The new SLS AMG Black Series
is the fastest, most hardcore AMG ever. It costs 230,000 pounds, weighs
1,550 kilograms, has 631 horsepower, and, on track,
intends to ingest GT3 RS's. This is Paul Ricard Circuit. And we're not paying
for tires. Let's start with the chassis. Pretty much every aspect
has been improved or sharpened for the track. The front track itself is
20 millimeters wider. The rear is 24 millimeters
wider. The springs and dampers
are stiffer. The wheel carriers are new. The wheels are wider and use
sticky Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 rubber. Being a Black Series, the body
work's been mildly inflated-- 13 millimeters wider at the
front, 26 wider at the rear. There are spoilers and diffusers
to reduce lift, and it has to be said, a
slightly apologetic adjustable rear wing. The motor is the classic
M156 6.2 liter V8. And this is its last night on
beers before everything is turbo charged. Boo! But there's new valve gear, a
trick intake with shorter runners, bigger bearings,
and a new oil system. It likes to rev to 8 now, and
that means it actually loses nine foot pounds of torque
to the standard motor. Gear shifts have been
made faster. The gear box sits
a little lower. There are proper bucket seats,
and, well, it's now 17 kilograms lighter overall. And this is how. Quite often, at launch events
you end up with a load of useless tat on display that
means absolutely nothing. But in the case of this Black
Series, they've been quite helpful because they've shown us
the parts that shed all of the weight. So first of all, ignore the
cutaway and follow me. Exhaust systems. That one there, stainless
steel. Very nice, but heavy. This one here, titanium. It says on the wall, "titanium
system, 13 kilograms." You take a kilogram weight, and you
get 13 of them together, it's quite a lot. Follow me around the corner. This is a prop shaft. OK, normally, cast aluminum. in the black Series,
carbon fiber. I don't I think it's as sexily
finished as that underneath the car. Minus 13.3 kilograms-- quite a lot. Here's a freaky one--
batteries. This one here, normal battery. [GRUNT] This one here, lithium ion. These are the things, I think,
that go pop in Boeings. Ready? I'll do that again for you. [GRUNT] They don't lie. That is eight kilograms saved. For all you Americans, this
is called a hood. For all of us that live in
Europe, a hood is some thing you put on your head
when it's raining. We'll call it a bonnet,
shall we? OK. This one's made of carbon. I can't tell you how much
weight it saves because there's no label saying it. But it definitely
saves weight. Come to the cutaway. OK, everything that is new on
the car is painted orange, very healthy. OK, so we've got a
different damper. We've got a nicer damper. We've got a more expensive
damper. And we've got different spring
rates, obviously, because the car weighs a bit less. But it also needs to
be a bit firmer because it's more sporting. This bit here is very
interesting. That is a differential. There's an electric motor in
there, and Jaguar pioneered this thing many years ago with
the current XKR and XFR. So you have an electric motor
that's altering the amount of locking factor in the
differential. This is really clever, and
certainly more powerful than the Jaguar one. And it works really well
in the car, as you'll find out in the video. This is quite clever. So one diff, there's
the electric motor. Look at the amount of gears
in here, christ. OK, so the motor is basically
applying totally different amounts of locking factor
into the differential. But it is mechanical. It's a clutch type diff
in there as well. It's really clever because it
means that you can have quite a lot of lock when you need it,
and the diff can be quite open when you need it as well. Open, at high speed in
a straight line to give you more stability. Tight, coming out of second gear
corner, when you want to get both wheels spinning
up nicely. It's not a profoundly different
car to an SLS, or an SLS GT, but it just,
incrementally, in so many areas, takes it to
another level. And the driving experience,
yeah, as you're about to find out, that's quite special too. Time is tight at Paul Ricard
because they're working rather fast. Didn't get as much as I'd
hope with the car. However, we have got
the circuit. We're going to do two laps
in this new car. We're going to do one lap past
a straight, then we might do one lap with a little more
movement in the car. This SLS Black Series is a very
serious piece of kit. A lot more power, a lot more
torque, and less weight. So let's see what it's like onto
this mean main straight. It now revs all the way out to
8,000 RPM, a faster gear shift than I remember from
the car that I ran. Brake at around 150 meters, you
don't need anything less than third gear here. Full recovery, flat circuit. There's oversteer
straight away. Back out to the ones that move
around, I've got the chassis electronics in sport mode. That means it's allowing
a bit of slip. Gear shift definitely more
aggressive than before. Little bit of understeer in
front of the car there. So we have got some
slip either way. Pilot sport not too tight. Little hip waggle there. But the shifts are quicker
with this engine. 6.2 liters revving out
at 88,000 RPM. There's a lot going on, isn't there. This is a fast corner. Tip it in. Really nice front end speed. I like that a lot. This thing's going to be
mega at the Novo ring. This is for the never-ending--
oh, bit of an oversteer there as it followed me around. Let's knock it back in
gear, see if we can bring the nose in. Let it run out. Listen to the noise. This thing has got quite
a bit of balance. 630 horsepower, suggestive
of oversteer. Follow it around. Try and hold the line,
never ending corner. I'll second gear out
of this hairpin onto the main straight. Oh, a bit of a wobble, anyhow. I'm not setting lap times. I can barely remember
the circuit. Now then, let's turn
a few things off, find out what happens. All right. So that's all the systems off. What's the first thing
that happens? Oh, we get some of
that, do we? All right, fair enough. This car is absolutely
rock on fun. Ceramic breaks, good
bite from them. Oh yes, oh yes. It's going to be quite quite,
but it's very rewarding. Long wheelbase. So it will play both roles. It can be driven
neat and tidy. If you want to be a complete
idiot, it's very good, too. It's good in the high
speed stuff. Must have a little bit
of aero going on. [LAUGH] Long wheelbase, loads
of balance. You can just back it in on the
brakes as well, catch it with a bit of throttle, and
then ride out the most delicious slide. It's a proper [INAUDIBLE]. What a fantastically
exciting car. I supposed some of the lucky 350
owners will use their SLS Black Series on a circuit. I hope they do because it's
flipping excellent out there, even if the new Michelins do
seem to go off quite quickly. Just how far removed from
that staid Mercedes image is this car? It's not as sexy as an F12. But it might well take care
of one on a track. And it's got gull wing doors. And gull wing tools help a
man win any pub argument, especially with that noise.
wow 8krpm redline from a 6.2 v8 is an achievement on its own. Looks like a blast to drive.
He also gives us a look at some of the lightened and upgraded components that go into the Black Series.
Drive has REALLY been stepping up their videos over the past year, I love the channel.
Dat Beard.
Finally a SLS I like!
I wonder if any of these cars are meant to be driven with all wheels traveling in one line.
that was quite good.