Heading into the first Grand Prix no-one can claim for certain they’re going to win a race this year. But Mercedes can guarantee they’ll lead one – because they provide the safety car.
There’s a brand new safety car this year based on the SL 63 AMG. See below for high-resolution pictures.
Mercedes-Benz SL 63 AMG F1 Safety Car 2008 1 (high-resolution)
Mercedes-Benz SL 63 AMG F1 Safety Car 2008 2 (high-resolution)
Mercedes-Benz SL 63 AMG F1 Safety Car 2008 3 (high-resolution)
Mercedes-Benz SL 63 AMG F1 Safety Car 2008 4 (high-resolution)
Mercedes-Benz SL 63 AMG F1 Safety Car 2008 5 (high-resolution)
Mercedes-Benz SL 63 AMG F1 Safety Car 2008 6 (high-resolution)
Mercedes-Benz SL 63 AMG F1 Safety Car 2008 7 (high-resolution)
Mercedes-Benz SL 63 AMG F1 Safety Car 2008 8 (high-resolution)
Mercedes-Benz SL 63 AMG F1 Safety Car 2008 9 (high-resolution)
Mercedes-Benz SL 63 AMG F1 Safety Car 2008 10 (high-resolution)
Mercedes-Benz SL 63 AMG F1 Safety Car 2008 11 (high-resolution)
Mercedes-Benz SL 63 AMG F1 Safety Car 2008 12 (high-resolution)
Mercedes-Benz SL 63 AMG F1 Safety Car 2008 13 (high-resolution)
Mercedes-Benz SL 63 AMG F1 Safety Car 2008 14 (high-resolution)
Mercedes-Benz SL 63 AMG F1 Safety Car 2008 15 (high-resolution)
Mercedes-Benz SL 63 AMG F1 Safety Car 2008 16 (high-resolution)
Mercedes also supplies the medical car which is a C63 AMG Estate. They have supplied safety and medical cars since 1996 using these models:
Safety Cars
1996: C 36 AMG (W 202)
1997-99: CLK 55 AMG (C 208)
2000: CL 55 AMG (C 215)
2001-02: SL 55 AMG (R 230)
2003: CLK 55 AMG (C 209)
2004-05: SLK 55 AMG (R 171)
2006-07: CLK 63 AMG (C 209)
2008: SL 63 AMG (R 230)
Medical Cars
1996: C 36 AMG (W 202)
1997: E 60 AMG (W 212) starting with Grand Prix in Imola (Italy)
1998-2000: C 55 AMG (S 202)
2001-03: C 32 AMG (S 203)
2004-07: C 55 AMG (S 203)
2008: C 63 AMG (S 204)
Scootin159
7th March 2008, 21:28
Just curious, what is the pace lap speed in F1? Is there an official speed (aka NASCAR’s 55mph), or is it just "as fast as the safety car can go… safely). I know they definately go considerably quicker, but is it just up to the safety car driver to see how quick he can go, or is he limited to some artificial speed?
M Smith
7th March 2008, 22:28
I heard from Martin Brundle that while driving safe, the safety car is going nearly flat-out.
The new safety car looks fantastic, and very fast.
Alianora La Canta
7th March 2008, 22:37
It is up to the safety car driver to determine what is safe. However, the driver is meant to take the capabilities of the F1 cars as well as of his own vehicle into account. So if the F1 cars can’t keep up with the safety car (as per the Nurburgring last year), then the safety car driver should slow down accordingly. Usually though, it is as Martin Brundle says and the safety car is close to flat-out, in order to minimise the tyre cooling effect and the problems cold tyres can cause on re-starts.
Brendan
8th March 2008, 1:08
Looks great. IMO if Mercedes is supplying the safety car, it really has to be an SL. Seeing anything smaller leading a Grand Prix just looks goofy.
Becken
8th March 2008, 15:28
Keith, Who was driving the safety car in fuji 2007? Do you the know driver´s the name?
Ratboy
9th March 2008, 1:35
Mercedes make those god awful Smart car/shopping trolleys right? try having one of those as the safety that would be funny :)
daniel
9th March 2008, 13:09
who come its always a "standard" car thats acting as safety car? came to think about it. why not a modified old f1 car? then they would be able to keep the speed at those parts of the track where theres no accident and drivers could keep their tires warm. guss it might be a sponsor/pr thing, or?
Matthias
9th March 2008, 13:38
@Becken: I think, Bernd Mayländer drove the safety car as always.
Scootin159
10th March 2008, 12:48
Daniel… my guess is because they need something a bit more ‘reliable’ than the old F1 cars were. Could you imagine if they needed the safety car NOW, but had to wait for the engine to properly warm up before sending it out on track?
Ritehsh
14th March 2008, 19:14
just curious, why all safty cars are always mercs?? any special life time contract with FIA ? ;)
JavierS.
23rd March 2008, 20:03
It is always funny to see the safety car… a street car with some mayor upgrades leading all the other F1 cars… i was in brasil 06 (Schumi’s last race) and you could hear the race car at flat-out. Here’s an idea.. I know mercedes has a F1 car, but could the safety car be a bugatti veyron? instead of having the SC flat out to keep up with F1 cars, you have a car ABOVE F1 in speed. I guess it would to expensive to keep the veyron.. still everybody would die to have te SC for their own
Nestor Leone
25th March 2008, 15:41
Sometimes before ’96, a couple of Countach were used as safety cars….. but just for 1 or 2 races (one of them was in Canada) . Nothing steady.
It would be great to see supercars as SC. But I guess that it must be ruled which cars are allowed and previously planned as everything is in modern F1. There is a 15 o 20 year deal with AMG.
15 years ago and before… F1 was a little less down on small details as it is today.
AmericanTifosi
26th March 2008, 12:30
The SL 63 would be a really beautiful car if it hadn’t been sat on sometime during the design process. I think the perfect safety car would be an Audi R8.
(P.S. it should be called the SL 62, it’s not really a 6.3 liter engine.)
AmericanTifosi
26th March 2008, 12:34
The Bugatti Veyron’s absolute top speed is faster than what an F1 car will go on a track. If you let an F1 car go for the 4-5 miles it takes the Bug to get to 253 mph, it would exceed it. The estimated top speed of an F1 car is about 300 mph.
greg
28th August 2011, 13:54
em… you mean 300 Kph not Mph
G
27th March 2008, 2:38
The F1 cars absolute top speed is irrelevent and will vary based on gearing and aero settings (plus tyre rating) – somewhere above 280 mph is certainly feasible with a long enough straight.
Bradley
5th April 2008, 15:28
I once went 85 mph down hill in my old metro 1 litre to over take a lorry, the only trouble was I slowed down to 55 mph going up the following hill, the lorry then over took me.
James
7th June 2008, 5:42
Yeah but the 63 nameplate bears the traditions of those old-school 6.3L V8 mercs. All about the history
Billy
10th June 2008, 15:58
Going slightly off topic, but the only good thing about safety car periods at the moment is getting to hear the fantastic resonating roar from the AMG Merc.
David Fraser
25th July 2008, 20:40
Some really odd suggestions for safety car replacements here. However, I remind everyone that “safety” is a pretty important word here. So being faster than the Merc is not such a good thing. It wouldn’t be pretty if a Veyron or old F1 car found itself wedged in a marshal’s post. So yeah, safety car is meant to DECREASE speed of F1 cars for the marshal’s sake, non?
jakobmy
29th July 2008, 17:26
its a great car nice sound great engine beauty of a car
Roadie John
7th September 2008, 17:05
Fantastic, The Safety Car always sounds sweet as it hurtles off around the circuit before the race starts. Especially today (Spa) just before the race. Yep, I think to own an Ex-Safety Car would be pretty damn cool!!
Harry
1st February 2009, 10:45
My Cousin Is Going To Be In The Pace Car For F1 Australia!
jamie turay
17th May 2009, 15:51
my dad had an old silverstone sc it was a 928 porsche 4.7ltr left hand drive dogg leg box. it was great not sure if it was upgraded but it was fast i had it on the spot in 4th spinning the rear wheels great bit of kit.