If you're after attention grabbing
looks in your mega money ride
than the new SLR Speedster will
be just the thing. A last hurrah for
the SLR, Mercedes-Benz and
McLaren are developing this
windscreen-less 'speedster'
model that's due to go on sale
next year. Lightened and more
driver focussed, this unique SLR
does without any weather
protection and will need to be
driven with a helmet on thanks to
its extreme no windscreen
d e s i g n . Remi n i s c e n t o f
Mercedes' old 300 SLR Silver
Arrows racers the speedster is
expected to be produced in a
series of just 75 cars.
To get your hands on one of them
it's rumoured you'll need to
deposit around £600,000 into
Mercedes' bank account, many
likely to consider that a small
amount to pay for the most
extreme, most focussed and
fastest SLR ever to be built. Only Customers have been offered
a unique opportunity to get
involved in producing their
perfect supercar with its One-
77 model. Details are
relatively scarce, but what is
known is that the One-77
features a carbon fibre
backbone chassis, a 7.0-litre
V12 engine and aluminium
bodywork. It's thought that just 77
examples will be built, each unique to its owner's
specific requirements. The lucky few who can afford
the £1.2 million asking price will be offered
personalisation that goes a good deal further than the
usual choice of leather and paint colours.
One-77 buyers will be able to specify body alterations,
whether it's a two or four seater, or even possibly
whether they'd rather have a drop-top example. That's
achievable thanks to the hand-built nature of the car,
the One-77 harking back to the days where owners
could choose a chassis and have bodywork coachbuilt
to their requirements. Aston likes to think of its One-77
as a car as art, and when looked at that way it's actually
not bad value at all - if you're used to dropping tens of
millions on Van Goghs.
Ever since the Veyron was introduced there have been rumours that Bugatti would build an open
version. Those rumours were finally confirmed a few weeks ago when Bugatti announced it would
officially unveil the Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport at the Pebble Beach Concourse d'Elegance,
California. The open-topped Veyron might have had some of its thunder stolen by Pininfarina's
Hyperion reveal at the same event, but with plenty of ridiculously wealthy customers at Pebble
Beach it's likely the order book is still brimming.
After all, who wouldn't want an open-topped Veyron, the Grand Sport's removable roof section
allowing you to enjoy the magnificent sound of the Veyron's 1001bhp engine. It'll mess up your
hair too, up to and beyond 200mph - Bugatti not saying whether the Grand Sport is able to match
the coupe's headline top speed. Not that speed here is the issue, the Grand Sport more likely to be
enjoyed by mega-moneyed owners at a more sedate pace, roof off to let others know that they're
doing very nicely indeed. They'll have to be too, with a rumoured price in excess of £1.2m.