AMG's 40th Anniversary/Mercedes-Benz CLK AMG:The new CLK 63 AMG Black Series is a winner, says Kyle Fortune
In July 1967 Hans Werner Aufrecht and Erhard Melcher established an engineering company in an old mill in Burgstall, Germany.
The sign above its door bore the A and M of their respective surnames and G - for Aufrecht's birthplace of Gro Aspach. They're three letters you're likely to recognise together, as the small tuning operation is now a worldwide brand and part of DaimlerChrysler.
AMG might have turned Mercedes cars since the late 1960s to great success on road and track, but its official collaboration with Mercedes only started in 1996 when the C36, a 276bhp AMG-badged model based on the C-Class, was launched. Today those three letters now feature on 18 different models in the Mercedes-Benz range.
The C36's 276bhp output looks modest now, particularly in comparison to AMG's latest CLK 63 Black Series model. It boasts 500bhp - still some way off the 612bhp of AMG's V12 models - but plenty for a CLK. The second of AMG's Black Series cars, the CLK represents something of a return to AMG's roots via their Performance Studio.
It's no secret that if you've got the means, AMG has always been able to create anything you desire. Whether you're an Arab prince wanting an S-Class to match your favourite suit or a wealthy Mercedes enthusiast wanting a more modern transmission under one of your old favourites.
So in these days of seemingly growing wealth and increased demand for individualisation, AMG is making official what it's being doing for years. Four options exist in the Performance Studio above the regular production models.
The highest echelons of this is represented by the Signature Series models - cars like the very limited edition CLK DTM AMG cabriolet.
Edition models like the recent IWC Engineer CLS in collaboration with watchmakers IWC are more about unique styling changes, while the Performance section allows customers to choose off-the-shelf solutions for improving dynamics, increasing cooling and removing those pesky limiters. But it's the Black Series cars that go the furthest - these cars are developed with track use in mind.
Using any car on track is hugely demanding, so the changes to the CLK 63 AMG Black Series over the standard CLK 63 AMG are extensive. Most obvious is the more aggressive styling.
Carbon-fibre vents, punctured front wings and a rear diffuser extract hot air from the numerous additional and larger coolers the Black Series CLK features. The widened wheel arches are necessary due to the increased front and rear track.
They're also useful for containing the specially forged 19-inch alloy wheels, behind which sit larger composite brake discs. The suspension has been tweaked extensively too, allowing customers a huge degree of personalisation with damper, spring, track and castor all adjustable.
Inside they've binned the rear seats, fitted a pair of buckets up front and removed superfluous equipment. The engine remains the same 6.2-litre V8, but detail changes to its breathing and engine management increase its output from 481hp to 507hp. Torque stays the same at 630Nm, although it rises up the rev range to 5,250rpm.
Additional strengthening means that despite losing the rear seats, the weight goes up by 5kg over the standard car, but all the trick kit and extra power means the Black Series CLK manages to better its "lesser relative" to 100km/h by 0.3 seconds - recording a time of 4.3 seconds.
You'll also be able to sail past regular CLK 63 AMG drivers at your electronically limited 300km/h while they strain at their 250km/h limiters. In Germany, of course.
I'm in California though, and cops with guns and no time for speeding tourists mean I'll not be getting near the potential top speed of the CLK 63 AMG Black Series today.
Though I do gain some insight into the chassis improvements on one of the most twisted stretch of tarmac I've ever encountered. Spunky Canyon road - yes that's really its name - reveals the CLK 63 AMG Black Series to be a supremely exploitable performance car on the road.
Thankfully, the brakes also provide the sort of eye-popping ability needed to ensure that you lose speed more quickly than you gain it. Handy with so many cops around.
Achieving jail-time high velocities isn't difficult, either. The 6.2-litre V8 might like revs to perform its best, and sound glorious when doing so, but with seven ratios to choose from you're never short of ways to keep it revving freely.
It's an automatic transmission shifted by paddles behind the wheel, it being both quick and smooth. Mercifully, it leaves the decisions up to you in manual mode.
IMPRESSIVE AS IT IS, I can't help thinking a proper manual would be preferable. When asked, AMG's engineers give a wry smile and suggest they're looking at alternative transmissions. Even so, it's highly improbable you'll ever see a proper manual Black Series car, which, given the track-focused nature of the market that AMG is targeting, is an oversight.
It's almost forgivable though, as otherwise the CLK 63 AMG Black Series is a remarkable demonstration of AMG's abilities.
Whether it'll be enough to convince wealthy track-day enthusiasts is a different question, especially as the Black Series is expected to retail at about 50 per cent more than its standard, and still mad-fast relative.
That puts it into the realm of Porsche 911 GT3, tough competition indeed, and one which AMG hasn't quite got the measure of yet. But it's getting there.