speedriven | billet-wheel turbos

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LOOKS SPINNY TO ME

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It's been a November here at Speedriven, and we've been pushing forward with our first batch of "production-ready" turbo upgrades (shown, above).

As you can see, the Speedriven Mercedes turbos feature all-new billet wheels, as well as re-machined housings and manifolds, which are then ceramic-coated to further improve the upgraded turbos' thermal efficiency. Every moving part is new or re-worked, and every static part is machined, honed, or coated to deliver the best possible response without heat-soaking after long runs.

Speedriven's billet-wheel turbo upgrades are also listed on the products page over at Speedriven.com, and are now available for all 2003+ biturbo V12 Mercedes, AMG, and Maybach cars, starting at 5990 USD for the turbos + tune.

busy bees

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In the past 6 weeks (since this) I have criss-crossed the country several times, put thousands of miles on the Routan, signed papers, written checks, and consumed ungodly amounts of coffee at several of this nation's finest rest-stops.

Why have I been doing all this?

There are many answers (as is the way of such things) but I've narrowed it down to the two most simple and obvious answers:

• I'm moving to be closer to my son.


• It's all part of the 5-year plan.

The part about being close to my boy should be pretty self-explanatory. Living in Florida with him and his mom in California was tough, but living in Ohio with them in Chicago (so close, yet so far) was unbearable. Now I'm in the same state, close by, and planning to become a much bigger part of his life ... which will be good for us both, I hope.

That second part about the 5-year plan is a bit trickier to explain, but over the course of the next few days (think "Texas Mile") all will be revealed.

SO, stay tuned for some philosophy, tuning, and more wikked-sikk project cars from all involved.

bernd drives the sl65 black

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Both of my long-term readers know how excitable I get whenever someone mentions an SLR or any of the soon-to-be-legendary AMG Black Series cars, so it should come as no surprise to either of them that the video above gave me fits when Yann the intern sent it over to me.

This MBTV video is different from the 4 or 5 other MBTV videos of the SL65 Black Series I've posted because it includes driving impressions from German super-ace Bernd Schneider!

Ya, well ...

It's still an SL65 Black video, so sit back and enjoy!

silver sl65 from renntech

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With the recent Orlando Isuzinator and sordid tales of masturbating hookers, I thought it was time to post something nice again - and THIS, dear reader (that would be you, Rick) is a NICE car.

What you see here is a 2009 SL65 AMG Mercedes-Benz that we've massaged with our ECU and TCU software upgrades, remote-ready digital lowering module, and new RENNtech Signature series 10 spoke, 3 pc rims.

This car first made the media rounds as PR for RENNtech's new SL-offset wheels, and also marked the first time we used chrome hardware with the brushed satin ceramic finish. The end result (I think you'll agree) is just stunning, even before you hear the rumble of the twin-turbocharged V12.

This car is currently for sale. I'll post the link shortly, until then, you'll have to CLICK HERE to see more pics of the car.

Enjoy!

black sl65 ... if not sl65 black

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Another dark and story afternoon in South Florida almost meant that there would be no new photos of this black 2009 SL65 AMG ... a shame, really, since this would likely be the last SL to wear the limited-edition diamond cut 1 pc. RENNTECH Monolite wheels (it really was limited - and not just by how many we could sell!). The key word, obviously, being "almost".

As young Cress pointed out: "that 65 looked SIKK out there", and I was able to snap off a few quick shots of the hastily dried-off car in between the downpours.

The end result, I think, looks great - and, while it's not the "all about Arizona" news week I had previously promised (not my fault: there's been a new SLR speedster, SL65 Black Series, and a few more "secret" rumblings to keep me busy these past few days) I hope you all find it somewhat entertaining.

Click on the pic above to go to the Flickr site, or CLICK HERE for more photos.

sl65 black series reveal

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It's 6:15 on Friday, so this will be short - but there will be more chaos and madness over the weekend (surely!?).

Late yesterday, Mercedes-Benz' AMG division revealed its long-awaited SL65 Black Series. The new coupe, roughly 500 lbs. lighter than its convertible R230 siblings, adds new turbos and software to the familiar 5.5 bi-turbo V12 to produce 661 hp and 738 lb-ft of torque ...

... while this may be enough to put the jitters into a stock SLR McLaren (no doubt "benchmarked" by all involved at AMG) it's still a bit shy of a PKG2 RENNTECH SLR.

Just sayin'