Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren
Overview
This is a Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren. It is a grand tourer jointly developed by the German Automobile Manufacturer Mercedes-Benz and British Automobile Manufacturer McLaren Automotive and was in production from the year 2003-2010. During the development Mercedes owned 40% of McLaren Automotive and hence was jointly produced by both the companies. The word SLR is an abbreviation to the German word "Sport Leicht Rennsport " which roughly translates to Sport Light Racing and was a homage to 300 SLR, the car that also served as an inspiration for this car. It was offered in three body styles: coupé, roadster and speedster. The standard version was designed by Gorden Wagener and the SLR Stirling Moss version was designed by Yoon Il-hun. The SLR Stirling Moss was a limited production model with only 75 being produced and only available to the then existing SLR owners. There was also a McLaren Edition by the McLaren Special Operations (MSO) which had bespoke parts and included a revised bodywork and each car was made different and according to the specifications of the owner and only 25 were made from 2011-2013 and hence these did not resemble with each other.
Exterior
The exterior was designed by Gorden Wagener (SLR Stirling Moss by Yoon Il-hun) and it had a long hood due to the engine size and it is a front opening hood i.e., it opens forward. The body is made up of carbon fibre for less weight as this car has a curb weight of 3843lb. The doors are not normal, instead these are the butterfly wing doors as they open forward-upwards, the exhaust tips on the car is on the front towards the side instead like a normal car which has them on the rear as there was no space at the rear due to the components and the diffuser. The rear has an airbrake which opens up almost at an angle of 30°(35° in 722 edition) to slow the car down and at an high speed it raises up almost at an angle of 10°(15° in 722 edition). All the vents and blades on this car are functional to improve the airflow and aerodynamics which improves the performance. The rear turn signals is this white panel with individual orange lights and they are visible at a certain angle.
Interior
The interior is from a standard Mercedes car, it has almost all the controls that a normal SL would have during that time. When you enter the car you see that the door handle, window control and seat adjustment control is between the seats and the door sills. The center console has normal buttons and functions, like a standard SL from that era. The wing controls are there which allows to control the position of the wings or even test it. The SLR logo is actually a panel that can be opened and behind that is a radio system for the car. The start/stop button is mounted on the gear lever inside a flip panel. There are dials on the either side of the wing controls which controls the transmission mode, S for Sports mode, C for Comfort mode, and Man for Manual mode. When the dial is on the Manual mode, the other dial comes to use, the numbers control the type of manual transmission, I for Sport Manual, II for Very Sport Manual, and III for Racing Manual as stated in the owner's manual. The guage has analogue dials like the one in SL and same controls and operations.
Power and Output
The Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren is powered by a 5.4L M155 SLR V8 with a 5-speed automatic transmission producing 617HP at 6500rpm and 780Nm(575 lb-ft) of torque at 5000rpm and it has a top speed of 208mph(334km/h).It's 0-62mph(0-100km/h) time of 3.4s. The engine placement in this car is front mid-engine placement meaning it is placed behind the front axle in front for better weight distribution. The SLR uses a Sensotronic Brake Control, which is a type of brake-by-wire system. The front uses a 14.6in 8-piston carbon ceramic disc brake and rear uses 14.2in 4-piston carbon ceramic disc brakes. During wet conditions the calipers skims the discs surface to keep it dry for better stopping power.
Note: This picture is taken by Ivan Orlov. The owner of the car shown here is unknown (unknown to me).
