The back-and-white prototype appears over the gentle rise in the wide main straight and spears past us, pursued by the deeply penetrating bark of its V8 engine. As it accelerates past, the front end lifts ever so slightly under the strain of power being delivered to the rear wheels. The car has a low set and an unmistakably cab-back profile. From our vantage point on the pit wall, it's curvy but lean and distinctly retro.
This is the 2010 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG, and the official line from Stuttgart is that AMG development chief Tobias Moers is simply testing it here on the 2.2-mile Sachsenring circuit, an hour or so from Dresden, Germany. This is the last in a long series of development tests for the SLS supercar over the past two years, and it's meant to be the last stage before the production version will be revealed in September at the 2009 Frankfurt Auto Show.
But the car's disguise isn't fooling us. What we're looking at — and indeed about to drive — is the production-ready Mercedes-Benz Gullwing in all but name. Apart from a few rough edges, this is the 2010 Mercedes-Benz SLS, the same car that will come to the U.S. next year.
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