“ THE SLR WAS LAUNCHED INTO A WORLD THAT HAD BEEN REARRANGED BY THE ENZO AND CARRERA GT” The SLR was the offspring of a turbulent marriage, and appeared just as the two parties responsible were preparing to divorce. Mercedes wanted to maintain fealty with its late Nineties Vision SLR concept and deliver some kind of Marvel Comics-style Super GT. McLaren was following the F1, an impossible feat, although no one ever described the SLR as its successor. That would have been daft. Nonetheless, Gordon Murray insisted on a fully flat underfloor which is why the SLR has that eye-catching side-exit exhaust. And he demanded 50/50 weight distribution, forcing the 5.4-litre, supercharged V8 into a front mid-engined configuration that elongated the car’s shape.
Now remember that the SLR was launched…
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BBC Top Gear (digital) - 1 Issue, Oct-22