From the sublime to the ridiculous -- that pretty much sums up vaunted Mercedes-AMG tweaker RENNTECH's most recent 'handiwork'.
RENNTECH is renowned as the brains behind the stonking 722 tuning package for the already rapid Mercedes SLR McLaren supercar but -- as part of an April Fool's gag -- the Florida-based concern issued a press release about a baby brother to the uber-flagship.
The press release provides details relating to a steroidal Smart ForTwo dubbed the "7.22" -- in deference to the SLR 722 -- and, fictitious or not, the release makes for interesting reading...
Allegedly, the Smart 7.22 is stuffed full of two 1000cc, three-cylinder Smart engines, each mated to its own five-speed automatic transmission.
Keeping it nice and simple, one engine drives the front wheels, while the other drives the rears. Each of the drive units sits in its own subframe, complete with its own ECU and electronics, making the process fairly straightforward.
"Since each engine and transmission assembly is completely isolated, there is no need to synchronise the two," boasts Hartmut Feyhl, RENNTECH's president and ex-technical director of AMG North America.
RENNTECH says its boffins used the Triumph Speed Triple motorcycle's torque curve as a guide and fiddled with the Smart's fuel maps until they were able to eke out 68 raucous, twitchy kilowatts at a stratospheric 11,800rpm.
The result is a loony twin-engined tearaway that makes the most of its 136kW by bolting to 60mph (96km/h) in 5.1sec, on its way to a top speed of 220km/h.
Of course, the rest of the package had to be beefed up to keep this newfound oomph in check, and the upgrades include a set of specially-designed 17-inch RENNTECH forged Monolite wheels wrapped in Michelin Pilot sport tyres.
Stopping power is uprated via 14-inch two-piece rotors and bespoke four-piston calipers.
We particularly like the SLR-mimicking "Go-eco" side pipes, which use "futuristic technology to ensure that the 7.22's only emissions are a blend of pure oxygen and a potpourri of fresh lilacs and honeysuckle!"
The price? A veritable bargain at $US39,990 (valid only on April 1).
Alas, while all this is merely the stuff of an overactive imagination, you should be aware that there are, in reality, some insane Ferrari-bashing Smarts in existence.
In fact, it's worth a quick visit to YouTube to check out some Suzuki Hayabusa-propelled Smart antics here...
While on the subject of April foolery, if you're wondering about the state of local motor racing after news of bourbon-based fuels and kinetic energy recovery systems for the Supercars, read here for confirmation it was all piffle.
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