Mercedes-AMG One has silenced all its haters by obliterating the Nurburgring record for road-legal production cars, setting a time of 6:35.183 on the long-format track and 6:30.705 on the headline-grabbing shorter course. The record was previously held by the Porsche 911 GT2 RS Manthey-Racing, with a time of 6 minutes 43.0 seconds. The AMG One beat that time by 7.817 seconds! The 911 GT2 set a time of 6:38.835 in the shorter configuration of the track. The AMG One also beat AMG’s previous crown jewel, the AMG GT Black Series, which stole the Lamborghini Aventador SVJ’s thunder when it set a new record almost two years ago.
According to DTM racing driver Maro Engel’s point of view, what’s particularly astonishing is that the track was still damp and partly dirty in some areas. Despite this, the Mercedes-AMG One set the production car record. Engel already set a new record before time ran out, but track conditions kept improving. He went out for one last lap and managed to go even quicker.
“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,” Engel said.
The AMG One used Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 R tires per production car regulations. During the run, the car reached a top speed of 210 mph. Mercedes says the car is identical to the standard model that should be delivered to customers before the end of the year. For the lap record, the car’s “Race Plus” driving mode was engaged, which sets the active aero at its highest downforce setting while lowering the car by 37mm at the front and 30mm at the rear.
The AMG One has a total output of 1,049 horsepower (782 kilowatts) coming from a Formula One-derived 1.6-liter V6 and four electric motors. The car can reach 62 miles per hour (100 kilometers per hour) in 2.9 seconds and 124 mph (200 kph) in 7.0 seconds. The top speed is 219 mph (352 kph). When going around the “Ring,” Engel managed to take the One to 210 mph (338 kph) on the long Döttinger Höhe section of the Nordschleife.
Mercedes is making just 275 examples of the One. Customer deliveries of the hypercar began in August.
