What's the news?
Good grief! The Frankfurt Motor Show (IAA) is going to see the global debut of the world's fastest, most powerful four-seater convertible in the world: the Brabus Rocket 900 Cabrio. Based on the already-pretty-quick Mercedes-AMG S 65 Cabriolet, this insane creation will go the wrong side of 350km/h, if you've got the nerve and can let it run...
Exterior
Various aerodynamic enhancements made of exposed carbon fibre are on the body of the Brabus and these can be finished in a matte or high-gloss protective coating - the IAA show Rocket will sport the latter. Incorporated among these carbon items are the front splitter (reducing front axle lift at high speeds), tailor-made surrounds for the air intakes, the door mirror caps, the rear diffuser, attachments for the side air vents in the back bumper and a spoiler on the boot lid.
Then there's the subtle badging, including 'B', Brabus and '900' logos here and there, a set of whopping ceramic exhaust exits and colossal Brabus Monoblock Platinum Edition 21-inch forged alloys. These are shod in 255/35 front and 295/30 rear ZR-rated tyres from Continental. Of course, 22s are an option, which have 25-profile rear rubber... yikes! Finally, the Brabus lowered suspension is calibrated specifically to the specialised tyres and drops the Rocket 900 by 15mm compared to an S 65.
Interior
Brabus says the interior of the Rocket 900 Cabrio is basically bespoke to customer order, although there are some showpiece features on the IAA car to give potential clients some pointers as to cabin styling. Mondial Vanilla and Mondial Black leather is used, while there are Brabus-branded aluminium components scattered within too, namely the race paddle shifts, the pedals and the door pins for the locking system. A Brabus speedo with a 400km/h reading is added, for obvious reasons, while there's another Brabus legend on the 12 o'clock-marked steering wheel. Hand-made black ash wood inlays and trim strips, black-and-red decorative top-stitching and illuminated Brabus scuff plates in the sills complete the look.
Mechanicals
Anyway, enough of the visual fripperies. Let's talk about the nuclear powerplant Brabus has installed in the engine bay of the Rocket 900 Cabrio. It is an evolution of the astonishing 6.0-litre V12 biturbo unit employed in the S 65, where it delivers 630hp and 1,000Nm to punch two tonnes of prime German soft-top from 0-100km/h in 4.1 seconds. Top speeds are the usual limited 250km/h, or an option to raise that to 300km/h.
That's not enough for Brabus. It strokes the V12 out to 6.3 litres, in the process forcing the formerly giant outputs of the AMG engine to dizzying numbers: 900hp (hence the car's name) at 5,500rpm and 1,500Nm at 4,200rpm, to be precise, which are enormous gains on something with 600hp+ in the first place. It's perhaps worth mentioning that these are test-bench numbers; Brabus has to limit the torque to a 'mere' 1,200Nm in the car, for reasons of drivetrain longevity and driveability.
Such rampant power only shaves two-tenths off the 0-100km/h time, the Rocket capable of a 3.9-second sprint, but that can surely only be an issue of traction off the line; presumably, once they're both rolling, the Brabus would murder the S 65 for acceleration. The top speed is in excess of 350km/h, so Brabus hasn't confirmed precisely how fast this thing is, and power flows to the rear wheels alone via a seven-speed automatic gearbox hooked up to a 40 per cent locking limited-slip differential. Somewhat worryingly, Brabus doesn't talk about the braking system but it must have had some sort of upgrade to cope with this tremendous thump.
It's obviously not just a remap of the S 65's ECU and, as we alluded to earlier, a Brabus billet-steel crankshaft bestows longer stroke on the 12-cylinder engine, hence the increased displacement. But that extra 300c is also due to the fact Brabus enlarges the bores of the block, with forged pistons and precision-balanced billet-steel conrods thrown into the mix to cope with 900hp/1,200Nm. Special exhaust manifolds for turbochargers that have larger compressor units and turbines are also added in, along with 80mm downpipes, a Brabus high-performance exhaust with active flaps and free-flow metal catalysts. The Brabus 900 intake helps to chuck great volumes of air down the 6.3 V12's throat via the duct in the bonnet, while a redesigned intake manifold and air filter box are incorporated. Gold heat reflection sheathing for the intake pipes helps keep the intake air temperature lower.
Anything else?
Brabus says its 850 6.0 Biturbo Cabrio, based on the AMG S 63 4Matic, was previously the world's fastest four-seater soft-top, so the 900 keeps the 'Blue Riband in the family'. The car's name comes from the mighty engine, as Brabus calls the motor the Rocket 900 6.3 V12, therefore it made sense to just call this open-top S-Class bullet the Rocket 900 Cabrio. And, if you're interested in having one, you've got two ways of going about it: either buy it as a complete car direct from Brabus, or hand over your current Mercedes-AMG S 65 Cabriolet and let the tuning house go to town on it, converting it to full '900' specification.