The black-and-white prototype appears over the gentle rise in the wide main straight and spears past us, pursued by the deeply penetrating bark of its V8 engine. As it accelerates past, the front end lifts ever so slightly under the strain of power being delivered to the rear wheels. The car has a low set and an unmistakably cab-back profile. From our vantage point on the pit wall, it's curvy but lean and distinctly retro.
This is the 2010 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG, and the official line from Stuttgart is that AMG development chief Tobias Moers is simply testing it here on the 2.2-mile Sachsenring circuit, an hour or so from Dresden, Germany. This is the last in a long series of development tests for the SLS supercar over the past two years, and it's meant to be the last stage before the production version will be revealed in September at the 2009 Frankfurt Auto Show.
But the car's disguise isn't fooling us. What we're looking at — and indeed about to drive — is the production-ready Mercedes-Benz Gullwing in all but name. Apart from a few rough edges, this is the 2010 Mercedes-Benz SLS, the same car that will come to the U.S. next year.
The Gullwing Is Reborn
The Mercedes-Benz 300 SL reinvented Mercedes-Benz on the world stage by winning the 1952 24 Hours of Le Mans and the 1952 Carrera Panamericana, and the 300 SL's unique gullwing-style doors gave the production car that followed a look that has been identified with Mercedes-Benz ever since. Now collectible examples of the Gullwing SL fetch as much as $200,000 on the auction block, or slightly more than Mercedes-Benz is expected to charge for this new one.
There's a good deal for this car to live up to, then. But as the lightly camouflaged SLS comes within earshot again and rumbles to a halt beside us in the pit lane, there's little doubt in our mind that Mercedes-Benz has got it right.
Though this car has a throwback profile, underneath you'll find an aluminum body and a state-of-the-art aluminum space frame, elements of which are set to be adopted on the next-generation SL. It might seem like a backward step after experimenting with a full carbon-fiber monocoque with the McLaren-engineered Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren, but as Tobias Moers tells us, "Aluminum is a better material, especially when it comes to quelling vibration."
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