“With this GT3 model we are responding to interest expressed in such a car from teams around the world,” said Thomas Rappel, senior product manager of Mercedes performance division AMG, after uncovering the racer at a media event involving journalists driving the sports car on a portion of the Carrera Panamericana route.
The race car's anticipated public debut alongside the near-identical SLS AMG sports car at the New York International Auto Show can be seen as a first step in Mercedes-Benz establishing the racing pedigree of its second gull-winged exotic.
The legendary status of the original gull-winged 300SL of the 1950s was founded as much on the successes of the Mercedes-Benz racing team as the car's iconic styling. Establishing the new car's pedigree, however, will be in the hands of independent racers as a result of Mercedes-Benz itself being otherwise focused on Formula One and DTM (German stock car) competition.
“We will not race the car ourselves,” Rappel said. “After completing the homologation process with the international motorsport authority (FIA), we will sell it to teams in the various GT3 championships and it will begin racing in 2011.”
The FIA European GT3 series will be the primary arena for the car, which does not fit the formats of either of North America's major road racing series, American Le Mans or Rolex Grand-Am GT. The ALMS, which each year includes an event at Mosport near Toronto, includes GT3 among its four classes but as a single-make form of competition limited to Porsche GT3 Cup cars.
Rappel would not respond to questions on price or anticipated production, claiming it's too early to say, but euros were flashing in his eyes as clearly as checkered flags. BMW introduced its Z4 GT3 race car earlier in March with a price of €298,000 (more than $400,000) and Porsche GT3R race cars sell for €279,000.
Like most road racing cars, this one differs most obviously from the production model on which it's based with its aerodynamic additions – the outsized rear wing and duckbilled front splitter – but the removal of air-conditioning and other creature comforts, including the passenger seat, has reduced weight by some 160 kg.
Ironically, power is likely to be less than the normal SLS AMG's 563 horsepower as a result of air intake restrictions dictated by FIA equivalency rules. Rappel was unable to hazard a guess as to how much, saying only that the car will meet the regulations.
The FIA European GT3 championship is growing year by year as well-financed private teams purchase production-based cars from a variety of major manufacturers. Last year's winning team campaigned an Aston Martin DBR S9 and other front-runners ranged from a Corvette Z06R to a Lamborghini Gallardo GT3, Ferrari 430 to Morgan Aero Supersport.
A Canadian-engineered Ford Mustang will join the party this year, Belgium's Marc VDS Racing Team said March 19, to be driven by Toronto's Scott Maxwell and Belgian Eric de Doncker. The team also is competing in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, but in another Ford race car built to GT1 requirements – another of the plethora of racing types that bewilder the average sports fan.
The SLS GT3 racing car is constructed by HWA, the offshoot of Mercedes-AMG with more than 200 employees in Affalterbach, Germany, primarily building and campaigning Mercedes-Benz entries in the DTM stock car series. Hans Werner Aufrecht, co-founder of AMG, established the motorsport specialist company bearing his initials in 1999 after AMG itself was purchased by Daimler-Chrysler.
The arrival of both the sports car and its racing counterpart are early evidence of the Mercedes board's decision to develop AMG's capabilities and consequently its contributions to the corporate balance sheet.
The SLS AMG is billed as the first vehicle designed under the direction of Mercedes-AMG in Affalterbach. Since 1967, AMG has grown from its roots as an independent firm hot-rodding Mercedes engines, evolving after becoming a subsidiary to developing sports versions of regular Mercedes models.
Next on the bill of fare of AMG-designed cars, reportedly, is a four-door sports sedan currently under development as a distinct model within Mercedes's next-generation B-class range. The F800 Concept that made its debut earlier this year at the Geneva Auto Show is thought to have previewed Mercedes' created-in-Affalterbach competitor to BMW's upcoming M1 and Audi's RS3.
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