Car and Driver - First Drive: 2007 Mercedes-Benz CLK63 Black Series!!!!

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Gorgeous!!!

As incremental gains go, that may not sound like much. But mated to a shorter final drive, a little less mass, and reprogrammed shift parameters for the seven-speed automatic transmission, it feelslike more than not much. In fact, it feels like a lot.Particularly with Nürburgring corners rushing toward us like Ronin on fast forward.

AMG’s acceleration forecast is 0-to-60 mph in 4.1 seconds. Since we’ve already recorded a 4.2 for the CLK 63 Cabrio—less power, more mass—4.1 seems pretty conservative. Shall we say 3.8? Yes, let’s.

More important, though, is the footwork, which Schneider is exploiting on the Ring’s endless succession of blind corners, decreasing radii, and flat-out doglegs. Lord, this baby can dance. The lap times? Below eight minutes for sure, with Mercedes officials suggesting as quick as 7:45. Strong, indeed.

Cont......

When you think about the Black Series charter—a performance replica of the F1 pace car—this all makes perfect sense. Although the pace car looks like it’s on a Sunday cruise compared to the open-wheeled rockets trailing in its wake, it’s got to be able to negotiate the turns with enough speed to allow the racers to keep heat in their tires.

Our own brief turn at the wheel teaches several lessons.

First, despite three laps of this 14-mile circuit riding shotgun with Schneider, we have essentially no clue where the pavement is going beyond the next bend, and conduct ourselves accordingly. Read: cautiously.

Second, caution notwithstanding, a stab at the throttle mashes the driver deep in the racing-style bucket seat. Torque is abundant across a broad range, making that grin-widening punch available from around-town slow to double-legal-speed fast quicker than you can say “Look, officer, I’m just trying to do my job.”

Top speed, electronically limited, is 186 mph. We don’t see much more than about 160 mph on the Nürburging. That seems like enough.

Third, this CLK’s limits of adhesion are very high and, when grip reaches its limits, the ensuing slide is progressive and easily controlled, although getting the Benz to do this as part of a fast lap takes a determined and practiced hand. Schneider’s, not ours.

But if the Black Series isn’t well suited to employment in drifting meets, for a car with this kind of performance potential it’s surprisingly well suited to everyday use. In a way, that’s the most striking element of its persona. The ’Ring is a rough race track, but for all the thrashing and curb riding of this encounter, the CLK’s suspension sops it up without beating the occupants into jelly.

There’s a simple reason for this, summed up by AMG boss Volker Mohrningweg. “At the end of the day,” he says, “it still must be a Mercedes-Benz.”

Yours for somewhere in the $130,000-to-$140,000 range when they hit dealers later this summer. Hurry. Supplies are limited. Operators are standing by.

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