Holy crap, the Mercedes-AMG One is insanely quick.
Not a shockingly fresh take, I know, but things change a bit when you see the car in action. The Formula One-based Mercedes-AMG One — a serial production, road-legal car, remember — just set a new record at the Nürburgring. Against other seriously quick supercars like Mercedes’ own AMG GT Black Series and the Porsche 911 GT2 RS MR, the One threw down a time a 6:35.183 on the 20.832 kilometer Nordschleife.
Actually, according to the automaker, professional racing driver Maro Engel set that benchmark on October 28. In doing it, though, the Mercedes-AMG One beats the next closest time (the Porsche 911 GT2 RS MR) by nearly four seconds. The Porsche set a time of 6:38.835 around the full course.
“That was really an unforgettable experience,” said Engel after the record-setting lap. “I didn’t expect that we would be able to set such a lap time with these track conditions. In some crucial areas of the track, it hadn’t dried completely yet and was therefore tricky. That was a special challenge.”
At its core, the Mercedes-AMG One uses a gas-electric hybrid setup consisting of a turbocharged, 1.6-liter V6 engine and three electric motors. The total power output is 1,063 horsepower, which Engel took full advantage of on the run. He also ran the car in its “Race Plus” mode, which lowers the ride height and helps provide the best downforce when needed.
And he did seriously need that, as well as a sense of how best to use the car’s regenerative braking system. “We tried to find the optimal deployment strategy during the pre-tests. Like Lewis Hamilton and George Russel on their race weekends, I also had to deploy the electrical energy of the hybrid drive in the best possible way. That’s not easy, especially with this length of track.”
Check out the full run below:
