To celebrate winning both the Driver's and Constructors' World Championships in the 2014 Formula 1 season, Mercedes-Benz has turned the SL 63 AMG over to its star drivers - winner Lewis Hamilton and runner-up Nico Rosberg - for them to create very limited, special editions. Lewis designed one and Nico the other, with just 19 of each to be produced - each one commemorates one of the tracks used during the championship.
Exterior
Called the World Championship 2014 Collector's Editions, Lewis' car is black, while Nico's is (by a process of elimination) white. In more detail, Lewis' car is finished in designo Night Black magno, with the same colour on the door mirrors, handles and wheel rims. Gold lettering, fins and stripes on the rear bumper are complemented by a chromed-black tailpipe. Rosberg's car is designo Cashmere White magno, with all the other detailing picked out in designo Himalayas Grey. Although he too chose a chromed black tailpipe.
Interior
The black and gold theme (maybe Lewis was a big JPS Lotus fan when he was a kid) continues inside Lewis' car, where the black seats have contract gold stitching. There's more black leather over the instrument panel and centre console, while the trim is all gold. Inside Nico's SL is grey leather, with deep white Nappa leather lower down. The interior trim is finished in same colour as the car's body. Both cars are highly specified, with an AMG Driver's Package, AMG Sports suspension, the Airscarf, a Bang & Olufsen BeoSound AMG system, a panoramic vario-roof with Magic Sky Control, AMG Sports seats and more.
Mechanicals
The same 5.5-litre twin-turbo V8 engine resides under the bonnets as in other SL 63 AMGs, although the top speed has been raised to 300km/h from the usual 250km/h. Buyers get 585hp and 900Nm to play with. Which is plenty, we feel.
Anything else?
There are 19 of each SL available, with each one personalised to one of the 19 circuits used throughout the season - making all 38 cars individually unique. The layout of each track features on the floor mats and in an engraving in the centre console, as well as on the ignition key. The cars will be exclusively offered to members of the Mercedes-Benz Circle of Excellence, with the cars primarily offered as 19 pairs first off. If they don't all sell as pairs, then they can be bought as one-offs. And the price? A pair of SL 63 AMG WC 2014 CEs will cost €629,510, while on their own they're €320,110 (those are German prices so don't even think about asking what it'll be after VRT). Although, for that, you also receive a helmet worn by Lewis or Nico, a special edition IWC Ingenieur watch, an F1 book signed by both drivers and an invitation to the opening race of the 2015 season in Melbourne. The cars will be handed over at the German GP in 2015.