A little over a month ago, RENNtech unveiled the C74, a menacing, wide-bodied Mercedes C63 AMG. While it looked great with its DTM-racecar-inspired bodykit, the Florida-based tuner wasn't really satisfied with how it huffed and puffed. Enter the Akrapovic full titanium exhaust system, which lightens the car by 43 lbs (20 kg) and squeezes out 12 extra ponies and 16 lb-ft (22 Nm) of torque, giving it a truly angry bellow. Check out the video after the break to hear it for yourself.
A stunningly beautiful woman, dressed in an overly tight black outfit, is slowly walking in front of you, swinging her hips to an imaginary tune. On which part of the female body do you look at first? I know, it's a tough question.
The CLS' design team had the same dilemma, albeit they were curious which parts of the car catch the eye first. So, like any good Germans, they went on and devised some complicated eye-tracking device and studied people's reactions when confronted with the new CLS.
Not surprisingly, the results say that all the key design cues that mattered were looked at first. But what about that young lady? Check out the video after the break to find out and do share your thoughts with us on the Mercedes or the young lady, your choice.
If you're a fan of realistic driving games likes the Gran Turismo, then you're really going to dig this one. Meet Mercedes-Benz's professional driving simulator that comes with a 360o, precise landscape imagery and a twelve-meter long rail for transverse movements. The driving simulator, however, was not made for racing games but to help the German manufacturer to "research the behavior of the driver and vehicle in road traffic even more intensively".
Shaped like a hexapod, the simulator cell contains a real Mercedes model inside and is mounted on six mobile legs. A 360 degree projection screen simulates a realistic traffic scene, with oncoming vehicles, moving pedestrians and urban surroundings.
The vehicle controls are linked to a computer capable of calculating the behavior of the car more than 1,000 times per second, so whatever the test driver does the effects are the same as in real traffic situations. Accelerate hard and the noise of the car rises. Brake hard and it dives.
I'm not sure what happens when you try to drift, but hydraulics and electric motors can move the cell transversely by up to twelve meters – and at a maximum speed of 36 km/h (22 mph) – so at least double lane-changes can be simulated.
Scroll down to watch a video of grown men playing in the name of science.
