Performance cars need lots of air to make big horsepower. This fundamental truth has seen automakers adopt all kinds of fancy grilles and hood scoops to get more oxygen into their engines. When it came to building the Mercedes-Benz SLR, though, the German automaker came up with an altogether more innovative solution. What if a massive hood ornament could also be an air intake?
Think about it for a minute, and it kind of makes sense. Ideally, you want to get the coolest, freshest air into the engine, particularly when using forced induction. This helps make the most power while keeping temperatures in check. It would be great to stick a round pipe right out the front of the hood to suck air into the throttle body with as straight a path as possible.
In most vehicles, that would be impractical from a styling standpoint. When it came to the Mercedes-Benz SLR, though, it was no trouble at all. The engineers were able to pull it off just by punching some holes in the badge! All thanks to that instantly recognizable three-pointed star.
The Perfect Logo
The root of the famous Mercedes-Benz logo stretches all the way back to 1909. It came from nascent automaker Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft (DMG). As the company tells it, the Daimler brothers chose a logo that was inspired by a postcard sent by their father many years before. It denoted the family home, marked by a three-pointed star. The company would merge with Benz. & Cie to become Daimler-Benz, with the new outfit adopting the three-pointed star as a part of its badging.
The logo developed over time into the simplified form we know today. The three-pointed star, sitting in a thin-rimmed circle, which came to emblazon all of the company’s automobiles. For a long time, the logo existed as a stand-up emblem on the end of the hood, in the luxury car tradition. However, as the 21st century took over and pedestrians grew wary of getting impaled on fancy ornaments, Mercedes-Benz began to switch things up. It took the simple three-pointed star and enlarged it, giving it pride of place in the grille on more models, front and center.
It was the 2003 Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren that perhaps showed off this design feature to the fullest. The supercar was the result of a collaboration between the British and the Germans with legendary designer Gordon Murray at the helm.
The SLR was an outrageous project from the outset. In Murray’s own words, it was intended to take on the big guns at Ferrari, Lamborghini, and Aston Martin. The British designer had to wrestle the project into shape, taking the original clumsy plans for a front-engined car and developing it into a front-midengine beast that could actually take the fight to the competition. The final car boasted an advanced bonded carbon fiber chassis, and a mighty supercharged V8 good for 617 horsepower. But how to get all the air into that engine?
Thanks to the SLR’s engine configuration and placement, the solution was simple. The 5.4-liter V8 sat in the traditional longitudinal layout driving the rear wheels. The engine also used the conventional “cold-vee” design, with the intake manifolds in the center of the “V.” With Murray’s influence, the engine was mounted well behind the front wheels, which put the throttle body pretty much right in the center of the engine bay. Thus, it made perfect sense to throw an air filter and intake directly in front of the engine, fed from the front grille.
Now, Mercedes-Benz could have given the SLR a more conventional front-end design. A regular badge on a regular grille, with a scoop behind the grille feeding the airbox. Instead, the engineers realized the badge itself could directly feed the air intake—they just had to punch segments out of the three-pointed star.
In the final design, the badge was integrated into a phallic sort of hump running down the center of the hood. The badge was big enough that it didn’t act as a restriction for the engine, and the simple circular design made it easy to adapt for this purpose.
It’s kind of funny to think that a logo designed in 1909 would have performance benefits almost 100 years later. You couldn’t easily pull off the same feat with a Peugeot, Ferrari, or Porsche without seriously hacking up the visual design.
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Panorama of two Mercedes SLR McLarens alongside the two TVR Cerberas used as test mules during development
byu/Mega_Dunsparce incarporn
You can see evidence of the unique setup in the test mules, too. Grainy photos show a pair of TVR Cerberas that were hacked up to host the SLR drivetrain. One of them quite obviously hosts the badge intake poking out of the bulbous hood.
However, as below, the badge intake does not appear on the earlier Vision SLR concept that preceded the actual production model. It appears to have come about later in development, perhaps also as a result of Murray’s insistence on moving the engine rearward for better weight distribution.
The badge intake is just one of many unique features on a very unique car. The SLR was also prized as a more usable supercar—fitted with the very best Mercedes-Benz switchgear, it eclipsed many rivals in the quality stakes. It also notably used the humble 5G-Tronic automatic gearbox, as seen in the regular old E-Class and even the Porsche 911. It’s seldom talked about, but that meant the SLR also hit the streets with two reverse gears.
Regardless of how tidy the idea was, it didn’t stick around. The SLR never really got a direct sequel, but later supercars like the AMG SLS went with more conventional grille designs. As easy as it was to plumb the mighty M155 V8 with a straight shot intake right to the badge, it didn’t prove so practical or useful for the rest of the company’s lineup.
Still, if you find yourself engineering a high-performance car for a brand with a circular logo, consider adopting this nifty trick from the Germans. You’d probably have to resurrect Holden, or convince Volkswagen to produce a front-engined, rear-wheel-drive roadster, but the hard work will be worth it. Drop me a line when you’re done.
Image credits: McLaren, Mercedes-Benz, Broken-Sphere CC BY-SA 3.0
“However, as the 21st century took over and pedestrians grew wary of getting impaled on fancy ornaments”
Um, no.
The hood ornaments that stand up are anchored by springs that allow them to flex and flatten when moved or hit by the pedestrians. Some have the sensors and mechanism that automatically retract the ornaments into the body quickly like this. That is required in Europe and the international markets that subscribe to ECE WP.29 vehicle regulations.
Mercedes-Benz and Mercedes-Maybach still offer the hood ornaments. So does Rolls-Royce and Bentley.
The Americans inexplicably didn’t consider this feature for the US market despite its penchant for coming up with numerous safety regulations to protect the occupants but not the pedestrians.
Dear author, you missef the mark on a lot of things here and inject some assumptions that just aren’t true. Please check your facts on mercedes and their heritage of racing and the SL/SLR… almost disgraceful to read some of what you wrote. Maybe not entirely wrong but doesn’t fit the history or design choices of this car.
Amen. This article was a disaster, as was the title. It’s pretty disingenuous to claim that the badge is part of the engine when it’s clearly part of the air intake system, which is separate from the engine.
There’s a gap between the hood and the grill on my 2017 Honda Accord that feeds, and actually rams, relatively cool ambient air into its intake manifold. It’s a cool air intake that doesn’t look boy racery. Granted, my car’s engine doesn’t inhale as much air as a McClaren SLR, but it is clever engineering.
The air intake on this car was to mimic formula 1. The author has a lot wrong here. If you look at the history of the SL or even SLR there was never a hood star. But look at the nose cone around the star on the McLaren, formula 1 mimic as at the time the 2 were partners at the time. I’ve spent over 25 years working for MB and am one of the few certified to work on this car.
Congrats on getting that certification. That’s pretty rarified air.
I retired from my software job as one of two in the US who did what I did. Now they fly people from Asia or Europe in if something needs to be done on site. Ordinarily, the work I did can be done remotely over the internet. But some customers are wired in a way where they want a hostage until they feel like the job was done.
“ Ideally, you want to get the coolest, freshest air into the engine, particularly when using forced induction”
False. Cool air is far more important for Naturally Aspirated.
Think about it, with intercooled forced induction you are heating the air up through compression and then cooling it down through intercooler. That air is still much warmer than the atmospheric air or the engine bay air. I can easily make up for drawing warm air in the engine bay with a better intercooler.
Since you are feeding the engine with well above atmospheric pressure air the temperature of it has less of an effect on power.
Consider a supercharged engine with air to water intercooler. The water is typically engine coolant (although sometimes its own separate loop). Regardless, that water temp ends up much higher than the air in the engine bay.
Obviously cool air is best for both applications, but it has much less of an effect on forced induction. There’s other minutiae like higher temp potentially causing pulled timing to prevent knock.
This doesn’t negate my point that:
‘Ideally, you want to get the coolest, freshest air into the engine, particularly when Naturally Aspirated.’
But still, having colder air would reduce the temperature of the air after it gets compressed
100% I mentioned that cool air is still best for both NA and FI.
One could argue that in intercooled engines, the cool air is more effective cooling the intercooler than the initial intake. Both would be ideal.
“However, as the 21st century took over and pedestrians grew wary of getting impaled on fancy ornaments…”
Owners got tired of the ornaments being stolen.
Maybe! But there are literally pedestrian impact regulations that played a role here.
But the 3-point star on the hood folded over with any significant physical pressure. The spring that held it in place was just strong enough to resist being bent backwards by aerodynamic force at elevated velocities. But I could bend it back with my little finger. I know. I did it at an auto show.
The hood ornament on a Jaguar was a far more lethal styling element.
Alan is right. I’ve seen many missing Mercedes stars. Which is a testament to the sacrificial nature of their ornament. It was not an impalement hazard.
And compared to the massive front grills of domestic trucks, vans, etc., it was not that big of a deal.
I mean just look at any picture of a mercedes SL or SLR. They never had hood stars. The McLaren slr was styled with a formula 1 esthetic nose cone. Nothing to do with pedestrian safety. Lots of wrong info in this article.
The article doesn’t say they did. It says the emblem was used as a hood ornament on many of their models in the past. No mention of the SL or SLR in that portion of the article. It’s just background info on the logo.
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Not with this car. Mercedes SL and SLR never had hood stars. Unfortunately the author has a lot of info wrong here.
The large star on the grill rather than the small one on the hood had been how M-B designated its sport models. Now the grill star is on most of their models. Who knows their reasoning.
It used to be that sedans got a hood ornament and coupes got the badge integrated into the grill. Now Mercedes has muddied the waters quite a bit, but when the SLR was new, that was still the case.
…no! Mercedes literally *still* sells cars with hood ornaments. It folds down if you put any pressure on it, and it’s been that way for decades. Maybe do some more research before mailing easily debunked claims?
Uhm… mercedes SL and SLR never had hood ornaments. This has been the case for decades. Loss of the hood star for pedestrian safety had nothing yo do with this car.
Well, Mercedes-Maybach version of SL-Class has the hood ornament.
I’ve met many a prick whose S-Class, I thought, deserved the Mrs. Doubtfire treatment.
As for me, I prefer the Coupe, which hasn’t got the hood ornament.
That scene makes me lol. It is SUPER difficult to break off one of those hood ornaments. It was obviously staged, but doesn’t detract from the brilliance of the film imho.
It sounds weird to call any car at this level underrated, but SLRs are underrated. One of the best things Mercedes ever designed, wonderful use of little details, retro without being obnoxious about it, and Gordon Murray was partially responsible.
It was kind of a one-trick pony, but what a trick it was. I was doing a track day in my MR2 once, way back in the day, and got my damn doors blown off by one of those things on the front straight. I was doing 112 and feeling pretty proud of myself (hey, it was up a hill and it wasn’t the turbo version) when that thing rocketed by me like I was standing still. Sounded like a fighter jet.
Damn did I want one, and damn could I not even come close to affording one.
That panorama of SLRs and TVR Cerberas side by side on the high banked curve is pretty cool! And then there’s this iconic photograph from 1984 taken at what is presumably indeed the same test track showing a 190E sedan, a W126 sedan, and a 0303 *bus* which rather takes the cake: https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/images-by-url-td/content/2017/04/84f17.jpg?quality=85&w=1920
Daytona Speedway is banked at 31 degrees, and I think I remember that you have to do 90 mph to even stay on the bank. I wonder how fast that W126 is going? Or the bus?
Per a press release from Mercedes Benz as quoted by The Drive:
“Mercedes notes […] that once a car gets above 93 mph, the driver can take their hands off the wheel as the centrifugal force keeps the front wheels pointed straight.
For a little reference, the curve at NASCAR’s Bristol Motor Speedway only reaches 36 degrees, while this one goes completely vertical at its top. On approach, it literally looks like you’re about to drive into a wall. Mercedes notes the maximum speed on the turn is just shy of 125 mph—any faster than that and drivers are at risk of blacking out from the excessive G-forces.”
150 km/h is about 93 mph (hence the odd figure of 93 quoted by The Drive) and 200 km/h is about 124 mph.
The front end always reminded me of a Probiscis Monkey.
Or you could even hang some “truck accessories” under the intake, too.
Formula 1 nose cone is actually what this is based off of
I also love the way the SLR exhaust is routed, with each side having a muffler hidden in the fender and exiting out the sides in front of the doors. Like a more elegant Dodge Viper.
That is very clever, I never knew! Kinda surprised it’s the only application of this.
It’s not. Chevy used it on certain Camaro variants not too long ago. The “Flow-Tie” I think it was called.
didn’t the hellcats use a headlight for that too, leaving only the halo?
I mean, the Ford Fairlane Thunderbolt did this in 1964.
Yep!
I very well may be wrong, but I thought the flow-tie was just to increase airflow to the radiator, not to the engine intake.
I also may very well be wrong. I don’t Camero much.
I’ve always loved this car. The proportions, the details, the SOUND. Sure it wasn’t as fast as the Lambo or Ferrari, but this car just oozed sex appeal. This is John Bonham to the Enzo’s Neal Peart. They both make it to the end, they just get there wildly differently.
“The engineers were able to pull it off just by punching some holes in the badge!”
With the exception of recent cars with Distronic/Active Cruise Control (ACC) and the EQ lineup – the stars on the grilles of MB automobiles have always been open.
“integrated into a phallic sort of hump running down the center of the hood.”
That hump, along with the similar hump on that concurrent SLK, was meant to evoke stylistic imagery from MB F1 cars.
Finally someone that knows. Even the cars with hood ornaments took intake air from the grill area. And yes the McLaren was also to evoke the F1 nose cone.
The VW emblem used to be fully open too, but usually there was a prop for the bonnet latch right behind it, so I doubt it helped much for airflow
I love the SLR McLaren for purely emotional reasons
This must have been the inspiration for the Flow-Tie
Many years ago when I was looking at Camaros one that I was going to try to buy had a light up purple flow tie. Necessary? Absolutely not. Worth it? Hell yeah brother.
It was a nice spec too. V6 with the active exhaust. It sold the day before I was going to go test drive it, which was weird because 6th gen Camaros usually sat for months. I wound up test driving a different one and liked it, but not enough to buy one.
I’ll always have a 6th gen sized hole in my heart but the compromises they force you to make are just too much for me to want to daily in DC.
The tragedy of the 6th gen Camaro is it’s one of, if not the, top example of a corporation actually doing what we always beg them to and listening to enthusiasts when designing it.
The problem is, enthusiasts don’t buy new (except me lol), and the car rots away until it’s discontinued.
A Camaro that’s 10% less sharp and 10% more livable might have survived to a 7th generation.
IIRC the biggest issue is that the enthusiasts they listened to were 5th gen Camaro owners. They should have scouted and surveyed Mustang and 4 series owners and gone from there. I will fully argue that without the usability issues the Camaro would be entering its 7th generation
It’s hard to overstate the usability issues as well. I’ve had them as rentals a few times and by the end of the week or whatever I’m always thrilled to give them back. The biggest issue is they’re like trying to see out of a tank. I had one as a rental in Asheville last year and when you’re navigating urban streets the blind spots are borderline dangerous…and for god knows what reason there’s basically 0 safety suite standard in them.
There were multiple times when I just straight up couldn’t see people and they didn’t appear until a split second before trouble. I’m going to knock on wood, but it’s not like I’m a troublesome driver either. I’ve had my license since 2008 and I’ve only been in one accident and only gotten three tickets during the last 17 years. I can’t imagine how dangerous they are for the average inattentive driver.
On top of that the packaging is absurdly bad. The doors are so big that you can’t open them fully in a normal parking space. As a result they weigh an inordinate amount as well. The back seats are also unusable and the trunk opening is so small that you can barely get carry on through it.
And you know what? It’s dumb and frustrating because they’re some of the best drivers cars there are. I legitimately think the 6th gen Camaro is still my favorite car I’ve ever driven…but I could never live with one. They were so close to sheer brilliance but in typical GM fashion they found a catastrophic way to fuck up at the finish line.
I remember being blown away the first time I got into an S550 Mustang after driving a few Camaros. I was like “wait….you can actually LIVE with a pony car?!”….and it’s not even like Mustangs are the livability kings of that class either, the Challenger is even better on that front.
I was thinking of getting a 6th gen as a cruiser to drive out the 1200 miles form Ohio to Colorado a few times a year but there’s just so many more useable options. The Cadillac sedans share the platform but you can actually see out of them!
A CT4V BW is definitely an attainable dream car for me. I wish it had the LT1 V8 and the turbo V6 honestly confuses me because it’s somehow less efficient and less reliable than just putting the V8 they put in everything in it but it’s an exceedingly minor quibble/apparently it’s the only way they could sell them in Europe. My thermonuclear take is that I’d probably get the 10 speed too since GM knows how to tune it and it would be a cruiser/daily for me.
But anyway, yeah. The alpha platform rules. Get something on it while you can because its days are numbered.
If the ATS Coupe had carried forward into the CT4 spec, I’d own a Blackwing version thereof. Right now.
I just bought one yesterday
Congrats! Details, por favor.
Blackwing.
I swore I’d never buy used performance cars again, but made an exception for a 2k mile example loaded to the gills with every option possible plus added PPF/ceramic that was priced like a base model.
The guy who ordered it must have taken a $40,000 bath in under a year, which maybe is normal for EVs or Bentleys but has not been normal for CT5s in my research.
Anyways it’s mostly getting parked until spring but driving it 3 hours home yesterday I understand why the hype is what it is.
Looking forward to hearing more about it! Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your perspective) my car’s lack of size is already becoming an issue and I may need something bigger in the next year or two and the wife wants it to be an SUV.
I will say I really like the new 4Runner and the wife has already said she’d support it, so that may be the direction I go in. Plus I can pass it on to my son once he’s driving. I might even look at a pickup. I’ve sworn them off forever but with how heavily Ram 1500s are discounted and that hurricane 6 I may have to take a look.
It’s funny, I used to give people shit when they had a kid or two and were like WE NEED BIG CARS NOW but living it I actually get it. We’re out of town for a long weekend and my car literally doesn’t have enough space for both of us, the dog, and the little one.
The funny thing about kids is that they require the most space when physically smallest. The backward-facing seats, the strollers, the diaper bags, the pack&plays, etc.
Older kids have longer legs but the seats and required gear keep shrinking as they get older and once they’re into a backless booster (ours moved at age 5), they can fit about anywhere and don’t bring much stuff with them.
All that said, the 4Runner looks like a nice rig and while I’ve not been in a ’25 Ram, their interiors are top notch. My recommendation for anyone in a rust-prone climate is always an aluminum Ford, but maybe DC doesn’t go crazy with the salt?
I could also sell you my Holden lol. I have a guy who said he’s interested and who I’ve given right of first refusal, but if he ultimately passes I’ll need to list it.
To be fair, it ALSO COMES DOWN TO poor corporate decisions. Ms Mary B is getting rid of cars left right and center….
I was never a fan of the 5th gen Camaro. Too flat sided, half assed retro thing. But tightening up and modernizing the 6th gen made it look (to me, at least) 100x better. Once the 6th gen 1LE was announced I was sold, and plunked down for one in 2018. Fantastic car, and I knew the ‘drawbacks’ going in. I didn’t go into the purchase looking for a daily driver, it’s a sports car so of course there will be some compromises made for styling and such.
I test drove a 5th gen when they were relatively new and wasn’t impressed . . . it was small inside and I felt like I was driving a bunker.
I never drove a 6th gen, but I understand they were truly impressive machines – far more capability there than I have the talent to use, much less the time to take to the track where I could let it loose.
But then the 2019 “facelift” was gawdawful, even after the rescue changes in 2020. I wouldn’t have been caught dead in anything but a ZL1 for that reason alone.
Shame . . . I own a first gen and previously owned two 4th gen F bodies, all awesome cars. I hate what’s become of such a storied nameplate, and I feel like it’s more GM’s fault for mishandling the platform than there not being a market for the car.
I have a nearly identical story to this!
I recently used a reciprocating trim saw to cut out the plastic grille insert in our 2015 Odyssey to create a ram air intake.
Since you’re wondering, I’ll just say “+5hp and better throttle response”
pics? Ours needs one too 🙂
Having finally seen one of these in person, they are such an achingly pretty car.
Definitely better in person than in pics, but IMO too close to the SLK’s design (and not in a good way). Thankfully they have the chops to shut everyone up!
I disagree.
It looks like a Proboscis monkey