Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren in Gran Turismo 5 and Gran Turismo 4 Pictures ...

GT4 2003 Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren

Today's pictures are of the GT4 2003 Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren.

Sporting a coat of Crystal Galaxit Silver, it is being put here through its paces at Nuerburgring Nordschleife.

It is not the first Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren on this blog as there is also this Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren but it is the 2009 model and with a 19-inch wheel option to boot.

Here is what the GT(5) file on the car says:

"The revival of the SLR name; a supercar born in a collaboration with McLaren."
 
The concept version of the SLR McLaren was unveiled at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit in 1999. It was the talk of the town, and everyone wondered if Mercedes-Benz was indeed going to build this supercar. The answer came at the 2003 Frankfurt Auto Show when a production version of the car was displayed. As the same suggests, the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren was built alongside McLaren Automotive of Formula 1 fame.

The SLR was a supercar of the highest order. It featured a carbon-fiber unitized body, ensuring low weight, which by the way was a lean 1768 kg, more than 200 kg lighter than the SL55 AMG. Under its hood sat a supercharged 5.5-liter V-8 with dry sump lubrication that produced a whopping 616 HP at 6500 rpm and 575.7 ft-lb of torque from 3250 to 5000 rpm. The SLR had the same 5-speed automatic that the SL used, but added sport, comfort, and manual settings.

The brakes featured SBC (Sensotronic Brake Control), a brake-by-wire system, with carbon-ceramic discs at all four corners. The front calipers were 8-pot Brembos while the rears, also Brembo had 4-pots. The suspension system consisted of double wishbones at all four corners.

Used this car to win the Mercedes-Benz event and get the 2000 Benz CLK Touring Car.

GT5 1954 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Coupe

My GT5 garage presents today a 1954 Mercedes-Benz 300 Coupe in Graphitgrau which looks more like off-green to me (on a TV screen but I can see it's grey on the computer).

Premiered in New York City at the 1954 Auto Show, this one is a truly classic car named by at least one major source the "Sports Car of the 20th Century".

1400 were made during 1955-57.

Engine: 2,996 cc straight six.

Performance: top speed of 235-260 km/h (146-162 mph); 0-60 mph (97 km/h) in 10 secs.

Those are gullwing doors. In fact, this car pioneered them and gave  them their name as with the doors opened it resembled a seagull.

GT6 Isuzu PIAZZA XE 1981

The GT6 1981 Isuzu PIAZZA XE.

Exported to the US and known there as the Isuzu  Impulse.

Presented here in Cafe Au Lait... aka "coffee with milk". Why not call it "Latte" and be done with it?

The car is also the creation of the famed Giorgetto Giugiaro's Italdesgn Studio.

 Quoting...

The elimination of external drips, substituted by an output channel in the door pillar and rear window, integral doors and rear doors only seen before in some dream cars, now they suddenly become, with the Isuzu Piazza, mass-production elements, evolutionary, copied by hundreds of the following models.

Great news even inside of the car. Near the instruments panel there are two adjustable satellites that contain the controls and they can be operated with the hands without removing the thumb from the steering.

Produced in 1981, Piazza (a.k.a. Impulse) well sold, during the first six years, more than 100.000 cars.

Unfortunately, the GT6 Isuzu Piazza is not a Premium car, so there is no peeking at the famed instrument cluster, grouped around the steering wheel column and movable with it.

So I pull one from the Internet, okay? It's from a US-version Isuzu Impulse.

At Nuerburgring, during a free run.

GT6 Opel Vectra 3.2 V6 2003

A 2003 Opel Vectra 3.2 V6 in my GT Garage.

And why not? It won the Schwarzwald League in National A for me, despite being not the most obvious choice of a car.

For Opel, the 2003 Vectra marked a rebirth of the marque with which it tried to gain a foothold in the executive car segment.

As the GT6 info file notes, the 2003 Opel Vectra could not boast of something called "sexiness" or enthusiast appeal but the high level of basic performance was guaranteed.

My brother had a 2003 Vectra since replaced several times over. The only major breakdown was when the electric power steering broke, I think.

I had to upgrade it some -- a lot in fact. The first and last -- Cape Ring and Nuerburgring were pretty easy to win but in London it was tough beating an M3.

Cape Ring South