Mercedes McLaren SLR 722 Edition (2007) CAR review

Are you telling me this beast has 722bhp under the bonnet?

Not quite. The 722 – or the Mercedes-Benz McLaren SLR 722 Edition to quote its full name – is a limited run of tweaked SLRs, named after the Mercedes 300 SLR that British racing legend Stirling Moss and his co-driver Dennis Jenkinson drove to victory in the 1955 Mille Miglia race from Brescia to Rome and back. The number actually refers to the time - 07:22am - that they started the grueling 1000-mile race, and they completed it at a record-breaking average speed of 100mph.

Hmm. This has the fishy whiff of marketing about it.

You could well be right. SLR sales have never lived up to Mercedes’ expectations, and special edition models with more power, honed dynamics and greater driver engagement are always a sharp hook with which to go out and snag some more buyers. If it works for Porsche… The left-hand-drive 722 series will be limited to 150 models worldwide, and will cost around £350,000 depending on the Sterling-Euro exchange rate. Mercedes opened up its order books to prospective buyers when the 722 was unveiled at the Paris Motor Show last September. All UK-bound 722s have already been snapped up.