Ultimate drive
Going out in style
The SLR Stirling Moss could be the last supercar collaboration between McLaren and Mercedes. If so, they’re signing off with a growl
PHOTOGRAPHY: LOUIS LEDUC
Cars that cause real excitement are rare. The variety in modern car manufacturing means a machine needs to be special to get noticed, and outstanding to become adored. But when you’re driving the SLR Stirling Moss, heads turn. Even around Saint-Tropez, where supercars are as common as sun tans, people point and stare at this mechanical marvel.
Its arrival marks the end of the SLR, a series of such glorious, grunting grace that it bears comparison with the Lamborghini Murciélago, Porsche Carrera GT, Ferrari 599 and Aston Martin DBS. It may also prove to be the last collaboration between Mercedes and McLaren, and, with posterity in mind, the engineers have excelled themselves.
This model is inspired by the car in which British racer Stirling Moss won the Mille Miglia, the 1,500-kilometre Italian road race, in 1955. In winning, he set the record time, with ten hours, seven minutes and 48 seconds. Just 75 cars will be produced, and to accentuate the model’s links to the racing of a bygone age, each one will do without a roof, side windows and windscreen.
The old-school racer styling is enhanced by a big front end, and two roll hoops behind an uncluttered cockpit. And while it’s a solid machine, and some 164 millimetres longer and 7 millimetres wider that the previous SLR, this big beast comes in at close to 200 kilograms less on the scales, at 1,551. Inside, the superfluous has been stripped out – forget the radio, GPS, electric seats and other frippery. This is a racing machine, and it’s stripped back to leather, aluminium and carbon fibre to prove the point.
Getting behind the wheel is no easy task, and it requires a certain suppleness to get settled into the leather-padded bucket seat. But once there, you feel in direct contact with the road. The V8 supercharged engine reaches 650 horsepower, and is linked to a five-speed automatic gearbox. Press down on the right-hand pedal, and you’ll go from nought to 100 kilometres per hour in a breathtaking 3.5 seconds. It’s the kind of acceleration that leaves your face contorting, while a thundering roar emanates from the lateral double exhaust pipes. The wind pummels your face, and you feel the kind of racing thrill that must have driven Moss to such heights. You also begin to understand what he meant when saying that in racing, “it is necessary to relax your muscles when you can. Relaxing your brain is fatal.”
Fortunately, the SLR’s braking matches its acceleration, thanks to large diameter, carbon ceramic brake disks. And if more is needed, at heavy braking – more than 120 kilometres per hour – the airbrake takes over, an innovation reserved for the most high-performance machines. But that shouldn’t be required, as long as you follow the advice of Stirling Moss. Because, at high speed, the precision of the front axle is pleasantly surprising, and while the steering is restrained at lower speeds, it becomes lighter and more precise the faster you move. The suspension has also been reworked, to give the car even more firmness and to adapt better to the road’s surface. It all combines for the kind of driving pleasure that few other cars can offer.
However, before ordering one, you should realise that all this power comes at a price. A price of some €900,000, to be precise. Current SLR owners, however, were permitted a sneak preview, and have been involved in the development of this new toy, evaluating its design since 2008, then excitedly taking the first road tests. As a result, many of the 75 new cars have already found their buyers. The rest of us can just watch and wonder.
Stirling Moss
The Briton, often referred to as “the greatest driver never to win the World Championship”, came second four times in a row, from 1955 to 1958. But he is rightly regarded as one of the sport’s greats, as much for his attitude as his daring drives, particularly in endurance races. He won 212 of the 529 races he entered, including 16 Formula One Grands Prix.
THE NUMBERS
ENGINE: V8 5.5l supercharged
HORSEPOWER: 650
GEARBOX: 5-speed automatic
VALVES PER CYLINDER: 3
WHEELS: 19-inch rims, 255/35 and 295/30, with R19 tyres
WEIGHT: 1,551 kilograms (empty)
BRAKES: carbon ceramic disks
NOUGHT TO 100KPH: 3.5 seconds
TOP SPEED: 350 kilometres per hour
PRODUCTION: 75 vehicles
PRICE: €900,000
