Motorsport This 11,000rpm Monster Is A Mercedes SLK Like No Other

This Judd V8-powered Mercedes SLK makes a tremendous noise in this hill climb footage

Mad V8-engined ‘55’ version aside, the SLK isn’t the most butch car, is it? But, what we have here is no ordinary SLK. Far from it.

It’s been extensively re-engineered by German tuning firm Carlsson to take on the FIA E1 hill climb category, and it means business. It weighs just 780kg, has radically reworked suspension with wider front and rear tracks, plus a mad aero kit featuring a huge rear wing and canards aplenty. Thanks to the extensively altered bodywork, it develops 660kg of downforce at 150mph.

Our favourite bit though is the powerplant: it’s a 3.4-litre Judd V8 which revs to 11,300rpm and develops 620bhp. Factor in that pithy weight figure and all that downforce, and you have a car which is astonishingly fast.

Enjoy the noise, and the sparks!