In the 1950s, the Mercedes-Benz SLR acquired a hallowed status in the world of motor racing. Quite apart from its long list of legendary race victories, its avant-garde technology and thrilling design instantly transformed it into a blueprint for all high-calibre Gran Turismo touring cars. The new Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Roadster, which will be receiving its world premiere in autumn 2007, is likewise rife with charisma and technology that is ahead of its time. Just like today's Formula 1 racing cars, the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Roadster boasts a carbon-fibre construction that gives it very high levels of safety and exceptional torsional stiffness on a par with the Coupé version. This combines with a chassis with motorsport origins to produce outstanding handling characteristics. The 460-kW/626-hp AMG supercharged V8 engine under the bonnet of the new high-performance sports car propels it to a top speed of 332 km/h, matching the outstanding mark set by the Coupé. Despite the fact that the Roadster comes with a fully retractable soft top to fuse pure open-air driving bliss with the ultimate in performance, by no means do its occupants have to compromise on comfort or everyday practicality. The new Roadster thereby succeeds in taking driving culture and motoring pleasure into a whole new dimension for open-top super sports cars.
The SLR McLaren Roadster is bound to carve out a very special name for itself amongst the ranks of high-performance open-top sports cars. This is thanks to its motor-racing genes and the use throughout of high-tech materials that - despite all their inherent benefits - are generally only ever found in a few individual components of even premium series-production cars, if at all, due to the high costs and elaborate manufacturing processes involved.
This is particularly true of the high-strength yet lightweight carbon-fibre composite materials (CFRP) that are used. Mercedes-Benz and its Formula 1 partner, McLaren, have gathered many years of experience with this material that is conventionally used in the aviation and space industries. In an impact, carbon fibres have a level of energy absorption that is four to five times higher than that of steel or aluminium, while the weight advantage of this high-tech material over steel is around 50 per cent.
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