Despite the long nose and wide footprint, the Purespeed never feels unwieldy. There’s smoothness and precision to the steering, while the inclusion of rear-wheel steering, as on the standard SL, helps to rotate it quickly and cleanly into tighter bends.
There’s real fluidity to its actions over the more challenging Mille Miglia backroads; the chassis remains composed when there’s a sudden camber shift or the surface changes mid corner. Traction and grip are very strong. There’s no fuss, just lots of purchase. The inherent balance, aided by a slightly lower centre of gravity than the standard SL, makes it feel lighter and a lot more agile than its 1970kg kerbweight suggests.
A carbonfibre active aero element in the underbody reacts to AMG drive modes, lowering by 40mm at speed to create a Venturi effect, improving steering response and stability. It’s paired with underbody extensions adapted from the AMG GT 63 PRO, and a front-axle lift system to protect the bodywork when navigating kerbs or speed bumps.
The breadth of driving character is shaped by the nuanced tuning of the adaptive AMG Ride Control suspension, a combination of double wishbones up front and multi-links at the rear. From Comfort through Sport and Sport+, right up to Race, there’s a distinct shift in attitude, not just in throttle and damping response, but in steering weight, gearbox sharpness and exhaust tuning.
The race-car visuals hide a car that, in its softest setting, rides with a surprising degree of suppleness. It breathes with the road in Comfort, even over coarse and broken Italian bitumen, yet you can stiffen it dramatically when you want to.
You can loosen the electronic safety net with a flick of the rotary dial mounted on the steering wheel, and the Purespeed will oblige if you treat it with finesse. It’s not intimidating, but it doesn’t hand-hold either. This is still a roofless and windscreenless missile, capable of blasting to 62mph in 3.6sec and, so it’s claimed, of running to 196mph flat out.
