There’s no denying the raw sexiness of the Mercedes-Benz CLK63 AMG Black Series. It’s a sensuous creature – a Mercedes stripped down… transformed… into a vehicle designed purely for performance. But for some of you, the question of whether such a vehicle is needed – wanted even – still lingers. It is for this group that today’s batch of reviews exists, a collection of reviews dedicated solely to describing what’s now the second Black Series to be produced by AMG. So how did the CLK63 AMG Black Series perform? Read on for the full collection of reviews.

For many of us, especially here in the U.S., the necessity of owning an armored vehicle isn’t that overwhelming. Sure, there’s the occasional confrontational prick that feels the urge to wrong us, but let’s be honest: in these instances, the trusty Glock we’ve got tucked neatly under the seat is more than enough to handle the bulk of these situations. But what happens when you’ve reached the upper echelon… the highest ranks of power, whether it be your political status, corporate ranking, so on and so forth? For this group: the ambitious, the powerful, and oftentimes, the hated, threats are prevalent in day-to-day life, even in the United States. Enter INKAS Armored. Catering to those who need more protection than the G20 can provide, INKAS has introduced a vehicle which manages to blend NIJ Level IV armoring with the pinnacle of German luxury engineering – the Mercedes S600. Boasting fun-flat performance tires, proprietary armored panels and ballistic glass compounds, the INKAS S600 is capable of withstanding up to close-range armor-piercing rounds all while maintaining what appears to be the standard S600’s exterior styling.

While not the largest ‘Review Roundup’ we’ve ever published, this latest installment of our now infamous collection of Mercedes reviews features looks at four Mercedes models: the CLS550, the CLS350 CGI, the 2008 C-Class and the E63 AMG Wagon. Even better, for those of you who may not in the reading mood, two of the reviews are videos, allowing you to partake in Mercedes review goodness with nary a strained eye.

If the Mercedes CL600’s standard 510 horses aren’t enough to appease your deep-seeded power cravings, BRABUS has announced details of their newest mind-numbingly-fast entry in the land of Mercedes tuning – the SV12 S. Based on the CL600, the SV12 S is being billed as the world’s fastest and most powerful coupe, and while I personally can’t vouch for the statements, the SV12 S’s 730 horsepower; 1,320 Nm of torque (at 2,100 rpm); 0-62 mph time of 4.0 seconds and electronically-limited top speed of 211 mph are without question in a supremely-elite league of performance figures.

In awards news, Dr.-Ing. Jurgen Trost, the developer of Mercedes-Benz Active Brake Assist for commercial vehicles, has been presented with the 2007 European Commercial Vehicle Safety award. The award was presented by the technical appraisal organization DEKRA, the German Traffic Safety Council (DVR) and the European Association for Accident Research and Analysis (EVU) at the second DEKRA Active Safety Symposium in Klettwitz, and was awarded for Trost’s outstanding contribution to the development of Active Brake Assist.

This weekend marked the fourth race of the season for the Team Vodafone McLaren Mercedes F1 team, and as always, we’ve got the recap. If you missed the race but have it TIVO’d, read no further; otherwise, hit the jump for the full details of what transpired. For the third time this season, Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton earned the second and fourth starting positions, respectively. When the race started, Alonso attacked Ferrari’s Felipe Massa in an attempt to take the lead, but slid of the track on the second corner and rejoined the race in fourth place. Meanwhile, Hamilton managed to pass Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen and finished the first lap in second.