With so many high-powered cabrios coming from the likes of Bentley, Rolls-Royce, and Aston Martin, you'd probably think that the world's fastest, most powerful four-seat convertible came from the UK.

Only it doesn't. It's the Mercedes you see here, customized by Brabus, and it just made the journey from Germany to France to debut at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The open-top rocket sled is dubbed the Brabus 850 6.0 Biturbo Cabrio, but as you might have guessed, it's based on the Mercedes-AMG S63 Cabriolet. The donor vehicle already packs 577 horsepower from its 5.5-liter twin-turbo V8, propelling it to 60 in 3.8 seconds (or 62 in 4.1 for comparison's sake) en route to an electronically limited top speed of 155 miles per hour. But in signature style, Brabus has completely overhauled the engine. The venerable Benz tuner bored out the block from 5.5 liters to 6.0, fitted a new, crankshaft, forged pistons, connecting rods, cylinder heads, intake module, exhaust system, and turbochargers to increase output to a frankly mad 838 hp. With all that muscle channeled to the tarmac through all four wheels and a seven-speed automatic transmission, the 850 Cabrio will reach 62 miles per hour from a standstill in 3.5 seconds and top out at 217 mph. Brabus says it could go faster, but there's only so much the tires can handle.  more ...

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