Dunlop Crowd Contests Clarkson SL65 Verdict

The Mercedes SL65 Black was described by opinionated blowhard, Jeremy Clarkson as “the most uncomfortable car in all of human history” during last Sunday’s Top Gear programme, though the public at large seemed to enjoy the car’s aesthetics as it was displayed in the Dunlop Drivers Club Stable Yard at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

At regular intervals between the celebrity interviews, Dunlop’s presenters had ‘pitched’ each of the cars Top Trumps-style to the crowd, asking them to choose a favourite. On two days out of the three, the public voted overwhelmingly for the Mercedes. Clarkson did concede that the car was “good looking” and referred to its stats as “mind boggling.”

James Bailey, Dunlop’s communications manager said; “We brought these three cars together because the manufacturers chose to specify Dunlop tyres as original equipment. When you’re dealing with road going cars like these, the only real thing that can separate them is going to be personal preference. I wonder which one Clarkson would have chosen from our three? They are three completely different approaches to creating a supercar, and each manufacturer has come up with their own version of handling precision and performance perfection.

“With these supercars, what defines them is not power output, or brute force, but how it delivers its own brand of stunning driver experience, with handling, feedback from the road and sheer thrill of the drive. Each of them is different, but all working on the fundamental building block of a highly engineered, high performance Dunlop tyre.”