We have a new king on the toughest track on the planet. The Mercedes-AMG One has just set the lap record for production vehicles at the Nürburgring Nordschleife. He has just snatched the first place from the also atomic Porsche 911 GT2 RS MR, which in 2021 signed a time of 6:43.300. On October 28, 2022, with Maro Engel at the helm, the German hypercar with Formula 1 technology signed a time of only 6:35.183 in the normative layout, the one of 20,832 meters. And yes, of course there is video of the record.
This record will take time to break, being 8 seconds faster than the one signed by the Porsche of Manthey Racing. To establish another comparison and put the feat of the One even more in context, the Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series record was at the time 6:48.047. The record was signed half a minute before the test session officially ended, and improved on the German driver’s previous record time. Track conditions were improving and he wanted to scrape off a few extra tenths of a second.
On the 20,600 meter version of the course, the lap time was 6:30.705.
The conditions in which the record was set were not optimal. Although the temperature was 20 degrees, the track had wet areas, and in the video you can see how the driver slows down slightly in certain sections. Beating the record was not simply about trying to ride as fast as possible. Being a high-performance hybrid with a battery and energy recovery systems, the driver had to adhere to a specific strategy that allowed him to be as fast as possible as a whole, but at a price.
And that price has been sacrifice some time in some sections, in order to recover more energy. At the same time, he has had to use DRS intelligently, just like a Formula 1 driver would. The car broke the record using Race Plus driving mode, with the most aggressive aerodynamics and a height reduction of 37mm on the front axle and 30mm on the rear axle. In this mode, all of the car’s engines deliver their maximum power, at the cost of sacrificing battery power.
The AMG One is the closest thing to a street Formula 1.
All in all, the car was still able to reach 338 km/h at Döttinger Höhe. The tires of the car were those equipped as standard, some Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 MO, with a custom specification for the Mercedes-AMG One. The video is not wasted, and you will be able to check not only how it sounds in its maximum attack mode, but also how brilliant its cornering is, in addition to its way of winning speed. It is not the video of the absolute record of the Porsche 919 Evo, but it is equally hypnotic to contemplate the dance of this hypercar.
The Mercedes-AMG One combines a 1.6 V6 engine developed for Formula 1 with two 120 kW (163 hp) electric motors on the front axle, achieving a combined power of 1,063 hp. In addition, two other electrical machines recover energy during deceleration and braking (MGU-K), in addition to recovering energy from the heat of the exhaust gases (MGU-H). The AMG One is a plug-in hybrid, and although its 8.4 kWh battery allows 18.1 km of 100% electric autonomy, its purpose is to provide a sufficient flow of electrical energy to the front motors.
Every 50,000 km it will be necessary to rebuild the V6 engine of the Mercedes-AMG One.
Photos of the Mercedes-AMG One record
