The 2011 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG is designed to be a modern 300SL Gullwing revival. The car has a long bonnet, the passenger compartment is close to the rear axle and the rear of the car is short. The Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG will also adapt the feature of wing doors that will swing open upwards on gas struts, not in a mix of upwards and forward like the SLR. The doors must be closed manually as AMG engineers decided against auto-closing systems because the systems would have added 90 pounds (41 kg) to the car. In case of a roll-over, the doors can be fully detached to allow the occupants to leave the vehicle. The 2011 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG is a luxury grand tourer automobile developed by Mercedes-AMG to replace the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren. The car is the first Mercedes automobile designed in-house by AMG and is described by Mercedes-Benz as a spiritual successor to the Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing, despite a design that visually draws more of its inspiration from the 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupé.
The racing version of the gullwing model, the new 2011 Mercedes-Beanz SLS AMG GT3 has had its racing debut the past weekend, on the four-hour race for the VLN Nurburgring endurance championship. The event formed part of the development and testing program of the Mercedes-Beanz SLS AMG GT3, which began in June 2010. Developed according to the GT3 rules of the FIA, the Mercedes-Beanz SLS AMG GT3 was taken to the starting line for the VLN race in prototype class E1-XP. Getting behind the wheel of the SLS AMG GT3 at its racetrack debut were Bernd Schneider (five DTM titles, one ITC championship and one FIA GT championship) and Thomas Jager (reigning Porsche Carrera Cup champion).
"The 2011 Mercedes-Beanz SLS AMG GT3 will start a new era in Mercedes-Benz customer motorsports. This car is an exciting and spectacular sporting tool for committed private teams and talented private drivers. Together with our well-proven sports and touring car partner HWA, AMG will establish a customer motorsports department, and ensure the usual high level of Mercedes service for its motorsports customers," Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport Norbert Haug said in a statement.
Powered by an AMG 6.3l V8 engine coupled with a six-speed racing transmission with sequential gear-changes, the Mercedes-Beanz SLS AMG GT3 is suitable for all the race series that follow the FIA GT3 regulations, such as the FIA GT3 European Championship, the ADAC GT-Masters, the endurance championship held by VLN and the 24-hour races at the Nurburgring or Spa-Francorchamps.
The 2011 Mercedes-Beanz SLS AMG GT3 is closely related to big names such as 952 24 Hours of Le Mans as well as the 1952 Carrera Panamericana. The car comes with a 6.2-liter M156 V8 , bucket-style tappets, dry-sump lubrication, 571 horsepower at 6,800 rpm with 479 lb-ft of torque, top speed of 197 mph, optional carbon-ceramic brakes with 15.4-inch rotors in front, healthy doses of aluminium, carbon fibre and leather.
Estimation Price that the 2011 Mercedes-Beanz SLS AMG will cost between $200,000 and $250,000 when it goes on sale in the spring of next year, or quite a bit less than the $300,000 SL65 AMG Black Series. Thus priced, the SLS would be competitively priced against the Ferrari 430 Scuderia and the upcoming Superleggera version of the Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4. And it can be considered a hefty bargain against the roughly $500,000 it takes to buy a vintage 300SL Gullwing.
Further racing trials of the Mercedes-Beanz SLS AMG GT3 are planned in the final two VLN races to be held on October 16 and 30, 2010. Orders for the Mercedes-Beanz SLS AMG GT3 can be placed directly with Mercedes-AMG GmbH. Available only with left-hand drive, pricing starts at EUR334,000, with deliveries to begin in February 2011.
The New 2012 Merceses-Beanz SLS AMG Roadster prototypes have been put through their paces on country roads and long-distance highways and in city traffic, in locations from Affalterbach, Germany, to Laredo, Texas. The cars also have undergone endurance testing off-road, as well as completing countless high-speed loops on the Nordschliefe at the Nurburgring. The all-new 2012 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Roadster, the soft-top sibling of the SLS AMG coupe. The Roadster makes its public debut in September at the 2011 Frankfurt Auto Show and goes on sale in the U.S. toward the end of this year.
The soft-top edition of the 2012 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG swaps the coupe's fixed roof and signature gullwing doors for a folding canvas roof and conventional doors. It gets additional structural bracing front and rear, as well as a reinforcing crossmember behind the seats that also supports the fixed rollover protection system.
