Auto News 5

LE CASTELLET, FRANCE – Circuit Paul Ricard has kilometers of runoff. The track is exquisitely maintained and should be the setting of the French Grand Prix, again, especially when you consider its owner is Bernie Ecclestone himself. So who’s afraid of 600 horsepower (converted from the European count of 622 horses), just 47 ponies (60) more than your garden-variety Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT? Who’s going to notice if you’re the auto journo to overcook it in a corner and spin into that runoff, kick up some pebbles and flat-spot the tires?