Mercedes SLS AMG
Supercar Saturday EP3:
MICHEAL SCHUMACHER RETURNS TO F1! The headline flooded the news in 2009 when the 7 time world champion announced his return to the sport with Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team. Every Formula 1 fan was excited with this collaboration. Mercedes was back in motorsport and with it’s AMG department upfront which casually existed on the back of luxury sedans after the legendary Mercedes Benz SLR McLaren.
Mercedes bought the Brawn GP in 2009 after a financial crisis the team faced that year. Brawn GP was founded by the formula 1 legend Ross Brawn and two not the best drivers at that time, Jenson Button and Rubens Barichello. The now well known Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula 1 team was called as West Ham of the sport by Jeremy Clarkson in an interview with Lewis Hamilton. But before the Lewis Hamilton and Toto Wolf era of Mercedes was a team which was known for just one man, Micheal Schumacher. The one shot Mercedes took to get back in the supercar game.
A supercar is a totally different machine from what we think. It is like an extension of your body which gives you superpowers, maybe like Iron Man. The people who own it or want to own it go through all of the struggle just for the love of it. The love for roaring engines and high speeds. That's where motorsport comes in, the place where all of our dreams begin. The temptation to make even the normal right hand corner feel like Copse corner. Mercedes always wanted to be the talk of the town when it came to supercar market as it saw the emerging market for such car and what better place to start with than the pinnacle of motorsport, Formula1. Formula 1 in 2009 was entering a new era, the Turbo Hybrid Era. This technology had a place in the supercar market. People didn't want the bulky V10’s and V12's, this generation wanted something practical yet something that felt straight out of their imagination. Mercedes felt this was the right time to give the AMG badge justice. F1 wasn’t just a place of marketing for their cars, it was the source of the technology their cars have today. With all of the foundation set, Mercedes was ready to make their mark in the Supercar Market. They were ready to strike again. After 7 years of exile, the AMG badge was ready to shine on the dawn of the new era of supercars.
A brief story of the formation of the AMG brand would be 3 engineers modifying the outgoing Mercedes cars into tuning focused cars to compete with BMW. That’s how it started. That’s it. Now it has become more mature and professional after Mercedes spending a fortune on the development of it’s Performance Division. The AMG brand has had a history of designing the best and worst cars specifically for endurance racing. 24 Hours of Le Mans has seen the fall of AMG with the CLR taking off at the Mulsanne Straight. The last time Mercedes was seen in Motorsports. But it’s history that every car manufacturer has to have a connection with Motorsports if he wants to build a supercar, afterall that’s what supercars are made for, TO RACE.
The story of SLS AMG doesnt have a any protagonist. It isnt a work of art which singularly belongs to someone. Not something which which would be sitting with thee McLaren F1 or Ferrari GTO.
It was a product of people finding their passion of motorsport back unclutched from the bureaucracies of a normal car manufacturer.
They were living their dream, dream of working on the best technology of the time. Mercedes threw in everything that could define a supercar, and even more of something that would make it their product. Something more of a milestone in their pursuit of the best supercar.
The development of SLS AMG started in 2009. Mark Fetherston, the lead designer of the SLS AMG wanted to design a spiritual successor to the 300SL. The iconic Gullwing Doors were incorporated in the SLS, the modern 300SL. The philosophy with which mercedes went on was clear. It should be a supercar, it should be a Mercedes. The designers put in all of the design ques from the classis legends like the long front hood, gullwing doors, a small cockpit and a sharp tail. This iconic designs were not only taken to pay tribute to the original car but it also gave them a lot of aero advantage over the Italian counterparts.
The weight balance was perfect even after having a huge 6.8l V8 in the front unlike the other cars which had it in the back. Coupled with a 7 speed DCT the car managed to make anywhere between 560 to 630hp depending on the version you buy. The more advanced versions also came equipped with active aero.
The car could do a 0 to 100kmph under 4 seconds even after having a mileage of 8km/liter. This is even more than current gen Hyundai i20. The long hood meant you could fit an engine of any size upto a V12. The car had a whole loads of after market upgrades. This quickly became a enthusiast’s buy. The engine was so ahead of the time that the only limit you had on the upgrades was your imagination. With a great handling and a driver centric approach over the normal Mercedes approach of developing a car made people rush to the showrooms.
In 2010, the SLS AMG entered Motorsports. The Racetrack. The place where it was meant to be, to gain back the respect Mercedes had lost. It competed in the endurance championships around the world and to everyone’s surprise, it dominated. It competed gracefully against the Audi R8, Porsche 911Turbo (no, not the older one) and the Nissan GTR. Even the Lexus LFA looked dated in front of the SLS AMG.
Mercedes went on to develop an all electric version of the SLS AMG called as SLS AMG Electric Drive. It was capable of creating 740hp and 100Nm with the help of 4 synchronous motors. It had similar 0 to 100kmph of about 4 seconds. With a 250 km range, it was well received by the audience. The electric version was launched in 2013 and was developed by a collaboration of Mercedes-AMG and Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains.
The SLS AMG still remains a very special car in the supercar market till date. It has marked the entry of Mercedes in this segment which was doomed for years. The car wasn’t just some other sedan with an AMG badge and sporty exteriors, it was the first supercar built from ground up by the AMG group. It proved to be a benchmark for the cars built after that. A foundation on which the AMG GT was built and now the AMG ONE. The entry of Mercedes in a new era of supercar.
Hope you liked this one. See you soon!
