Track Test: The Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Black Series Looks Down On All Other Road Cars

It honestly feels more like a race car than a road car.

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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I'm flying down the main straight of Willow Springs' "Big Willow" race track at 165 mph in a Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Black Series in hot pursuit of an SLS AMG GT. Despite my car's obvious superiority on track, I'm finding the lead car impossible to catch, piloted as it is by Maximillian Gotz, hot off his 1st place finish at the 24 Hours of Spa in an SLS AMG GT3. My car was absolutely stable, betraying not a hint of shudder or shake as I braked for the slightly cambered, fast 90-degree left-hander, and that's when the essense of this car hit me: It's the only road car that has ever felt like a race car to me.

I've driven some amazing supercars for Complex, including SRT Vipers and Audi R8 V10s, but they were all just very impressive sports cars. This was a race car with turn signals; driving it reminded me more of the formula cars I drove at the Bridgestone Racing Academy than it did of the Viper, and I went into this thinking it was going to basically be a fancy, more precise German Viper. Let me explain. 

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It's not just an upgrade to the SLS, it's an overhaul.

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The track was appropriate for the car.

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It looks the part.

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It has a mechanical attitude.

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I'm in love.

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