bmorgan to answer your question on how a SRT would go against the Merc V8 I think Lantana would need a fair few mods to keep up, when I was @ the track a few weeks ago I raced a SLK55 AMG 07' model and the guy was a pretty good driver and I beat him by a good 2 + car lengths both times, he had K & N filters and that was it. But that is a new generation V8, with a 7 speed auto in it, and I do believe they are lighter then the SRT.

V8s are very deceptive I find they feel quite abit quicker then they actually are due to the unreal noise they produce!!!