Mercedes-Benz SLR 722 Edition: First Look

By Feann Torr - 12/July/2006

Stuttgart, Germany — There are few things in this world that are as instantly appealing and indeed alluring as a brand-new super car - and one of them is a special edition super car.

Clearly, the Mercedes McLaren SLR is a powerful car - it looks stunning too - able to challenge the quickest vehicles on the planet thanks to its 5.4-litre supercharged V8 and the plethora of high-tech equipment, essentially giving drivers the confidence to use most of the car's intimidating 460kW of power. 

But now there's the new "722 Edition" for those well heeled drivers who are searching for something a little different, not to mention a little quicker.

Why the "722 Edition"? The most obvious answer is that Mercedes wants more money to keep its legions of shareholders happy. Add new wheels for a butch new look, tweak the engine for a tad more sideways lunacy, add some carbon here, a dash of aluminium there and shazam -- interest rekindled.

But there's also an historical link here, and it's not as tenuous as some of the historically named cars that've been released over the years. This high technology Mercedes McLaren is named after the 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR, which was driven to an "unforgettable victory" in the Mille Miglia in 1955. British racing stalwart Stirling Moss and co-driver Denis Jenkinson were the men in the saddles, and the '722' moniker comes from the number worn on the mid-20th century race car, which was chosen for the starting time of 7:22am.

Sadly for power pundits, the 722 does not denote the number of ponies under the bonnet - that would have been something - but that's not to say this smooth lump of grey and black exotica is lacking anything in the performance department. Compared to the standard SLR, which cranks out 460kW or 617hp - more thanenough power to create a useful smoke screen when circumstances necessitate a rapid getaway - the bahn storming SLR 722 escalates things to 650hp, which is about 22kW shy of the 500kW mark: 478kW all told. 

This extra 18kW of power hits the skids @ roughly 6500rpm due to a number of tweaks to the already highly-strung forced induction mill, and though the domineering German marque has not quoted torque numbers, one would expect them to have risen as well, particularly when the new SLR 722 is claimed to be a good two tenths of second quicker to 100km/h than its donor car.The 5.4-litre 8-cylinder engine gets a performance kick from its intercooled supercharger, all of which is assembled by hand at the AMG engine shop in Affalterbach, Germany.

According to its creators, the 5.4-litre V8-powered SLR 722 Edition will slam the 0-100km/h sprint in just 3.6 seconds, compared to the 3.8 of the standard model, which is up there with the quickest cars in the world. The rear wheel drive vehicle is fitted with new-look 19-inch alloy wheels finished in a shade of black, and shod with 255/35 R19s up front and huge 295/30 ZR19s at the rear to cope with the engine's mind bendingly high levels of power. As well as it's devastating 3.6 second benchmark sprint time, the SLR 722 takes just over 10 seconds to hit 200km/h from rest, which is less time than it takes the new Hyundai Santa Fe to reach 100km/h. Even top speed has been improved, from the "go straight to jail" 334km/h mark to an "off with his head!" 337km/h. 

Joe Average probably wouldn't pick the new 722 Edition SLR from a standard SLR - if you can even call it 'standard' - but there are visual differences to match the performance upgrades, including the new look 19-inch wheels. Other fairly obvious visual updates include the obligatory "722 Edition" badging, which according to Mercedes is "in line with the wishes of the enthusiastic gentleman drivers and wealthy sports car collectors who make up the core target group." 

There's a modified front apron that incorporates a new air splitter and the rear diffuser has also been remolded, both of which provide the SLR 722 Edition with an extra touch of aerodynamic efficiency. It has been a while since we've revisited the SLR, and it's stood the test of time well. It's long and low profile, the 

Clear-lacquered carbon gives the SLR 722's body a quasi concept car look, while giving the monstrous four wheeler high levels of torsional rigidity and a fairly light weight. The 722 has also been dumped, sitting 10mm lower to the ground than its originator, and the entire chassis has been upgraded to provide the big German with improved grip and handling. Though the suspension rig is already a highly sophisticated combination of passive and active systems, the dampers have been stiffened and bigger ceramic composite brake discs fitted (390mm up front), suggesting that the SLR 722 Edition would be a brilliant track day toy, able to decelerate the SLR to beyond 1.3 Gs.

Like any good Brabus or Hamann tune-up, Mercedes-Benz has gifted the interior of the historically-named super car with a few new features, such as new bucket-type sports seats with hard core side bolsters trimmed in leather and suede, a new sports steering wheel with what the Merc people call "a hunting leather lining", and plenty of black carbon highlights throughout, making for a more single-minded sports interior than the previous red-leather look.

Mercedes beefy new SLR super car went on sale on July the 11th (2006), has enough mumbo to create a touch of nervousness in super car circles, and in addition to all the go-fast goodies Mercedes has added to the SLR 722 Edition - the morepowerful supercharged V8 engine, the bigger brakes, the aerodynamic front and rear aprons and the bemusing hunting leather-lined tiller - buyers will also gain entry into the SLR Club, in a similar vein to what many performance car makers offer these days.

This highly exclusive SLR Club was launched prior to the SLR 722 Edition hitting the streets of Europe, at the Paul Ricard race track in Le Castellet in southern France, and allows members to compete in a range of "events" and there's also the opportunity for members to become part of the - some would argue oxymoronic - SLR Safety & Speed Academy. This academy offers driver training courses run by instructors such as David Coulthard, Chris Goodwin and Jochen Mass, which would be quite a lark and no mistake.

So there you have it, the new Mercedes-Benz SLR 722 Edition in all its tyre-frying glory. And true, there are few things in this world that are as highly desirable and alluring as a brand-new special edition super car, but one of them is abrand-new special edition super car with membership to what could be one of the most exclusive clubs on the planet.