Very fun event and GWS did a great job with the track event. I had two students so I was busy most of the day. One of my students had an E55 AMG which was nice although I noticed when I drove that one back to back with my SL55 (same track condtions) in the E55 I couldn't feel the SC come on strong like I could in my SL; it was running fine the speeds showed that but it didn't seem as instantaneous; the E55 did between 135 and 140 at the end of the straight, and my sl55 did 150 fairly consistanty.

Here's the weird part...The undertray of my SL55 tore off during my first two sessions...at around 150 mph toward the end of the back straight before the braking zone is one possibility because I was not aggressively using the curbing like I do with the race car; I have to replace the front plastic cladding as well as the piece that goes over the steering rack area and the two plastic wheel liners that connect to that front plastic piece. The car did well overall for a heavy vehicle; it handled fairly well in sport mode with moderate mid corner push but it was predicatable and controllable, trailing thorttle oversteer was predictable and power-on oversteer was correctable. The street tires were not doing the car any help and were getting too hot; engine and drivetrain were fine, and the speed was what I expected right around, maybe a bit better as I expected somewhere between 140 - 150 top speeds for that track and ended up getting a consistant 150 on the straights going into the braking zones, with better tires, pads, and brake fluid I could have gone deeper/faster I'm sure. Still going those speeds each lap and twice a lap (front and back dtraights) was fun...no problem with engine cooling or heat soak).

I still have no idea how the plastic under cladding could tear out of the car on track, I mean this car is made to go those speeds regularly I would think? Any thoughts on this peculiar issue?

 

Thanks so much for a track report for your SL55.
I am planning on picking one up in the next 12 months and I do run track events as well.

Now I know I can have my cake and eat it too!!!

 

a part of the plastic may have been loose and when it caught the amount of wind that passes under, it just pulled until it gave way

 

yeah you may be right...I found it very odd that a car like this looses it's under-cladding plastic at 150mph; the car is designed for high speed cruising this should not have even been an issue