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The Nürburgring-Nordschleife records keep tumbling down, however, what remains ever so amusing is witnessing the tussle raging between Mercedes-AMG and Porsche with their respective production cars. Just the other week, the AMG brigade clawed back the production car record for Executive Saloons with its AMG GT 4-Door, which recorded a 7m27.800s that was 2 seconds faster than that posted by Porsche’s Panamera Turbo S.
Record breaking time
In the hands of GT3 racer, Maro Engel drives a notarized record lap in the new Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series to also showcase how close it is to motorsport and his racecar on the Nordschleife of the Nürburgring. With an officially measured and notarized certified time of 6:43m,616s for the 20.6 km long track (measured without the straight at track section T13) and 6:48m,047s for the 20.832 km total track (measured with the straight at track section T13), the new V8 meteor is placed in the top group of the street-legal “sports cars” category and number one among the fully standard, unmodified models.
Standard vehicle adjustments
Engel made full use of all the possibilities offered by the new Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series as standard: such as the most powerful AMG V8 series engine ever with 537 kW the sophisticated aerodynamics and extensive suspension adjustment options. For example, the front splitter made of visible carbon fibre was extended to the “Race” position, and the lower and upper wing blades of the rear spoiler were each adjusted in the middle position.
The adjustable AMG coilover suspension with adaptive adjustment damping was lowered by 5 mm at the front and 3 mm at the rear to further enhance the venturi effect of the front diffuser. The camber was adjusted to the maximum possible values of negative 3.8 degrees at the front axle and negative 3.0 degrees at the rear. In the case of the adjustable anti-roll bars, racing professional Engel opted for the hardest of the three possible settings, and the 35-year-old adjusted the nine-stage AMG traction control between positions six and seven -depending on the section of the track. AMG GT Black Series customers can also take advantage of all these settings and variations.
This also applies to the MICHELIN Pilot Sport Cup 2 R MO tyres with “soft compound,” which are completely standard equipment and were developed in collaboration with development partner Michelin especially for the top sports car in the AMG GT series. The highest possible level of safety was ensured not only by the standard
AMG ceramic high-performance composite brake system, but also by the Track Package with rollover protection system and four-point safety belts offered as standard equipment.
Impressive performance
“That was a really impressive ride,” said Maro Engel after completing the record lap. “With speeds of up to almost 270 km/h in the Kesselchen section of the track or well over 300 km/h on the long Döttinger Höhe straight, the AMG GT Black Series is significantly faster than my GT3 race car. To finally drive around the Nordschleife in 6:48.047 minutes with a production road car in these track conditions is really awesome. Like my GT3 race car, the AMG GT Black Series offers a lot of adjustment possibilities, all of which enabled me to create a setup that was tailor-made for me.”
“It's really impressive how much downforce the Black Series generates and how confident and reliable it can be driven, even at the absolute limit. My hat is off to the developers from Affalterbach for what they have put on wheels here. And I'm very pleased that I was able to demonstrate these fascinating engineering skills with this great lap time,” said Engel.
The AMG GT Black Series has duly deposed the Lamborghini Avantador SVJ, which had recorded a 6m44.97s, by 1m.354s. You can bet your top Randela that it won't be long until this new record is shattered once again. Fun and games, it seems. Fun and games, indeed and we absolutely relish every second of it.
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