Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Roadster (2007): first official pictures

By Tim Pollard

First Official Pictures

04 May 2007 06:28

Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Roadster: that's quite a mouthful

It certainly is. But then this is no normal car. Let's call it the SLR, for brevity's sake - and this new roadster derivative is designed to inject Merc's exclusive, low-volume range-topper with a new lease of life after three years on sale. The engineers at Mercedes and McLaren didn't merely take a tin-opener to the SLR's carbonfibre bodyshell. SLR stands for Super-Leicht, Rennsport (super-light, racing), and that philosophy has continued with the Roadster, whose roof is made from yet more carbonfibre.

This car is based on the standard SLR, not the limited-edition 722, so it boasts merely 617bhp from its supercharged V8, not the full-blown, upgraded 650bhp. That's enough to propel it instantly towards the top of the rapid roadster brigade, with a maximum speed of 207mph. As if any owners will actually get anywhere near that in typical use. Mercedes counters that its bespoke engineering is important here; of course your typical buyer isn't going to drive three-and-a-half miles a minute, but if you've spent £350,000 on an open-top version of a super coupe you don't want to surrender a single mile per hour, thank you very much. With its composite roof, the SLR's body is made almost totally from carbonfibre reinforced plastic; two of the body frames are aluminium, but the rest of the monocoque is composite. Result? Light weight and wobble-free strength are claimed.

By Tim Pollard