At weekends, I hold up F1 cars...
The latest instalment in the Mercedes ‘Black Series’ range has arrived for the New York Motor Show. The CLK 63 AMG Black Series follows in the smouldering tyre tracks of the ‘Black Series’ SLK 55 AMG in offering a more track-focused specification and is said to be ‘technically and visually related’ to the official F1 safety car.
It uses the latest 6.2 litre AMG V8 in a stronger specification, providing 500bhp (up from 474bhp for the regular car) and 0-62mph in just 4.3 seconds, and thanks to an AMG sports exhaust it should sound suitably menacing as well.
Bespoke AMG exhaust system
The 7G-Tronic auto box is revised with a shorter final drive and there’s new, driver adjustable AMG sports suspension too. Like the ‘Black’ SLK before it, a limited slip differential is standard, and there are larger iron-composite brake discs on the front axle compared with the regular CLK 63.
The revised bodywork is part of some ‘sophisticated cooling design measures’ aimed at giving the 'Black' CLK enough stamina for track work. Looks like it might be fun finding out…