be mega at the Novo ring. This is for the never-ending-- oh, bit of an oversteer there as it followed me around. Let's knock it back in gear, see if we can bring the nose in. Let it run out. Listen to the noise. This thing has got quite a bit of balance. 630 horsepower, suggestive of oversteer. Follow it around. Try and hold the line, never ending corner. I'll second gear out of this hairpin onto the main straight. Oh, a bit of a wobble, anyhow. I'm not setting lap times. I can barely remember the circuit. Now then, let's turn a few things off, find out what happens. All right. So that's all the systems off. What's the first thing that happens? Oh, we get some of that, do we? All right, fair enough. This car is absolutely rock on fun. Ceramic breaks, good bite from them. Oh yes, oh yes. It's going to be quite quite, but it's very rewarding. Long wheelbase. So it will play both roles. It can be driven neat and tidy. If you want to be a complete idiot, it's very good, too. It's good in the high speed stuff. Must have a little bit of aero going on. [LAUGH] Long wheelbase, loads of balance. You can just back it in on the brakes as well, catch it with a bit of throttle, and then ride out the most delicious slide. It's a proper [INAUDIBLE]. What a fantastically exciting car. I supposed some of the lucky 350 owners will use their SLS Black Series on a circuit. I hope they do because it's flipping excellent out there, even if the new Michelins do seem to go off quite quickly. Just how far removed from that staid Mercedes image is this car? It's not as sexy as an F12. But it might well take care of one on a track. And it's got gull wing doors. And gull wing tools help a man win any pub argument, especially with that noise.