German Car Zone

Maybe it's because the CLK 63 Black Series is designed for the racetrack and you drive the car at higher rpms there! With more torque at a higher rpm you can use the full power of the engine! But I don't really know at all...

From the June issue of Road & Track

Road and Track Magazine - AMG at 40 (6/2007)



All Hans-Werner Aufrecht and Erhard Melcher wanted to do was go fast. And their preferred mount was a Mercedes-Benz. So in 1967, the duo took the first letters of their last names and combined them with the first letter of Aufrecht's Grossaspach hometown to form AMG, using an old mill in Burgstall, Germany.

Their first notable achievement was a 1971 class victory in the Spa 24 Hours in an AMG-prepared 300 SEL driven by Hans Heyer and Clemens Schickentanz. The company was off and running. By 1976, as a result of their expanded motorsports and aftermarket tuning business, AMG outgrew the Burgstall facility and moved to Affalterbach, its home to this day.
In addition to its numerous success in German Touring Car and FIA GT racing, AMG produced a string of powerful road cars, one of the most noteworthy being the 1987 300E 6.0, which became the first sedan to break the 300km/h (186 mph) barrier. This car was dubbed "The Hammer" by the American press. In 1990, Daimler-Benz AG signed an agreement that would allow AMG products and parts to be sold through the German automaker's worldwide distribution network, which was followed up in 1993 with the C36 AMG, the first car jointly developed by the two companies.

Six years later, DaimlerChrysler Group acquired its majority share from Aufrecht and then in 2005, DCX acquired the remaining shares and incorporated the firm as Mercedes-AMG GmbH. Since 1999, Mercedes motorsports department was transferred to Aufrecht's firm, H.W.A. AG, also in Affalterbach. There some 200 H.W.A. employees work on Mercedes German Touring Car efforts.

Today, 750 AMG employees work not only to develop more powerful drivetrains and performance suspension systems, but also to develop limited-edition models as well as produce individualized cars for discriminating enthusiasts. As part of that effort, last year the company opened the AMG Performance Studio, which developed special series AMG models in three categories: Signature Series, Black Series and Editions.

In addition to such Black Series cars as the CLK63 and SLK55, the AMG Performance Studio developed the AMG 40th Anniversary limited-edition CL65, a 612-bhp V-12 coupe painted in a special Alubeam finish that gives the car's body panels the look of liquid metal. Only 40 of these specially painted and trimmed CL65s were built, 20 destined for America and 20 for the rest of the world.

The integration of AMG into Mercedes means that the AMG version is developed beginning with the concept phase of a regular production model. AMG is capable of developing its own design, aerodynamics, interior, powertrain, suspension, brakes and electronics and oversees the final approval for series production at Mercedes factories. AMG also maintains its own testing center at the famed Nürburgring race circuit where it regularly tests its models on the famed Nordschleife. Because AMG was literally born on a racetrack, it's good to see that it has not strayed far from its roots.

^Sweet picture and information, Bruce.^