New car news

19 January 2009 - 11:00

Not quite dead

The McLaren-Mercedes SLR just won't die quietly, will it?

The big front-engined V8 supercar is set to be retired from service this year - hopefully to be replaced by McLaren's much-rumoured F1 successor - but it has spawned of host of spin-offs in its last days, from the fairly loony 722 Roadster to the certifiable yet gorgeous Stirling Moss Speedster (still want one very much).

And this might be the scariest of the bunch, the 777 Concept from German tuning firm Renntech. That 777 refers to - yep, you guessed it - the horsepower churning out of the SLR's 5.4-litre V8, up some 150bhp over the standard unit thanks to some modifications euphemistically referred to as ‘internal and external upgrades’. We're thinking ‘small nuclear reactor’.

As you'd expect, the 777 gets plenty of extra aero kit, a ‘revolutionary’ limited slip diff (which is surely what you'd expect from a diff, no?), and some not-very-legal-sounding performance tyres.

The 777 has been built to celebrate Renntech's 20th anniversary. Just imagine what they'll do for their 21st.

All the same, we'd rather take the Hamann Volcano, ta. OK, it's got a bit less power, but hell, it's called the Volcano. What more do you need?