A MERC Pro makes

THE yellow knob of bravery, or as the great Clint would say: “Do you feel lucky, punk?”

The knob in question is in the middle of the dashboard of this MercedesAMG GT R Pro – a mighty sports car that has, for the past week, impressed the hell out of the local school kids.

The knob allows you to dial in varying degrees of electronic assistance to prevent skidding and ultimately ending up in a field.

Turn the knob to the left and the amount of help given reduces. The more yellow lights displayed above the knob, the less traction control is provided until the lights go red and you are in the brown trouser zone.

The GT R Pro, to cut its name down to a manageable length, is MercedesAMG’s attempt to match the extreme cars that its neighbour in Stuttgart (that’s Porsche) produces. And it’s a pretty comprehensive piece of work.

Underneath the bonnet of this

£188,000 weapon we have Mercedes’

4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 that’s used in all the hottest AMGs, as well as by Aston Martin in its cars.

In the GT R the engine already produces a strong 577bhp, so

AMG’s wizards haven’t bothered to increase it.

They’ve hardly been slack in other areas. The aerodynamics, for example. At the front there’s a prominent front splitter that’s supported by a sexy aluminium strut; at the back an equally functionallooking diffuser.

The front end also includes little winglets that will help the car steer in high-speed corners. On the public road they’re just add-ons that you’ll be worried about breaking off.

Also at the back there’s a rear wing that looks the same as the one on the GT R but is adjustable on the Pro. The real work that turns a GT R into a Pro is underneath the skin. The suspension has been reworked with the addition of fully adjustable coil over shock absorbers that can be adjusted for compression and rebound.

This adjustment isn’t done from the cockpit, rather by getting your hands dirty underneath the car – and to adjust the rear dampers you have to take the rear wheels off.

It’s the sort of thing that will appeal to people who take their cars on racing