First Drive: 2007 Mercedes-Benz CLK63 AMG Black Series

Previews

We take AMG's latest beast for a little spin around a 14-mile stretch of road known as the Nьrburgring.

In an automotive realm heavily flavored with mine’s bigger (not to mention faster and cooler) than yours, an AMG badge is a seriously enviable mark of distinction. It says you’ve got the money to go the extra mile, and suggests you have a taste for power and perhaps even the talent to manage it.

So here’s an example of badging that’s enviable and then some. The hottest member, in fact, of a very hot family. Lighter than its CLK stablemates, with more power, less mass and more of everything else: brakes, tires, suspension.

These are all reassuring things for us to dwell on as the Nürburgring’s Nordschliefe unwinds at an eye-widening rate just beyond the windshield, while DTM driving ace Bernd Schneider works the steering wheel.

It’s also reassuring to reflect that this car has a real racing heritage, mechanically identical to cars that appear on Formula One Grand Prix race tracks every weekend.

Why were we at the ’Ring? And what’s this got to do with the U.S. market? We’ll get to that in a minute.

Mercedes currently offers 18 AMG products, and those discerning buyers—half of them living in the U.S.—gobble ’em up as fast as they’re produced.

Emboldened by this success, the AMG marketing brain trust came up with the Next Step: a special edition of an existing AMG product.

Think about that. Since all AMG models are special editions, we’re talking about a special edition of a special edition: meet the CLK63 AMG Black Series.


Black Series History

As the name suggests, it’s an embellishment of the current CLK63 AMG coupe, which isn’t offered in the U.S. We get cabrios only.

But the Black Series is an exception to that rule, the first of its kind to be offered to U.S. buyers.

Back story: AMG has been supplying Mercedes safety cars to the Formula One World Championship series since 1996. The cars—two safety cars and two medical cars (station wagons) are approved by Mercedes racing boss Norbert Haug, prepped by AMG, and they return to the AMG shops for maintenance after every race.

At some point in this program, AMG leadership began to see a marketing opportunity. Thus the first Black Series, based on the SL and a faithful street replica of the 2006 F1 Safety Car, emerged from the AMG shops, offered only in Europe, a very limited test market trial.

The test was obviously a success, because the 2007 Black Series plan has global goals even though it’s still a limited program. The business case is built around 500 cars total. But 350 of those cars are destined for the U.S.

How do you say “instant collectible” in German?

Let’s talk specifications.

As noted, the Black Series begins with a CLK63 AMG coupe, a pretty lofty starting point. Black Series upgrades are extensive. Bigger brakes—14.2-inch vented rotors front (versus 13.4 for the CLK63). AMG refers to the rotors as “composite,” which in this case means iron discs mated to aluminum carriers.

Bigger wheels: 19 inch forged aluminum, versus 18s for the standard CLK63—with larger footprints: 265/30 front, 285/30 rear.


Features

The wider tires are sheltered by carbon fiber fender flares, and carbon fiber is abundant throughout the car, right out to the small spoiler adorning the decklid and the diffusers below the rear fascia.

Although the Black Series has all the luxo goodies that make the going pleasant in other Benz offerings, the carbon fiber, plus other weight-paring measures, conspire to reduce curb weight by about 100 pounds versus the CLK63 coupe, and some 200 pounds plus versus the cabrio. That math puts the Black Series around 3900 pounds, a number we wish was even lower.

Suspension: AMG sport dampers replace the standard Mercedes equipment, with higher spring rates and bigger anti-roll bars. Shock absorber damping is adjustable, but not from the cockpit, and there’s also 20mm of adjustability in the static ride height, provided you have the right tools.

Power: Oh, yeah. As with other recent AMG offerings, the CLK Black Series is propelled by the new AMG 6.2-liter aluminum V-8. In this application, a special set of exhaust headers and revised engine management raise output from the 475 horsepower and 465 pound-feet of torque to 500 and 478, respectively.

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.


Behind the Wheel

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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