The Mercedes SLR McLaren 722 GT by RML. Catchy.
If you were asked to define what a supercar is, chances are that you would come up with a car built to go as fast as possible without any of the sort of compromise that befalls the humble hatchback.
For this reason, ever since its launch, the Mercedes SLR McLaren has proved to be a bit of an anomaly.
The equation simply doesn’t balance for this car: get Gordon Murray, weight obsession et al, to design you a supercar, but before it goes on sale, let Mercedes stick lots of luxury bobbins in it and then smother the car’s performance with a gearbox which smudges instead of snaps between shifts, odd steering and brakes which make a light switch seem progressive.
As you can probably imagine, the SLR is responsible for some pretty high-level fall outs between Mercedes and McLaren.
So much so, that in response to McLaren being proved right by demand for a more performance-oriented SLR, Mercedes has instead chosen Ray Mallock Ltd to engineer the GT version of the 722 SLR.
That’s not that say that RML aren’t up to the job. Far from it in fact, as they are responsible for Chevrolet’s competitive, and I’m sure reasonably priced, Lacetti World Touring Car.
21 GTs will be built for track use only, and each features a comprehensive rethink by RML, including 400 redesigned parts, including the appropriately race-tuned bodykit.
The car has also undergone a hefty programme of weight loss – a massive 378kg to be exact. Power and torque are also up from 626hp to 680hp and 575lb-ft to 612lb-ft respectively. The GT’s 0-62 time drops to 3.3seconds from the standard car’s 3.8, while the GT actually loses out in top speed terms, posting a top whack of 196mph to the 722’s 208mph.
The car has been built to compete in the SLR Club Trophy series, where rich owners get tuition from instructors such as David Coulthard, Klaus Ludwig and Jochen Mass.
It’s still an auto though.
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