Director of vehicle development, Tobias Moers, and crew attacked the weight problem by fitting uniquely carved carbon-fiber panels in place of the steel fenders, quarter-panels, hood, and trunklid, areas crucial to an improved center of gravity. The convertible top and all its mechanisms are gone, replaced by a composite roof, reshaped windows, and an integrated roll bar. The net result is a loss of some 250 pounds. European models get lightweight race buckets, which would shave off about 125 more pounds, but they can't be fitted to U.S. models because of seatbelt and airbag regulations. I found the fixed carbon chairs extremely accommodating, and almost as comfortable in cruise mode as the leather-covered electrically adjustable seats that come on U.S.-spec Blacks. But crucially, the buckets were far more supportive through the tight bends of Laguna Seca. Owners with a hankering for weekend competition should consider finding a way to swap in the Euro seats.
Comfortable seats or not, there's no disguising the chief indicator of the Black's outer limits, a tautly wound suspension obviously tuned for fast laps. Conventional steel springs and shocks replace the heavier air springs and Active Body Control of the SL65, and, in line with previous Black Series, the whole shebang offers adjustable ride height, shock damping, wheel camber, and alignment for those few with the know-how to read a car's behavior at scary speeds. The massive tires are Dunlop Sport Maxx GTs wrapping lightweight forged OZ wheels, with 325/30ZR20s on the end of a 4.8-inch-wider track, and 265/35ZR19s fitted to a 4.9-inch-wider front track. (Those fulsome fenders aren't just for looks.) Peer within the wheel spokes and you'll find 15.4-inch two-piece rotors and six-piston calipers in front and 14.2-inch rears with four-piston calipers. They deliver fade-free stops in everything but hyperactive mode, when the car's weight-induced momentum starts to catch up to the braking power.
Those same physics are the reason why ultimately the SL Black is still a street car and not a race car. It is possible to completely disengage ESP, except during acceleration, when limits are electronically enacted both to save the machinery and to get power to the pavement in the most efficient way. This doesn't work so well on the track, though, stifling throttle-steer and slowing corner exits. And with the controls off, it's very difficult to keep the nose in front of the rear end at racing speeds. I tried it for a lap and a half and decided the Sport mode, which still allows a degree of chassis yaw before intervention, provided both the thrill and the safety net I prefer in incredibly powerful automobiles.
There's so much power on hand that AMG's familiar five-speed Speedshift Plus automatic might as well be a two- or three-speed. I never reached top gear at Laguna, and scarcely used the paddles behind the steering wheel. There are four drive programs: C, S, M1, and M2. Both manual modes retain the chosen gear and will not change up even at full throttle, M2 with a 20 percent quicker response time. The automatic double clutching on downshifts is cool and reduces the effects of load alteration on the chassis, which is especially crucial when braking for a corner on the race circuit or for safer driving in wet and icy conditions.
But that's all detail and, at the end of the day, is rendered meaningless by the brutish beauty of this latest Black. Let there be more!
2010 Mercedes-BenzSL65 AMG Black Series
* Layout
Longitudinal front engine, rear-wheel drive
* Engine
6.0-liter V8, sohc 24-valve, twin turbo
* Transmission
Five-speed automatic
* Suspension
Four-link front, multi-link rear coilover systems; adjustable shock damping, ride height, wheel camber
* Brakes
Six-piston fixed calipers, 15.3-inch perforated rotors (f), four-piston fixed calipers, 14.2-inch perforated rotors (r)