Black flagged

FLICKING THROUGH EVO 283 THE MERCEDES AMG GT Black Series caught my eye. Oh look, I thought, a pretty tasteless incarnation of a Mercedes that will no doubt have a ridiculously powerful engine, little finesse, but a relatively affordable price tag. And then I looked at the figures. £335k?! They have to be kidding, surely?

The GT Black Series looks like it’s been driven through a branch of Halfords in 1995 at the height of the Max Power era, and whilst the overall power output of 720bhp sounds impressive, a car like the McLaren Arturo that’s featured a few pages before has a higher top speed, a lower 0-62mph time, is virtually half the price and will undoubtedly hand the AMG its bum on a plate around corners where it matters. The McLaren also looks like a bespoke supercar as opposed to a production car that’s been fed drugs and dressed aggressively.

I can’t imagine who is going to buy the AMG… Oh, hang on: Premier League footballers, US wrestling stars and American football heroes. I think that possibly sums it up.

AMG seems to have cornered a market for