2014 SLS AMG Black Series: Performance in its Soul

Often it’s AMG’s accountants and product planners that look at a business model and tell the company’s enthusiastic engineers that although the cars on their drawing boards are spectacular, they must adhere to budgets and sales forecasts, and therefore have to make concessions to the final design. The resulting AMG-branded Mercedes products are nonetheless potent, especially from the consumer’s perspective. However, from the engineers’ point of view they might not be quite what they’d intended to build.

These engineers gathered somewhere in the dark annals of the AMG factory in 2006 and conspired to build cars without the constraints mandated by their bean-counting colleagues. They formed the AMG Performance Studio and began building cars as they saw fit, albeit in very limited numbers. They spared no expense and the resulting automobiles were very rare and frightfully fast. These clandestine designs bore an equally fearsome moniker: Black Series.

There have been only five such delinquent models to ever leave the AMG Performance Studio since the engineers began their corporate mutiny in 2006: the SLK55, CLK63, SL65, C63, and now the 2014 SLS AMG Black Series. I am fortunate enough to have track tested two of these rare birds. The first was the 2012 C63 Black Series at Laguna Seca, and now this latest model, at Willow Springs International Raceway in California.

BENEATH THE SKIN

The SLS Black Series costs $294,000, which represents a $76,100 premium over the SLS GT. The additional 76 grand gets you 622 horsepower from the hand-built, 6.3-litre V8, 39 hp more than the GT, though it puts out 468 lb-ft of torque, which is a bit lower than the GT’s 479 lb-ft. It is nonetheless the most powerful gasoline engine offered by AMG, and it revs to 8,000 rpm, an increase of 800 rpm over the GT. Power transmits to the rear wheels through a rear-mounted, 7-speed dual-clutch transmission.

The Black Series also gets huge carbon-ceramic discs, lighter forged wheels and high-grip Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires in ultra-wide 275/35-19 and 325/30-20 front and rear sizes. The adaptive, adjustable coil-over suspension is much firmer than on the GT and the wheels track 20 mm wider at the front and 23 mm at the rear.

Several measures were taken to save weight, including making items like the hood, some structural braces and certain frame components from carbon-fibre reinforced plastic. A lighter lithium-ion battery also replaces the conventional battery. Beneath the car you’ll find a titanium exhaust system and a carbon-fibre torque tube. These changes represent a 70-kg reduction in weight, the SLS Black Series claiming a curb weigh of 1,550 kg.

PURE SPEED, UNADULTERATED DRIVING DYNAMICS

At the track we were allowed to lap as often as we liked within the allotted schedule, as long as everyone got equal seat time, and we followed an SLS GT lead car. AMG’s lead driver set the pace according to how well we could keep up, so the pace was fast—very fast—thus allowing us to drive the Black the way AMG’s speed gurus designed it to be driven: at its limit on a closed course.

The only restriction we were given was to refrain from shutting off the ESP (traction control). It has three positions; On, Sport and Off.

You can’t really step into an SLS gracefully; you have to grab hold somewhere, step in with one foot and back into it before plopping down into the seat. You then have to get halfway out again to reach for the gullwing door to close it. Once inside, the cockpit is snug and wraps tightly around you, gripping you as if you’re sitting in a big hand. And despite the car’s low profile, there’s enough headroom even while wearing a helmet.

I had ample opportunity to sample the different drive modes (C, S, S+ and Manual), as well as the Sport and Sport+ suspension settings (stiff and super stiff!). The settings I eventually settled upon were Manual mode with the ESP in Sport mode and the suspension in the softer Sport setting.

With the ESP in Sport mode, full power was available with enough slip permissible at the rear wheels to allow the rear end to kick out at will when exiting corners without the fear of spinning out. I opted for the softer suspension setting because the track was quite bumpy in sections.

The SLS Black is a seriously fast car; it has tons of low-end torque, and wide-open acceleration will push you hard into the seat for as long as you keep your foot on the floor.

The engine sounds absolutely intoxicating, however it’s tone is a bit softer and not as angry as the C63 Black Series. “It is just the difference in the exhaust system design and length that makes it sound different,” said AMG’s director of marketing, Mario Spitzner, when asked about the different sound. “We do not deliberately soften the sound of our cars, or enhance the sound electronically like some of our competitors.”

Steering precision is absolutely enthralling. The SLS could dive very hard into tight corners, and it revealed almost no natural tendency to understeer. It would only hint at front-end push if you deliberately forced it, or when the tires began to lose grip after countless hard laps. The car’s 50/50 weight distribution paid dividends in both corner-exit grip and steering neutrality.

The massive brakes slowed the car with fierce determination, and they didn’t exhibit fade after five hard laps.

Of course, there is a trade-off for its nearly unmatched racetrack handling, and the SLS revealed its shortcomings at low speed, where I noticed just how stiff the suspension was and how noisy it was in the cabin. This is not a plush street car that will coddle its occupants—it is harsh, it is brutish and it is oh, so desirable.

IN THE BLACK

The SLS Black Series is the closest you will come to a racecar and still be able to put a licence plate on it—it was, after all, inspired by the SLS GT3 racecar. It is a vehicle that elevates the driving experience to its purest form. Although Mercedes has not revealed how many will come to Canada, there will only be a handful, and it seems they are already spoken for. Only 30 C63 Black Series came here in 2012 and they were sold out ahead of time. Even if you can afford the SLS Black Series, its apparent rarity means that you, like me, will probably only ever dream about owning one.