Brabus claims in its official press release that it borrowed the idea from the world of yachting: a big and extremely powerful boat paired with a small tender for shuttling passengers to and from the mother ship. But then the Brabus-tuned SLR Roadster is no boat. Equipped with a tweaked 5.5-litre supercharged engine consisting of special camshafts, a fuel-cooling system and a clutch-type limited-slip differential has been fitted. Power is rated at a staggering 650bhp for a 0 – 100 km/h time of 3.6 seconds and a top speed of 337 km/h.
The car has been reskinned in white carbon fiber, with additional carbon-fiber aero bits as a front spoiler and a rear apron with integral diffuser. Brabus mounts 255/30ZR20 front tires and 305/25ZR20 rear tires — your choice of Yokohamas or Pirellis — on its own Monoblock VI Platinum Edition three-piece alloy wheels. The SLR’s cockpit has been upgraded with hand-stitched lipstick-red leather and black Alcantara. A flat-bottom Brabus sport steering wheel is trimmed in perforated leather and features paddle shifts. The dashboard, center console and door panels are made of carbon-fiber.
Awesome performance no doubt but the amount of usable power around town or in traffic is very little not to mention the hassles of parking such a wide and low beast which is where the “tender to the SLR” in the white BRABUS fleet comes in. The BRABUS ULTIMATE 112 drop-top two-seater based on the latest smart fortwo Cabrio represents the ideal complement for city driving. Finished in the same paint/fabric/leather including the waffle-patterned leather footwell trim, the tender gets a power bump to 112bhp, riding on 18-inch alloy wheels and performance tires. The automatic gearbox can be shifted manually via paddles on the Brabus sport steering wheel. While hardly in the same league as the SLR, the Smart is no slouch: 60 mph is reached in less than 9.5 seconds, with top speed electronically limited to 170 kmph. Other features include a height-adjustable coil-over suspension and a stainless steel sport exhaust.
