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The basics remain pretty much the same: this is still a 5.5-litre supercharged V8 driving the rear wheels through an automatic gearbox, but lots of other stuff - like aerodynamics, suspension, braking system, exhaust system and the interior - has been significantly honed by Mallock's outfit.

That gives us an SLR like no other. Something possibly more like the SLR that McLaren might have wanted to make in ethos, if not appearance. Kerbweight is down to 1,390kg, reduced by a not-inconsiderable 378kg from the road car's 1,768kg. To put that in perspective, an entire Ariel Atom only weighs 456kg. Gastric band levels of dietary commitment before we've even started, then.

The motor is largely stock - nothing wrong with 5439cc of ultra-reliable supercharged V8 with 626bhp and 575lb ft of torque in a stock SLR, except it's been re-worked slightly with a new exhaust and race electronic fuel injection to produce 670bhp and 612lb ft of torque. That's marginally up on the 722 special edition's outputs of 650bhp and 605lb ft of torque and pushing over 21 per cent less mass. And it wasn't a tepid car in the first place.

Zero to 62mph comes up in an entirely believable 3.3 seconds and the maximum speed is the only measurement down on stock at 315km/h, or 195mph. Strip that fixed rear wing off the back and it'll blitz 200mph with ease.

Mallock has even had a considerable crack at the suspension in an effort to make the SLR 722 GT more track-focussed. Because the demands of track work are so unlike the compromises necessary to make a good road car, the re-worked suspension comprises totally re-spannered geometry for both front and rear axles, a more hardcore anti-roll bar, wheels with adjustable camber and shocks with variable compression and rebound so the GT can be set up for specific circuits. No, it's not rocket science, but it's what RML does well - tried and tested ways of making a car go faster through the twisty bits.

The bodywork is similarly functional, despite its gay-Vader first impression. The bonnet appears to be more louvre than actual material and the new front apron and dirt-scraping bow splitter slash back into wider wings, fat, short, half-car length side skirts and venturi rear diffuser.

Gone is the SLR's trick aerobrake in favour of one of the biggest fixed-wing set-ups we've ever had in the Top Gear studio. And it's not just for show; push down on that wing and there's no flex, no movement. Lightweight, slick-shod wheels with central wheel knock-offs complete the picture, though if you take a good look there's plenty of other stuff that marks this out as more than just Pimp-my-Supercar.

Stuff like the little LED third brake light where the rear number plate should be. The interior that seems to have been binned in favour of a full carbon-clad FIA cage and the ubiquitous race car toggle switches. Gone is the leather cocoon, replaced by swathe after swathe of rattly, tinny, light and strong carbon. Gone is the aircon, gone is the stereo, gone is the centre console, gone is the, er... everything. The fat has been trimmed ruthlessly.