Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG Black Series

The first drive of the Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG

Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG Black Series

Don’t feel bad if news of yet another ultra-limited edition, megabucks supercar leaves you feeling a bit, er, sleepy, to put it kindly. This business of manufacturers taking what is already a world-class automobile, adding horsepower, commemorative badging, unique paint and maybe throwing in a collector’s watch (wait, you thought you were buying a car?) has become more than a little tired. In some cases, it’s downright insulting to customers whose favorite car company, apparently, does not view them as anything approaching intelligent.

Mercedes-Benz must respect its best clients. How else to explain the 2009 SL65 AMG Black Series, a limited-edition (350 cars worldwide), megabucks ($300,000 estimated) supercar that makes you forget its origins--it feels almost nothing like the SL on which it is based---within, oh, three seconds after you lay eyes on it, let alone turn the key?

In this case, you really shouldn’t think about such matters at all, unless you desire to become the centerpiece of a carbon-fiber Rorschach, splattered along the roadside. Just concentrate. And hold on. Whether or not it is worth the price of admission depends on your sensibilities, but you will never call it marketing fluff. Most of the things you will call it can not be printed here. Fast? Frighteningly so. Exotic? Like a Fabergé egg.

Start with that DTM-racing inspired, flared carbon-fiber bodywork. Like the fixed, Black Series-unique nonconvertible roof, nearly every body panel is new. Only the doors-aluminum outer skin, magnesium inner-carry over from the standard SL65. The rear fenders and bumper are steel, but everything else is carbon. Along with some other measures, this brings curb weight down to about 4,300 pounds, almost 500 pounds lighter than an SL65.

The overwhelming 6.0-liter twin-turbo V12, therefore, has a lot less to motivate. The engine is the most powerful in Mercedes or AMG production history (including the SLR McLaren), with larger turbos, a more efficient intercooler and an upgraded exhaust helping to belt out 661 hp and 738 lb-ft of torque, the latter available 100 percent between 2,200 rpm and 4,200 rpm and electronically limited from a potential real peak of more than 880 lb-ft to preserve the drivetrain.

In one day spent driving the Black Series from San Francisco to Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for hot laps, the car impresses as much as it surprises. Its striking looks cause double-takes of intimidation whenever the big Benz pops into another’s rearview mirrors, the SL appearing to occupy most of the lane width. The suspension-with adjustable ride height, toe and camber-feels as though it has virtually no travel. This is one of the hardest-riding, flattest-cornering and most fun to drive Mercedes road cars of all time and bears no resemblance to the coddling comfort of lesser SLs, even the well-respected new generation of AMG models.

The driving experience involves occupants at all times. The downside for customers used to other renditions is that even the smallest of bumps channel directly into the cockpit. The impacts are not overly harsh and the car never feels as though it is on a knife edge, but the chassis moves around and tends to porpoise up and down on uneven surfaces, a potentially tiring characteristic on long drives.

Jump on the throttle and, after perhaps a split second as the turbos spool, the world may as well come to an end. The accelerative force is stupefying, and it provides no reason to doubt the manufacturer’s claims of 0 to 60 mph in 3.6 seconds, 0 to 124 mph (200 kph) in 11 seconds flat. For the record, top speed is electronically limited to 199 mph. The exhaust note, heretofore unobtrusive and mostly drowned out by a relatively high-decibel track of tire and road noise (muted in other Mercedes and AMG offerings by heavy sound-deadening material) suddenly bellows a flat, wild, baritone whoooosh. Keep it planted and it sounds as though you have ripped the space/time continuum wide open.

Even with ESP stability control switched off, the traction-control icon flashes madly and often as small but quick steering corrections keep everything together. Suddenly, it is not hard to imagine the sense of invincibility an armored battleship commander might feel if ordered to engage an armada of catamarans. The world is at your feet--especially your right one.

On the sweeping Laguna Seca road course, the Black Series remains a heavyweight GT prizefighter rather than a strung-out, nimble ballerina, and it is easy to overestimate early throttle applications to produce grinding understeer. On the other hand, carry speed well and smoothly into a corner, hit the pedal hard on exit and take heed: power-on oversteer is predictably in plentiful supply, especially with ESP switched off, but it is remarkably controllable.

With so much power and torque at your beck and call, driving the SL65 Black Series well on the track demands strong weight-management skills. The experience is highly rewarding when done right, with the car’s ultimate potential requiring experienced hands and feet. The only areas we would like to see improved for track use are the brakes, which go soft quickly, and the five-speed automatic gearbox’s upshift performance, which is not up to par with the car’s ultimate speed, which you will have to nearly match if you want one. Only 175 copies will come to the United States, with deliveries beginning in January. Collector’s watch not included.