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Friday, July 2, 2010
C-Class DR 520 launched
If anyone thought the C 63 AMG could do with a bit more grunt, Mercedes-Benz UK has the solution. It has unveiled the DR 520, available as either a saloon or estate and guaranteed to be exclusive with a production run of only twenty units.
Power from the 6.2 litre V8 is increased from 451 bhp (336 kW / 457 PS) to 513 bhp. That’s equivalent to 382 kW, or 520 PS - hence the name (the ‘DR’ part apparently stands for ‘dyno rated’). Torque is similarly raised from 600 Nm to 650 Nm, so prospective owners might want to sign up to any loyalty schemes their local tyre shops are running.
The improvements come courtesy of the AMG Performance Pack Plus, which includes forged pistons, newly-developed connecting rods, a revised crankshaft and composite front brake discs. But that only accounts for an extra 30 bhp. Curiously, Mercedes-Benz isn’t being specific about where it’s getting the other 32 bhp from. Probably a re-mapped ECU?
As expected, it’s a bit quicker than the standard C 63 AMG, with the saloon’s 0-62 mph (100 km/h) time reduced from 4.5 seconds to 4.1 seconds (the estate lags just 0.1 second behind). The speed limiter has also been adjusted, meaning the DR 520 will top out at 187 mph (300 km/h), instead of the usual 155 mph (250 km/h).
The colour choice is between a black or white matt wrap, something that either looks the business or is a bit too ‘Max Power’, depending on your viewpoint. The alloy wheels and grille get a titanium finish, plus there are DR 520 badges on the wings and boot lid.
Available only from the Specialist Products Division of Mercedes-Benz World at Brooklands, Surrey, prices are £62,430 for the saloon and £63,680 for the estate. That’s a premium of around £10,000 over the 451 bhp C 63 AMG, or £5,000 more than a C63 AMG fitted with the optional Performance Pack Plus.
Power from the 6.2 litre V8 is increased from 451 bhp (336 kW / 457 PS) to 513 bhp. That’s equivalent to 382 kW, or 520 PS - hence the name (the ‘DR’ part apparently stands for ‘dyno rated’). Torque is similarly raised from 600 Nm to 650 Nm, so prospective owners might want to sign up to any loyalty schemes their local tyre shops are running.
The improvements come courtesy of the AMG Performance Pack Plus, which includes forged pistons, newly-developed connecting rods, a revised crankshaft and composite front brake discs. But that only accounts for an extra 30 bhp. Curiously, Mercedes-Benz isn’t being specific about where it’s getting the other 32 bhp from. Probably a re-mapped ECU?
As expected, it’s a bit quicker than the standard C 63 AMG, with the saloon’s 0-62 mph (100 km/h) time reduced from 4.5 seconds to 4.1 seconds (the estate lags just 0.1 second behind). The speed limiter has also been adjusted, meaning the DR 520 will top out at 187 mph (300 km/h), instead of the usual 155 mph (250 km/h).
The colour choice is between a black or white matt wrap, something that either looks the business or is a bit too ‘Max Power’, depending on your viewpoint. The alloy wheels and grille get a titanium finish, plus there are DR 520 badges on the wings and boot lid.
Available only from the Specialist Products Division of Mercedes-Benz World at Brooklands, Surrey, prices are £62,430 for the saloon and £63,680 for the estate. That’s a premium of around £10,000 over the 451 bhp C 63 AMG, or £5,000 more than a C63 AMG fitted with the optional Performance Pack Plus.
C-Class DR 520 launched
If anyone thought the C 63 AMG could do with a bit more grunt, Mercedes-Benz UK has the solution. It has unveiled the DR 520, available as either a saloon or estate and guaranteed to be exclusive with a production run of only twenty units.
Power from the 6.2 litre V8 is increased from 451 bhp (336 kW / 457 PS) to 513 bhp. That’s equivalent to 382 kW, or 520 PS - hence the name (the ‘DR’ part apparently stands for ‘dyno rated’). Torque is similarly raised from 600 Nm to 650 Nm, so prospective owners might want to sign up to any loyalty schemes their local tyre shops are running.
The improvements come courtesy of the AMG Performance Pack Plus, which includes forged pistons, newly-developed connecting rods, a revised crankshaft and composite front brake discs. But that only accounts for an extra 30 bhp. Curiously, Mercedes-Benz isn’t being specific about where it’s getting the other 32 bhp from. Probably a re-mapped ECU?
As expected, it’s a bit quicker than the standard C 63 AMG, with the saloon’s 0-62 mph (100 km/h) time reduced from 4.5 seconds to 4.1 seconds (the estate lags just 0.1 second behind). The speed limiter has also been adjusted, meaning the DR 520 will top out at 187 mph (300 km/h), instead of the usual 155 mph (250 km/h).
The colour choice is between a black or white matt wrap, something that either looks the business or is a bit too ‘Max Power’, depending on your viewpoint. The alloy wheels and grille get a titanium finish, plus there are DR 520 badges on the wings and boot lid.
Available only from the Specialist Products Division of Mercedes-Benz World at Brooklands, Surrey, prices are £62,430 for the saloon and £63,680 for the estate. That’s a premium of around £10,000 over the 451 bhp C 63 AMG, or £5,000 more than a C63 AMG fitted with the optional Performance Pack Plus.
Power from the 6.2 litre V8 is increased from 451 bhp (336 kW / 457 PS) to 513 bhp. That’s equivalent to 382 kW, or 520 PS - hence the name (the ‘DR’ part apparently stands for ‘dyno rated’). Torque is similarly raised from 600 Nm to 650 Nm, so prospective owners might want to sign up to any loyalty schemes their local tyre shops are running.
The improvements come courtesy of the AMG Performance Pack Plus, which includes forged pistons, newly-developed connecting rods, a revised crankshaft and composite front brake discs. But that only accounts for an extra 30 bhp. Curiously, Mercedes-Benz isn’t being specific about where it’s getting the other 32 bhp from. Probably a re-mapped ECU?
As expected, it’s a bit quicker than the standard C 63 AMG, with the saloon’s 0-62 mph (100 km/h) time reduced from 4.5 seconds to 4.1 seconds (the estate lags just 0.1 second behind). The speed limiter has also been adjusted, meaning the DR 520 will top out at 187 mph (300 km/h), instead of the usual 155 mph (250 km/h).
The colour choice is between a black or white matt wrap, something that either looks the business or is a bit too ‘Max Power’, depending on your viewpoint. The alloy wheels and grille get a titanium finish, plus there are DR 520 badges on the wings and boot lid.
Available only from the Specialist Products Division of Mercedes-Benz World at Brooklands, Surrey, prices are £62,430 for the saloon and £63,680 for the estate. That’s a premium of around £10,000 over the 451 bhp C 63 AMG, or £5,000 more than a C63 AMG fitted with the optional Performance Pack Plus.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Autolux
I have been waiting years for Autolux to release the follow-up to their debut album, Future Perfect, and that follow-up is almost upon us. The new album is named Transit Transit and will be released in the US on August 3rd.
If you're not familiar with Autolux, they're a three-piece from California that makes music which could be categorized as shoegazer, krautrock or simply experimental, though I hear shoegazer mentioned the most in regards to their style. There is definitely a bit of Kevin Shields in their sound, but there is a lot of Sonic Youth and Led Zeppelin too. Their drummer, Carla Azar, formerly of Ednaswap, is simply a monster behind the kit. Greg Edwards, their guitarist, formerly of Failure, is wonderfully noisy and chaotic. Eugene Goreshter is the bassist and lead vocalist, although all three members share vocals from time to time, but his breathy and haunting voice is impossible to forget once you've heard it.
A lot of people saw Autolux on tour with Nine Inch Nails a few years ago, and it's become a running joke that Transit Transit was a contender for the title of the new Chinese Democracy as it had been in gestation for so long. In the band's defense, they were on a Sony subsidiary when they released Future Perfect, but due to poor sales they were dropped and spent their time since working on new music, looking for a label and touring. Much of Transit Transit had been written and performed live for several years, and the album has been completed for about a year and a half at the very least, but the band knew they needed some kind of support for sales and distribution, so they continued looking for that one elusive label they would sign with. That label ended up being TBD Records, a subsidiary of Dave Matthews' ATO Records that handled the US physical release of Radiohead's In Rainbows, and ATP Records for the album's European release.
With the new album's release being just over a month away, the band has made the first single from the album available for free download via their official site. It's called Supertoys and it's great! They also released the song Audience No. 2 for free download with the option to make a donation via their site, and it will be on the album as well.
If you like these tracks, please support the band. Going to their shows or purchasing their merchandise is great if you're not going to buy the music, but that doesn't mean people should simply be downloading the album when it comes out. Despite being on a label with good distribution, these guys are truly indie, so if you like the songs please download the album when it's released on August 3rd. The band will really appreciate it. Until then, I'm providing links for their website, the front page of which has a link for the download of Supertoys, and a separate link for the Audience No. 2 page as I don't believe it's directly accessible via their site any longer. And if you like what you hear and don't want to wait till August 3rd, their first album, Future Perfect, is still available for purchase digitally via iTunes or Amazon, and it really is incredible. Hope you dig Autolux like I do!
Autolux's Official Website with link to download Supertoys
Autolux - Audience No. 2
Autolux's Wikipedia Reference
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