Talk to the residents of
America's Pacific Northwest and
some will tell you about strange
things that live in the forest.
Creatures, sightings, terrifying
beasts prowling through the woods.
And I'm here to tell you it's all
true.
[MUSIC]
The monster is yellow with carbon
fiber teeth, forged alloy claws,
and a ravenous appetite for
unsuspecting sports cars.
It's called the 2014
Mercedes Benz SLS AMG Black Series.
Be very afraid.
[SOUND] Can the 622 horsepower
brute from Affalterbach,
Germany be tamed?
Will onlookers
wet themselves at the mere sight of
its towering wing?
Is this the best sporting machine
AMG has ever made?
As I rocket through the boundless
Oregon green,
toward the foothills of Mount Hood,
that's what I intend to find out.
[SOUND]
[MUSIC]
This Is the AMG SLS Black Series.
The base SLS makes 563 horsepower.
The GT model 583, and as if you
didn't think that was enough,
the 6.2 liter V8 in this one makes
622 horsepower.
That's what I'm talking about.
[SOUND] To handle all the
horsepower, the SLS Black Series
gets these new Michelin Pilot Sport
Cup 2 extra grippy compound.
Order the aerial package and you
get this carbon fiber rear wing,
and you get this carbon fiber front
splitter.
Makes the car look exactly like its
GT3 racing sibling.
Carbon ceramic brakes now standard.
They're not only more powerful.
They reduce overall weight by
about 35 pounds.
Engine revs are up to 8000 RPM
redline now.
Titanium exhaust system, lighter
and even better, really loud.
[SOUND] I begin my drive in
the coastal Oregon town of
Florence, near the magnificent
Siuslaw National Forest.
Florence became world famous in
1970, when local authorities
attempted to blow up a dead beached
whale using 20 cases of dynamite.
[MUSIC]
We simply couldn't pick
a better color for
attacking the mountains here.
In the thick and
dark Oregon woods, the black series
stands out like a fiery comet.
I haven't been this pumped up
about a test drive in a long time.
A couple years ago,
I had the good fortune to be one of
the very first journalists to drive
a prototype SLS
at the Nürburgring Nordschleife.
But the production SLS that
came out was fast, yes, but
also a bit rough around the edges.
This car is
supposedly better in every way.
[MUSIC]
[SOUND] I'm really looking forward
to these next few days.
I just hope I can
find a dry road somewhere.
[SOUND] With intermittent
rain showers thwarting my
initial attempts to wring out
the Black Series.
I detoured to Oregon
State University in Corvallis,
where researcher, David Hurwitz and
his team at the School of Civil and
Construction Engineering are using
a driving simulator to test ways to
improve driver awareness and
motoring safety.
Well, David, this to me, looks like
a very expensive Ford Fusion on
blocks, but it's really a very cool
driving simulator you have here at
Oregon State University, isn't it?
>> It sure is.
>> Tell me a little bit
what you can do with this.
>> Well, through a tool like
driving simulation, we can expose
real world drivers to dangerous and
risky crash scenarios in the
relative safety of a laboratory.
>> Okay, and is there any motion
involved with this system?
>> Yeah, so this particular system
we call it an electric hitch
motion system.
And it gives you plus or minus 4
degrees of motion forward and back.
>> All right, let's try.
[MUSIC]
I'm about to take my first test
drive in a simulator here.
Already, it feels very authentic.
I've got cars whizzing by me.
I can hear them
coming up on my right side, or
over across the other way.
And we'll try accelerating
away here.
I'm gonna get a little pitch, so
I feel the acceleration.
Not very fast, it is a Fusion.
I can see the cars in
the rear view mirror.
Proper signals, of course.
[SOUND] And as soon as he goes
past me, he slams on the brakes.
It's just like real life.
>> So we can collect an enormous
amount of information about
the abilities and
limitations of drivers.
And as a civil engineer,
I'm interested in taking that
information and
improving the built environment,
designing better signs, signals,
pavement markings and
roadway alignments.
We've studied a couple of
different things.
We've done a lot of work at
signalized intersections.
We're particularly interested in
how drivers respond to things like
the yellow light.
What their deceleration patterns
look like, what factors contribute
to them continuing through
the intersection,
slowing down and stopping.
>> Well no, visit to a driving
simulator would be complete without
trying out
the 3D version of Grand Theft Auto.
Drive it like you stole it, right?
We're losing it.
This is like Ronin.
Just hit a land rover head on.
I always wanted to drive
right into a KFC.
Boom!
And I'm off the end of the road.
That was very creepy.
That I did not enjoy.
What the simulator proved
is interesting,
as it was entertaining.
But as I climb back into my very
real, very, very fast, Black
Series, now I know how it feels to
fly of the road into oblivion.
And once is enough.
[MUSIC]
[SOUND] Well, with all this rain, I
feel a lot more like Michael Phelps
than Lewis Hamilton.
But even in sub-aquatic mode,
I'm learning a lot about this
SLS Black Series already.
First, the driving position is just
about perfect.
The wheel back in my hands and
I can see all the gauges perfectly.
This fat Alcantara wheel is great.
It's got the paddle shifters
where I want them.
[SOUND] The steering
is just sublime.
Even when it's wet out here,
I just can't believe how much grip
this car has.
And you just turn the wheel
slightly off center and it bites.
And lastly,
as you obviously can hear for
yourself, this incredible 6.2 liter
V8, 622 horsepower.
The torque is actually down,
compared to the GT model.
But the final drive ratio's
been lowered, so the car is
actually even more responsive.
[SOUND] Just listen to it.
With that titanium exhaust system,
it's a little lighter,
it's thinner,
more sound comes through.
[SOUND] What a sound.
[SOUND] Woo.
[SOUND]
[MUSIC]
Right now, I have the feeling
producers of the chase car
are laughing their asses off.
Look at this shit.
It's been raining for
two straight days.
Arthur, you're gonna love it up in
Oregon.
It hardly ever rains.
[MUSIC]
When you're driving an engineering
marvel like the Black Series, you
can't help but be drawn to similar
feats of machine-making genius.
And one of the biggest ever made
lies inside the Evergreen Aviation
Museum in McMinnville.
[MUSIC]
You can't drive a car like
the SLS Black Series without having
extraordinary machines filling
your mind.
And when it comes to aviation,
there's nothing like this plane.
This is the Hughes H4 Hercules,
you might know it
better as the Spruce Goose.
A lot of critics liked to
call the plane Spruce Goose because
it a, irritated Howard Hughes,
the builder, and b, they didn't
know what they were talking about.
The plane is mostly
made out of birch.
We snagged a private tour with
museum director, Larry Wood.
>> So the flight was less than
a mile, less than a minute.
There's some spruce in the keel,
and there's some mahogany, and
there's some balsa, and
all kinds of other stuff sandwiched
in between the layers of birch.
But most of it's the birch.
He was terrified that the hull
would split and it would sink, so
he put beach balls
between the frames.
I think the guys blew
these back up.
But the one in the display case
still has 1947 air in it.
On your way home, stop by Walmart
and ask to buy a beach
ball to hold air for 65 years.
>> The actual flight deck of
the Hercules.
So this is the actual seat that
Howard Hughes sat in when he flew
this airplane on November 2nd,1947,
for the first and only time.
Right here, the aviator.
[MUSIC]
For a pilot like me, this
is a moment I'll long remember.
Well, it was exciting because
he had taxied around that morning
told somebody before he went out if
it felt right he was gonna fly it.
Nobody knew he was gonna fly.
[MUSIC]
He was sitting up here and
it felt really good for
the first time.
And so, he said to Grant when they
got turned into the the wind
the second time, give me 15 degrees
through the flaps.
The only reason they put the flaps
down is you're gonna take off.
So, he accelerated to 95 miles
an hour and
he's holding it on the water.
He just holding it right on top of
it, so it's like a hydroplane.
And he's just sitting there with
enough pressure to keep it from
going off, and
either he let the pressure go, or
it finally got going fast enough,
it brought itself off.
[MUSIC]
All of the naysayers silenced,
Hughes set the Hercules back down.
The aircraft never flew again.
The Evergreen collection can keep
me spell bound for days.
But we've got miles of roads still
waiting to burn, and the Black
Series is getting impatient.
[SOUND] So we know that
the SLS Black Series is one
extreme sports car.
In fact, its capabilities are so
high it's really kind of wasted on
public roads.
You really need to open this baby
up on a race track.
But the question is, can you live
with it as a daily driver?
My answer to that is,
where do I sign up?
[SOUND] This car is quite livable
as you roll the miles on for
hours and hours on end.
The seat, as I mentioned,
really holds you in place.
It's like an Armani G suit.
It just wraps around you and you
feel very comfortable and secure.
Okay, it's not a town car.
It's not pillowy soft.
It's stiffer than even the base SLS
in its cushiest setting, but
it's not harsh.
It doesn't beat you up.
I've been driving for hours and
hours, and I feel fine.
It's got all the comfort features
you want in a normal luxury car.
For instance, the audio system is
a Bang & Olufsen unit with 1,000
watts.
I'm telling you when it comes
to the SLS Black Series, guys,
what's not to like?
[SOUND]
[MUSIC]
When it comes to cranking out
cheese, the folks at Tillamook even
top old Ed Wood.
I'm talking 167,000 pounds of
the stuff every single day.
That's a lot of cheese, man.
Well now that we've
been to Tillamook,
you may be asking yourself, Arthur,
what do fine Oregon dairy products
have to do with a hyper-fast,
hyper-expensive German super car?
That's a fair question.
But on today's Black Series menu,
we'd like to introduce
you to an exciting new item,
race start with cheese.
[MUSIC]
Time to do a little exploring
in Oregon's most populous city.
Not only is Portland beautiful,
but I hear they've got donuts with
bacon on them.
[MUSIC]
You can't come to Portland without
stopping at Powell's Bookstore.
Naturally, I had straight to the
section reserved for connoisseurs
of intellectual enlightenment.
[MUSIC]
While the SLS is briefly parked
downtown, I meet local musician
Laura Ivancie who offers to sing me
a song in exchange for
a blast in the Black Series.
>> [LAUGH] I love my life.
[SOUND]
[MUSIC]
[LAUGH] Love.
>> If you've ever seen the quirky
series Portlandia,
you've seen Voodoo Doughnuts.
The place has become the must-do
joint for anyone visiting Portland.
I hear I've simply
got to sample their world famous
maple bacon model.
But when I arrive late at night,
I find a line long enough for
a rock concert.
I'm almost tempted to leave but
then I see the Voodoo Doughnuts
motto, the magic is in the hole.
All right, I'll stay.
We have been in line for
35 minutes.
But, these are apparently the best
donuts in all of Portland.
Maybe the world.
Hi, I understand there's a donut
here that has pork in it?
>> Bacon. >> Bacon.
Bacon and?
>> Maple.
>> All right, I need two of those
and a captain crunch.
There's bacon on this donut.
That's bacon.
Kids!
It's phenomenal!
It's unbelievable!
It's the best [BLEEP] donut I've
ever had in my life.
I like the vibe here.
Relaxed, smart, a city remote and
affordable enough to lure in free
thinkers, artists,
anyone seeking the unconventional.
And the coffee, the coffee rocks.
After several hundred miles
pounding through rain and
muck, the Black Series
is looking really filthy.
A local suggests I hit up
the friendly guys at MotoCorsa,
Portland's Ducati dealership.
Service director Nico Giorgiadis is
more than happy to share some suds
and a few fresh towel.
In 2010, MotoCorsa was named
the number one Ducati dealership
in all of North America by selling
61 new Ducatis in a single month.
The place is a sport bike shrine.
[MUSIC]
At last, the sun is out, the roads
are open and the forest awaits.
Near the base of Mount Hood,
I finally let the Black Series fly.
[SOUND] Good lord.
[MUSIC]
God it's fast.
I forgot the safe word.
This thing isn't a car,
it's a Wagnerian opera with
a steering wheel.
[MUSIC]
Well, that was just unbelievable.
I don't know how to put it
any other way.
There are very,
very few cars in the world that can
do what this Black Series just did,
just stick to the road like that.
Knock your head back.
Crack off those downshifts and
brake with such ferocity.
I haven't driven a sports car in
years that's knocked my
socks off like this one.
But you might ask is there anything
wrong with the Black Series.
And I'd say, yes.
This one, as equipped,
will give you only a few dollars
back from a $300,000 bill.
So, I can't afford it.
Mercedes is only gonna import
around 200 or
less to the United States.
So, even if I win the lottery,
there won't be any left.
The SLS Black Series makes
a monster,
like the Aston Martin Vanquish,
it looks like a pretty boat anchor.
This thing is that much quicker,
that much cooler.
This is the most bad ass car.
I just can't get over
how much I love it.
I love, love, love this car.
Mercedes.
[MUSIC]
Somewhere down below my life of
deadlines and commitments awaits.
But right now,
right here, it's just me and
my monumental yellow machine.
Carving through the endless sea of
green, tires howling and
right foot down as I rocket onward.
Gaining altitude and speed.
[MUSIC]
We're gonna derail the damn thing.
>> No, it's not gonna derail.
>> Aah!
[MUSIC]