Mercedes C63 Amg 6.3l 481 Hp V8 Diamond White Amg Performance Package Porcelain on 2040-cars

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Race recap: 2016 Monaco Grand Prix gets very wet, a little wild

More than at any other race, the Monaco Grand Prix question is: which combination of demolition derby, Safety Cars, and bad pit strategy will decide the podium? Last year Lewis Hamilton's late, confounding pit stop cost him victory. The year before, Nico Rosberg's qualifying "mistake" put him on pole and Mercedes-AMG Petronas' pit strategy sealed his win – good for Nico, bad for Hamilton and the rest of the field. In 2013 Hamilton dropped from second to fourth when he lollygagged in the pits. In all three years, Rosberg won. The new X factor for 2016: a Red Bull resurgence that helped Daniel Ricciardo clinch his first career pole. Nevertheless, bad pit strategy had its say in the results. Ricciardo built up a 13-second lead by Lap 15 in spite of heavy rains that forced the Safety Car to lead the first eight laps of the race. Ricciardo stopped on Lap 23 to switch to intermediate tires for the drying track, ceding the lead to Hamilton. Hamilton pitted from the lead on Lap 31 for softs, then Red Bull pulled Ricciardo in again on Lap 32 and made a snap decision to put him on ultra softs, but the tires weren't ready when Ricciardo reached his pit box. What should have been a three-second pit stop turned into a 13.6-second pit stop. Ricciardo left the pits as Hamilton came down the straight and the Aussie lost the lead into the first corner. Despite two attempts to pass later in the race, Hamilton finished first, the Aussie second. It's the second race in a row where pit strategy cost Ricciardo a near-certain win. Conversely, Force India nailed both tire strategy and pit timing with Sergio Perez. The Mexican started in eighth but got into third before half the race was done, passing four cars in the pits, and finished on the podium's final step. Otherwise the order barely changed from about half distance, with Ferrari driver Sebatian Vettel in fourth, followed by Fernando Alonso in the McLaren, Nico Hulkenberg in the second Force India, Rosberg in the second Mercedes, Carlos Sainz for Toro Rosso, Jenson Button in the second McLaren, and Felipe Massa taking the final point for tenth for Williams. Storms didn't only hover over the area, though – dark clouds hung around several teams and drivers. Mercedes' reliability is no longer so reliable. The Silver Arrows suffered engine issues on both cars in qualifying, and Hamilton's problem almost kept him from setting a time in Q3.

Carlsson SLK 340 Judd is winged up for hill climb glory

Carlsson has been expertly tuning Mercedes-Benz products for more than 20 years now, but we can't say as we remember the outfit turning out anything quite so racy as this SLK 340 Judd that it has brought along to the Geneva Motor Show this year.
This SLK is meant for competition, obviously, and Carlsson has already booked the car to race in several hill climb events in the E1 category. The purpose-built racer should have a fighting chance to do well in said races, with a shape vetted in wind tunnel testing for maximum downforce, the SLK uses a carbon-fiber bodyshell to help achieve a curb weight of just about 1,720 pounds.
The featherweight SLK's name comes from its 3.4-liter V8 engine, which churns out a wicked 610 horsepower to go with its 317 pound-feet of torque. A Hewland transmission with paddle shift operation manages all of the thrust.

2014 Mercedes-Benz B-Class ED has 87-mile range, 84 MPGe

Well, that extra weight had to be felt somewhere. With Mercedes-Benz getting ready to start US sales of its B-Class Electric drive this summer, the big question was how well its range would stack up against other electric vehicles sold in the States. Turns out, the Benz is a bit of a juice hog. Let's say up front that the 87-mile single-charge range of the Mercedes-Benz actually stacks up nicely against its competition, since that distance puts the new model right in line with the Nissan Leaf and BMW i3 (we'll ignore the Tesla Model S for a second, here). You can find the numbers at the US Department of Energy's FuelEconomy website. As far as miles per gallon equivalent ratings, though, the Benz's steel frame makes it come up short, as it's about 1,300 pounds heavier than the carbon-fiber-body i3 and about 600 pounds heavier than the Leaf. The B-Class EV has a bigger battery than the i3 or the Leaf (36 kWh compared to 22 kWh for the i3 and 24 kWh for the Leaf) and that's one reason the car gets an 84 MPGe rating, which is about 26 percent less than the Leaf's and 32 percent less than the i3's. But at least the local utility companies will be happy. Mercedes-Benz priced the 177-horsepower B-Class ED in April at $41,450, or $100 more than the i3. Check out Autoblog's First Drive impressions here.