The power comes on in waves and there seems to be no stopping the beast - until you resort to the huge Brembo brakes with ceramic (carbon composite) discs. Incidentally, there's an air brake that pops out of the rear deck under hard braking - it was fun to see it slide into place when you jammed the anchors on with a bit of verve.
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| The huge Brembo brakes with ceramic (carbon composite) discs bring the powerful car to a stop quickly. (Photo: Mercedes-Benz Canada) |
It really seems to help the normal brakes when you want to scrub off speed quickly. Vintage car buffs will remember that many of the SLRs of the fifties used a big air brake at the rear of the car to provide a bit of help for the huge drum brakes used back then. Interestingly, this wing doubles as a spoiler too, adding downforce at speeds over 95 km/h. The new SLR also boasts side exit exhaust pipes - two on each side - just like the classic models.The SLR is more of a race car for the road than a mild mannered tourer. Any amount of throttle brings on an angry growl and the car is quite noisy at high speeds. "Teutonic Viper" was the term some of the attending scribes were using - perhaps unkindly. Mercedes told us that there was still work to be done on the brakes, which functioned superbly at high
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| The SLR is equipped with Mercedes' Sensotronic Brake control (SBC) and Electronic Stability Program (ESP). (Photo: Mercedes-Benz Canada) |
speeds, but were less happy around town. They need more driver-friendly modulation and there's a squeal to be dealt with too. Generally speaking, this car gets better and better the faster you go and would probably give a good account of itself in a top class endurance race "right out of the box."Handling is similarly superb and the car goes right where it's pointed almost regardless of speed. Suspension is by double wishbone front and rear using massive aluminum castings. The steering is a tad on the heavy side at anything less than higher speeds, but enthusiasts will prefer this to overly light steering. The car is equipped with Mercedes' Sensotronic Brake control (SBC) and Electronic Stability Program (ESP) and this was put to the test to some extent when we ran into rain showers near the Cape of Good Hope.
