AMG’s 6.2-liter V8 is one of the
world’s great engines. As it nears the end of production, the SLS Black Series
gives it one almighty send-off
I’m not going to declare Mercedes AMG’s
6.2-liter V8 the best engine of recent world history. That’d be hyperbolic,
especially when we’re spoilt for choice with BMW M Division’s naturally
aspirated screamers or the manic Lexus LFA V10, those
punch-yourself-in-the-head fabulous V8s and V12s from Maranello or the flat-six
that dangles out of the back of a 997 GT3. You know what, though, the AMG mill
is right up there. I love it. Love its easy torque, its explosive start-up, the
way it crackles and fizzes when you wind it beyond 5,000 RPM, how its pitch
hardens and the revs soar when you fire into a corner and get on the throttle
early and scorch the rear tires over the asphalt. It’s internal combustion as
orgasm.
I’m
not going to declare Mercedes AMG’s 6.2-liter V8 the best engine of recent
world history.
All good things come to an end, though,
right? The 6,208-cc V8 might have helped AMG take the fight to BMW M when it
made its début in 2006, but today it exists only in the C63 and SLS. A new,
more efficient engine, the 5.5-liter bi-turbo, is gradually usurping its place,
encroaching upon more and more floor-space in the little downstairs workshop in
Affalterbach where the 6.2 was born and bred. That young upstart probably wants
to see the 6.2 pack its bags and get the hell out of its hair. What it most
definitely doesn’t want to see is this, the new SLS Black Series, the ultimate
SLS supercar, a car that just happens to take the ultimate and most probably
final – evolution of 6.2 liters thus far and stuff it back behind the front
axle. Want one? You’ll have to be as quick as you are rich: the Black Series is
yours for about $345k – a $93k premium over the standard car and just 10 of the
350 units are coming to the UK.
Wring out the Black Series motor and you
feel the extra intensity, the extra zest and hunger; it’s crisp and vivid like
a gulp of Kingfisher exploding on to parched taste-buds. You can’t not love it.
Impossible.
You’ve still got 6,208 cc to play with, but
much has changed, not least a rev limit raised by an incredibly significant 800
RPM to 7,200 RPM versus the SLS or 400 RPM more than the previous Black Series,
the C63 coupé – and a new titanium exhaust that alone sheds 13 kg.
This
should be the final evolution of the 6,208 cc V8. Makes 631 PS and 634 Nm.
Sounds like god shouting
Those raised revs have necessitated all
manner of re-working: modified crankshaft oil bores and bearings; a revised oil
pump; tougher connecting bits for the con-rods. There are also more aggressive
camshafts, optimized bucket tappets, tweaked air intake ducting, uprated oil and
water cooling systems and there’s a gas-filled strut between engine and body,
helping to damp down any engine movements as the SLS darts left and right on
track.
Power shoots up from the standard SLS’s
571PS to 631PS, while torque actually dips a little – as you’d perhaps expect
from an engine inspired by the one in AMG’s peskier SLS GT3 race car from 649Nm
to 634Nm. The most powerful 5.5 lags behind with 585PS, but wins the torque
punch-up with 799Nm. Top Trumps doesn’t do torque, remember.
Our first glimpse of the Black Series comes
in the Circuit Paul Ricard pit-lane; it looks phenomenally menacing with its
vents and slashes and flicks and its leanly flared arches that subtly shroud a
track increased 20 mm front and 24 mm rear. Shades of The Fast And The Furious:
Tokyo Drift, though, especially to that wild rear end.
Duck under the outstretched gullwing door
and you’ll find an interior that’s almost as luxuriously appointed as the
standard SLS AMG, something that’s typical Black Series practice these days:
genuine daily drivability with a hardcore track flavor. Here the nods to the
race circuit come via fixed-backed, manually adjustable bucket seats, flashes
of carbon-fiber on the center console and kick-plates and an Alcantara steering
wheel with a red band at top-dead center to help orientation when you’re
flailing about with mad stabs of opposite lock. Plain black buttons also
replace the sparkly silver of lesser models and you can opt to delete the
sat-navy system, which might be an idea if you’re planning to drive around in
circles all day long. It’s hardly up there with flagellating yourself in a GT3
RS Porsche.
The
most powerful 5.5 lags behind with 585PS, but wins the torque punch-up with
799Nm.
The clouds are fast-forwarding to the
horizon, but it’s the aftermath of a downpour when we first take to the circuit
with the conditions limbering up for a greasy kind of treacherous. It’s hard to
properly explore the SLS, but you notice how comfortable and supportive the
bucket seats are, how that long nose junks left and right ahead of you,
hyper-alert to every nudge of the very precise steering – just as it does in
the standard car but that the steering itself isn’t particularly feel some. You
notice that the standard carbon ceramic brakes normally an $12,210 option on
the standard SLS – have a nice, progressive bite from the top of the pedal.
You also notice that the traction control
is working overtime and that it’s impossible to lean on the front end with
enough conviction to feel the benefits of the many changes AMG have wrought.
And these are significant changes, because, unlike olden AMG times, this car
isn’t all about the engine. The SLS Black Series is 70 kg lighter than before
(thank that exhaust and those seats, plus a lithium-ion battery, carbon bonnet
and other components) and there’s uprated suspension and brakes, an
electronically controlled limited-slip diff and a dual-clutch gearbox that’s
been tuned for quicker shifts and nestles 10 mm lower to improve the center of
gravity. There’s also a shorter final drive, dropping the gearing to compound
the accelerative effects of the lower kern weight and punchier engine.
The
clouds are fast-forwarding to the horizon, but it’s the aftermath of a downpour
when we first take to the circuit with the conditions limbering up for a greasy
kind of treacherous.
Gradually a dry line appears, bit-by-bit
the pace increases and the changes versus the standard car become more and more
apparent. Traction out of slower corners is on another planet and there’s more
bite from the front end and less roll though there is still some roll as you
tip into slower bends. The SLS normally feels a bit cumbersome in such
circumstances, but here it’s poised and taut. Much of this, I suspect, comes
down to the track-focused Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2s, though it’s impossible
to isolate the repercussions of each and every tweak.
