| Say it out loud. That is about how much time this vortex of
power needs to reach 62 mph from a dead stop. And if that
doesn’t stop your heart dead in wonder, by the time you
have finished reading this paragraph, consider that this 582-
horsepower surface-to-surface missile will have passed 125
mph — about 10 seconds ago!
Now imagine being strapped into the passenger seat of
this racecar-for-the-street next to one of the quickest guys to
ever put on Nomex and a helmet, and having nothing else to
do but grin gleefully as he glissaded the 200-mph production
car around the track. (Yes, I have a great job.)
Snug in my own suede-clad racing bucket and cinched in
by four-point belts, I swiveled my helmet to see Klaus
Ludwig slip on his racing gloves before giving me a reassuring
thumbs up. I was anything but worried. Ludwig has
been a winner in every kind of car he’s driven, but he’s
especially accomplished in the fender-banging art of
European sedan racing. The flag-to-flag sturm und drang of
such series as the DTM and BTCC makes the NASCAR
boys seem like a bunch of southern gentlemen out for a
carriage ride, and Ludwig is one of the grand old men of
the sport. He’s also an accomplished development driver
and supplied one of the fine-tuned butts that helped AMG
develop this two-seater coupe into a ridiculously fast street
car. He was about to show me all he knew about it.
We were at Paul Ricard in southern France, formerly a
wickedly fast track used in various forms of international
racing but now perhaps the most advanced, and safest, test
facility in the world. My ride with Ludwig was a tasty side
treat to the real business of the day, a first drive in the new
Mercedes-Benz SLK 55 AMG (incredible car, but that’s
another story...), but this wasn’t my first time experiencing
the skills that have made Ludwig a revered name in racing.
Several years ago, he’d also shown me the fast way around
the Hockenheim circuit in Germany in a CLK 55 AMG, but
that car had a mere 367 horsepower, a trifle compared to
this DTM-inspired limited-production projectile about to
leave the pits.
The guys in the suits, who have to justify this bunkerbusting
project to the world, will tell you this CLK-based
variant commemorates Bernd Schneider’s championship
in the 2003 German Touring Car Masters (DTM). It’s fine
reasoning, to be sure, but this car is part of a bigger plan,
and that is for AMG to become the preeminent builder
of high-end performance cars in the world. Now that
Mercedes and McLaren have resolved that they have
unresolvable differences, look for AMG to turn up the
wick and follow the CLK DTM AMG with even more
stomach-churning street rockets.
I use the gastric reference advisedly, for despite my trust
in Ludwig’s skills and will to survive, my somach was
indeed flip-flopping in quiet counterpoint to the lumpy burble
of the 5.5-liter V-8 at idle. Despite being muffled so as
not to disturb the sleep of Europe’s citizenry, the sound of
the engine simply clearing its throat had me ready to shout,
"Bravo!"
It began life as the basic 5.5-liter V-8 that powers
AMG’s more prosaic street machines but was then handed
over to AMG’s best engineers and craftsmen, the merriest
band of speed freaks one could ever hope to encounter.
They carved and honed and then fiddled out a bench full of
prototype parts so that Ludwig and Co. could go out and try
to break them, while the white coats at the wind tunnel and
in the chassis department performed their magic.
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