The Mercedes-AMG GT R is now a roofless Roadster

We’ve been familiar with the Mercedes-AMG GT R for a good while now. An AMG GT with more aero, more power and a bit less weight, plus some crucial chassis mods.

We’ve also seen what happens when Mercedes-AMG chops the top off the GT to create the GT Roadster. Basically, it’s a 21st Century AC Cobra. A Dodge Viper with German table manners.

Until now, AMG has shied away from combining the GT R’s 577bhp engine, its OTT wings and splitters, and its top-of-the-rangeness with the topless bodystyle. As you can see, the temptation has proved too much. Spot a topless GT sporting a gigantic wing atop its boot and you’ll know you’re looking at the ultimate in roofless Mercedes sports cars.

Spec is lifted wholesale from the awesome GT R coupe. You get an extra 46mm of girth from carbon fibre widebody panels. You get 577bhp from the 4.0-litre bi-turbo V8. You get rear-wheel steering and a nine-stage traction control system that’ll basically train you to drift. Or fall off. Your call.

You get from 0-62mph in 3.6 seconds, and a top speed of 197mph. Would you believe, it, those are exactly the same numbers the hard-top posts. AMG reckons the drop-top is no slower. And from our experiences with the GT C Roadster, we’d bet it doesn’t feel altogether floppier either. The car weighs 1,710kg including a 75kg driver – 80kg up from a 1,630kg GT R hard-top.

Despite the lack of roof rather wrecking the car’s airflow, we fancy, AMG has kept all of the enhancements from the GT R coupe. The front wing’s blades, the active underbody spoiler which extends 40mm closer to the road to create 40kg of downforce at 155mph, a rear wing you could sleep under in a hurricane and stay bone dry… it’s all still present and correct.

Only 750 GT R Roadsters will be built, for a fee somewhere north of £150,000 we expect.

Should this be the new F1 safety car? After all, the racers are all open cockpit – why not let the best-sounding car on the grid go topless too?