Alton, Va. (CNN/Money) - I was there at Virginia International Raceway, about to drive the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren for no good reason, really.

I mean, the sticker price for the SLR McLaren is $452,500. Can you afford one? Neither can I.

Money aside, they're harder to find than weapons of mass destruction, and just about as volatile. The car boasts 617 horsepower from a hand-built, supercharged 5.5-liter V-8. Its top speed is a little over 200 miles per hour.

For now, maybe 200 Americans will write the big check, swing open the SLR's gullwing doors and assume a yoga posture to gain entry. Those folks aren't the type to take advice from the likes of me. But just in case one of you is reading, I'll give you some:

Before you decide to lay down half-a-million dollars, ask yourself if you're likely to get your money's worth out of a car like this. Only a handful of owners will have what it takes -- the guts, the talent, the backyard racetrack -- to get near SLR's capabilities.

If you do have what it takes, congratulations. The SLR is just stupid fun to drive, reaching 60 mph in the time it takes you to scream for Mommy. (For me, about 3.7 seconds). Valets will pay you to park it, and the club owner will throw in a bucket of Cristal.

I had immediately dismissed the SLR when I first saw it twirling onstage at the Detroit Auto Show. I saw right through its smug, look-but-don't-touch supercar shtick. Sure, it looked properly exotic: The surfboard-sized hood bulge, the opulent cabin, the pointy snout and snooty-Brit pedigree from McLaren, Benz' Formula One bedmate.

But the SLR also seemed suspiciously similar to a "lowly" Mercedes SL, adding but a single letter and $370,000 to the price. Besides, how much hotter could it be than an SL65 AMG, with an uncomfortably proximate 604 horsepower for a mere $180,000?

Turns out I was wrong. Really wrong.

The SLR will roll down posh boulevards like any Prada-seeking SL, but the resemblance ends when you nail the throttle. This car is a dragon, a fistful of nitro, ready to snap its tail or blow up in your face if you make just one ham-handed move.

That revelation came that day at Virginia International, a 3.3-mile scribble of blind turns, fast straightaways and technical challenges. ("One lap here is like 100 at Watkins Glen," Carroll Shelby is reported to have said.)

The first clue to the SLR's legitimacy is the sound: A seismic wallop like a cannonball in a Civil War epic. Played through a quartet of side pipes, it's more NASCAR than the high-strung shriek I'd expected.

Trying to lay down 575 pound-feet of torque on the morning's rain-dampened pavement, I quickly learned to roll gently onto the throttle or feel the back end go batty.

That intoxicating power is managed through the AMG Speedshift F1-style gearbox. Drive it in full automatic, or shift via the center lever or buttons on the steering wheel.

The system took some getting used to. Selectable settings progressively raise the five-speed's shift points and effect crisper gear changes, with the final "race" setting snapping off commands with brutal efficiency. Steering is very quick but it was initially heavier than I expected.

Lapping the track with Chris Goodwin, a talented racer and McLaren's chief test driver, I was soon spurring the SLR to its 7,000-rpm redline and finding 160 mph over the blind crest on the long straight.

I'm eager to shoot for more, but Goodwin -- whose unmatched intimacy includes 100,000 miles in the SLR -- politely entreats me to lift off the gas while there's a smooth margin for braking. (His own heroically swift laps top out at 170 mph).

Stomp hard on the brakes at anything over 59 miles per hour and an "air brake" -- a large rear wing -- pops up to create stability-enhancing downforce and further slow the car.

Of course, all this power, technology and hand-crafted performance comes at a real-estate-sized price. But if the price is fantasy, the SLR -- minus its joint-twisting entry and exit -- proves a more realistic daily driver than most supercars.

That's best exemplified by a surprisingly large trunk that easily swallows two sets of golf clubs.

Of course, after an exhilarating exposure to the SLR, most owners will be chucking their Callaways. After all, they've discovered a more fast-paced hobby.