Classic Wheels
Gallery 1
First published in the April 2012 issue of Wheels magazine, Australia’s best car mag since 1953.
An epic car deserves an equally sensational road, so Wheels introduces AMG’s SLS Roadster to the best bit of bendy bitumen inland of the NSW mid-north coast.
IT SAYS everything about the SLS AMG Roadster that I’d completely forgotten its value by the time I got it sideways. Sliding half a million bucks’ worth of someone else’s car is no trivial matter. But I was having so much fun that the $500,000 sticker price was the furthest thing from a mind fully occupied with thoughts of speed, balance, grip, steering, throttle, and road.
With the keys to an SLS AMG Roadster in my pocket and a couple of days to do the most with it out of Sydney, it seemed the Oxley Highway would present the right kind of challenge. The full length of this road, national route 34, runs for 513km, from Port Macquarie on the coast to its western terminus at the Mitchell Highway in Nevertire. But we’re interested in the stretch that any Aussie biker worth his salt will tell you about, the 161km run from Wauchope to Walcha, up and over the hills.
First, the transport leg. For this 375km night run on the Pacific Highway, the SLS just had to be a car, a mode of transportation for two tired heads who’d already spent a full day at work. It performed this menial task well, fairly quiet at cruising speed, its triple-layer lid keeping out even the rowdiest truck roar, the car stable over standing water despite 265/35 Contis up front and 295/30s at the rear. The engine ticks over easily at 2400rpm in seventh at an indicated 120km/h.
You sit low, the dash and doors high around you, the big wing mirrors at face level, ensconsed in a tiny cabin given the total length. At 4638mm it’s about 100mm shy of a Honda Accord Euro, to pick a random comparison, while its 1938mm width is 100mm more than the Euro. It’s not cramped – you just have no more space than you absolutely need. The seats are firm but comfortable, and multi-adjustable, with fat side bolsters that clamp powerfully into your kidneys. The steering wheel is flat-bottomed, a feature I dislike, but beautifully designed otherwise, its sculpture and ridges locating your hands perfectly at 10-to-two in front of clear silver-backed instruments – the speedo reads to 360km/h. The leathers and plastics and switches and lights and stitching are all top grade – you wouldn’t feel short-changed if you’d just parted with a half a mill for this thing.
Sitting and admiring the SLS’s long profile as I eat a ‘perfect 10’ bacon sandwich at the Long Flat shop, it’s time to leaf through the car’s spec notes. Weight is 1735kg, split 47 percent front, 53 percent rear. The entire engine sits behind the front axle line, while the seven-speed AMG Speedshift dual-clutch gearbox sits at the rear of the car in a transaxle. Power and torque: 420kW at 6800rpm, 650Nm at 4750rpm. Engine weight is 206kg. That’s light for such a big mill.
Still it rains. And still it doesn’t matter. Nail the throttle and the car squats and grips, the traction control intervening surprisingly little. It’s fast alright, but this road will be more about point than squirt. More open sections follow Long Flat, the Great Divide looms beyond Yarras, then a little yellow sign appears about 60km from Wauchope, announcing corners ‘next 45km’. We stop and take a photo. This is one of Australia’s truly great road signs.
What a road. The surface in the first part of the climb is new and smooth, the excellent drainage and heavy cambering taking care of all standing water. Then the older surface appears and it’s possibly even more fun, with washboard ripples in places and the odd mid-corner bump to keep your mind focused. Only a couple of cut-up fallen trees and the resulting spread of bark and sawdust provide low-grip surprises. Otherwise, it’s all constant and reliable, a roller coaster road.
The road throws more and more at us and the SLS eats it. Grip levels are other-worldly. For some reason, I expected understeer to set in earlier with the front wheels so far away. Dumb thought. Again and again, I try and fail to make the car plow, and eventually decide to go the other way and have a half-lift off the throttle. And thus we have our slide.
Transmission, brakes, steering all get big ticks from me, especially the latter, which is far better than you expect in a Merc. Only delayed downchanges from the DCT spoil things, but I’m tending to change down late anyway given the wet surface. ‘Sport+’ gives you 50-millisecond-faster changes, but alters nothing else. This car lacks the optional adaptive dampers but when you’re pushing on, you don’t miss them.
We don’t stop at Gingers Creek Road House at the top for long, because there’s more of this road to come. What impresses me most, other than the sheer length of the run, is the way the corners are cambered. The road works with you, not against you, and though there are a few tightening radii, none are harsh. All the while, the mist hangs in the trees and the rain pelts down and the big V8 roars and pops, 1758kg feeling like about 1000. My right shoulder is now soaked through and my face covered in rain, but it doesn’t matter. Driving doesn’t get better than this.
The final section of the Wauchope-to-Walcha run is made up of wide-open hill views and long sweepers and straights. Temptation doesn’t get the better of me and I stick to the limit, roof up again now. When we reach Walcha, we follow our plan and turn south onto Thunderbolt’s Way towards Gloucester, but we only get about five clicks before I make an ABS stop, turn around, and go back. The Oxley’s too good to only be done once in a day.
Big-picture view
