The crash you see in these photos happened sometime during the morning of July 15th, somewhere in Qatar. By looking at what was left of the Mercedes SLR, we can tell that the car was travelling at very high speeds. And, as you’d expect, the 22 year old driver instantly died. We don’t have any other details so far, so we don’t know if the driver lost control of the car or it had some mechanical problems. All we know is that this accident really is terrifying and shows, once again, that supercars might be really really cool, but they’re definitely dangerous.

More photos after the jump.
Read More: "Terrifying Mercedes SLR crash in Qatar"

Just as you were enjoying the new SLR spy shots, here I am to burst your bubble. The two companies will part ways in 2009. A Mercedes official said that they will not renew the agreement when it expires.

AMG will be making the new performance coupe from 2010, renaming it SLC. Just to confuse you a little bit more about all the Mercedes acronyms I guess.

Seems that Mercedes wants to focus on its core values again. After ditching Chrysler, they’re trying to get back to basics and be less distracted. They probably feel that their aura of engineering excellence is a bit dented after the reliability problems of the las few years.

The SLR had a moderate success, mainly due to a proce tag of around 452,000 Euros. They sold 1,577 of them, but they were plagued with technical problems.

We can only salute Mercedes returning to its old ways. Remains to be seen what the results will be.

Before Mercedes and McLaren split up, they’ve decided to make a last release with a 75 units, small series, of the SLR Speedster. Today, some spy-shots and short video of the SLR hit the Internet, and it’s rumoured that they’ve been “leaked” by the manufacturer, as a teaser.

While most of the manufacturer’s limited editions cars are presented with more gadgets than standard, or special luxury equipment, Mercedes and McLaren’s special edition has taken away some of the SLR’s equipment such as roof, side windows or air conditioning unit. Yes, the SLR Speedster is roofless and has a small wind deflector in front of the driver, pretty similar to Formula1 cars. The same treatment for the passenger.

With the weight loss speculated at about 200 Kg, the “rocket” will top out at 350km/h (13km/h more than the 722 version). Than, the Speedster will, quite literally, rip your head off. We were wondering, if instead of the “Air Scarf” system on the SLK and SL, the roofless SLR will be provided with racing helmets as standard equipment. It should, since the price of this model is estimated at 450.000 Euros.

The official unveiling is said to take place at the end of this month, and Lewis Hamilton will be attending the event. Check out more pictures and video after the jump.

Check out the video after the jump.
Read More: "Mercedes McLaren SLR Speedster: The headless horseman"

We’re sure this is bad news to every car fan around the world, because, even though it didn’t had the success it deserved (Mercedes planned on building around 500 units per year but managed to sell 261 units in 2006 and 275 in 2007), the Mercedes Benz SLR McLaren is a very spectacular super car.

Jointly developed by Mercedes-Benz and McLaren Automotive and built in England, in Portsmouth and at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, starting from 2005, the SLR stands for “Sport, Leicht, Rennsport”, which is German for sport, lights, racing.

And now, after quietly ending the SLR coupe production at the end of last year, it seems that the SLR production will end for good in 2009. And this will also mark the end of the cooperation between Mercedes and McLaren. Even though Mercedes owns 40% of the British company, they will not work together. Especially with McLaren preparing it’s own supercar, codenamed the P11, which is most likely to be introduced in 2011.

So, as we said, it’s sad to see the SLR coming to an end, especially with it being an important part in Mercedes’ and McLaren’s history and, why not, the auto history. However, we confort ourselves with the thought that, besides the P11, Mercedes will also come up with a supercar of its own and replace the SLR.

Read More: "SLR production to end in 2009"

The Mercedes Benz SLR Roadster is one cool supercar and everybody agreed on that. Apparently, the guys at Brabus didn’t think so and thought that it’s place for better, so they came up with this, the Brabus SLR Roadster, which is definitely a hot tuning program for the Merc. The car is powered by the same 5.5 liter supercharged V8 engine, but, with special camshafts, fuel cooling system and high-performance exhaust, Brabus engineers managed to squeeze another 24 hp, so it now develops 650 hp, sprints from 0 to 62 mph (100 km/h) in 3.6 seconds and reaches 209 mph (337 km/h) top speed.

And, of course, the Brabus SLR Roadster also got a new bodykit, with a new exposed carbon fiber front spoiler, Brabus rear diffuser and fully polished Brabus Monoblock VI 20 inch wheels, fitted with Pirelli and Yokohama tires. As you’d expect, the even more exclusive roadster got some exquisite interior features, like custom upholstery designs and a multitude of leather types and colors, waffle-patterned leather carpeting and Brabus carbon-fiber applications for dashboard, center console and door trim.

The car is currently on display at the Essen Motor Show, in Germany and you can see more photos of the super roadster after the jump.
Read More: "Mercedez Benz SLR Roadster by Brabus"