cj hubbard writes:
Very occasionally a car manufacturer will use a launch to make a motoring journalist’s dreams come true.
The car in the foreground there is the Red Pig – a 6.8-litre, 420hp AMG racing version of the Mercedes 300 SEL. The original placed second in its debut outing at the 24 Hours of Spa in 1971, in spite of its tremendous thirst and heavy tyre wear. It suffered no mechanical attrition at all, which probably helped. AMG builds things tough.
The car parked next to it is AMG’s take on a modern equivalent – the Mercedes S63 AMG “Thirty-Five”. Same sponsorship decals, similar ‘AMG Le Mans red metallic’ (exclusive to the new S63), and powered by the new 544hp 5.5-litre AMG BiTurbo V8. In fact, it was intended as a showcase for this upgrade.
As a treat – or perhaps a reward, for sitting through all the new safety tech demonstrations – Mercedes actually let us loose in both these monsters on the launch of the new S63 AMG. Having a large strip of tarmac to hand meant there was virtually nothing for us to hit (never think or say that, incidentally…), and I only actually got to drive the cars for a couple of minutes apiece, but this was still utterly brilliant.
You see, I’ve been mildly enamoured of the Red Pig since I saw it wheelspin its way across the stage during the Mercedes press conference at my first ever Geneva motor show. This is just such a fabulously unlikely looking automobile, complete with massively flared arches, far too many lights on the front, magnesium wheels, aluminium doors and a caged interior that’s anything but also stripped – the 6.8 retaining the wood trim on the dash and the ribbed leather rear seat, even if it does gain a set of gorgeous corduroy-trimmed period bucket seats and racing harnesses.
Unsurprisingly, this isn’t the original. After competing in a few more events, that was sold to Matra and apparently used to test jet fighter landing gear. If someone can explain to me how on earth that worked, I’d be grateful. It has subsequently been lost to history. This 300 SEL AMG is therefore a 2006 recreation, built to the exact same specifications using the original drawings.
Driving the rear wheels via an automatic gearbox no less, the Red Pig features beefier wishbones and a hardened differential. But still has air suspension, albeit with stiffer, smaller bellows. It’s some 195kg lighter than a regular road going 300 SEL saloon – in spite of the massive engine – yet still tips the scales at 1,635kg.
It sounds – and this is a cliché, but in this case it is true – like some kind World War Two fighter plane. We won’t mention any names. This is proper V8 muscle that, when you relax the throttle, pops and bangs to the point where, yes, it does seem to be on some kind of strafing run.
Driving up and down a large section of plain tarmac all the while under watchful gaze of its AMG custodians didn’t exactly reveal much about the big bruiser’s dynamics. But the steering wheel was well off-centre anyway, so that’s probably a good thing. Absolutely made my month, none the less.
And so to the new Red Pig, the S63 AMG Thirty-Five. This car is amusing for exactly same reasons as the old one – it’s an unfeasibly large saloon that’s been turned into some kind of highly unsubtle but utterly functional weapon.
AMG has no ambitions to race this car. So like the original much of the interior has been carried over wholesale – the electric adjustment for the steering wheel still works, the door panels and many other fixtures are unchanged. However you will have to adjust your own seat (now a racing bucket, of course, only without the corduroy this time), and you can forget about limoing any backseat passengers. AMG has binned the rear bench to make room for the roll cage.
Apologies for the blurry picture. We were moving at the time. And the person at the wheel had just ‘accidentally’ discovered that all of the electronic stability and traction control systems are no longer functional in this car. Laying rubber from the rear-wheels of a one-off show car right outside the handover area is not big and not clever. But it is very, very funny. The camera shake is probably because I was still laughing.
Considering the apparently total absence of ambition to take the Thirty-Five racing, it is one incredibly well prepared car. In addition to the ridiculously extensive rollcage, it contains a fully plumbed in fire extinguisher system, and cut-off switches for the fuel and electrical systems.
It also sounds wildly bad ass. Demo for the new downsized AMG V8? Sure. But the S63 road cars certainly don’t make a noise like this thing. No prizes for guessing it hauls a bit, too. The power to back up the paint job is definitely not in doubt.
The craziest thing about this S63 special, however, is the mileage. Or should that be kilometerage? Yes, you are reading that right: 101,296km. Turns out AMG is not one to waste a good motor vehicle, and created the Thirty-Five using one of its S-Class development hacks for the new BiTurbo engine. Awesome.
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Links:
First Drive: Mercedes-Benz S63 AMG (2010 onwards)
Mercedes-Benz S63 AMG: you can’t crash this*
40 great fast saloon cars
Ocelot on film
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