Mercedes had long been associated with the British McLaren F1 team and in 1998 it decided to build an all out supercar. The Vision SLR would both celebrate the classic 300SL gull wing racer and its 1998 victory in both the F1 driver and constructor’s championship. The new car would also be constructed with cutting edge F1 technology Mercedes exhibited the gull winged Vision SLR concept at the Detroit motor showing January 1999. The car was striking for its styling, which was both futuristic and recognizably Mercedes.
The German company said the car would be built by McLaren at a new factory in Working in the UK, and would go on sale in 2003. Mercedes also predicted that the global market for supercars would grow to 2500 units per year, and the SLR would account for 500 of those sales. When the production model appeared in 2003, it had gone through a transformation. The reason for this old packaging was the Mercedes and McLaren engineers had decided to mount both the engine and the exhaust system between the front wheel and the bulkhead, forcing the front of the car to become rather elongated. The SLR arrived in the late 2004 and was built around a carbon fiber monocoque chassis and was powered by a supercharged 626 bhp 5.4 liter V8, engine making it one of the most powerful cars of the time.
No comments:
Post a Comment