This is the new Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series, a car with a singular purpose: to push the limits of what a license plate car can do. For example, manually extend the front splitter and you will be prevented from accessing the public road … just for you, sun. That’s how fine the line is.
Just a brief overview of AMG’s most sacred insignia, now in its sixth presentation: “A Black Series is always a two-seater, always a hardtop,” explains Joerg Letzel, AMG product manager. “The GT R Pro was based on the GT R, but you will notice that there is no ‘R’ in the GT Black series, it is a completely different model, it represents what is technically possible, the pinnacle of a car made for the track of racing, which can also be driven on public roads. “
In the engine compartment, we found AMG’s 4.0-liter dry-sum V8 biturbo … just not as we know it. Equipped with a lighter, flatter crank, technology normally associated with highly tense, high-speed Italian supercars and, for example, Mustang GT 350Rs, it’s a surefire way to dramatically alter the GT’s burly character, adding a bit of whiplash to the tachometer. and make it sound like Zeus dividing the sky in two after a particularly shocking Jalfrezi. It also helped release 720bhp at 6,700rpm (the red line stays at 7,000rpm) and 590lbft of torque between 2,000rpm and 6,000rpm. That’s 143bhp and 74lb ft more than the GT R Pro. That’s a lot.
A few numbers for you: top speed is 202 mph (4 mph more than the GT R Pro, despite dragging an easel table behind it, the first Black Series to see the far side at 200 mph), 0- 62 mph in 3.2 seconds (0.4 faster than Pro), 0-124 mph in less than 9s and a lap time at the Nürburgring yet to come. Someone betting against the Aventador SVJ’s six minutes and 45 seconds? We do not.
But wait a minute, the AMG GT R Pro is already a hooked, cut and track-focused AMG GT, so competent and complete that it secured a podium at our Jamboree of the year 2019. Isn’t it just a version of the same song? Yes. And not. They serve similar purposes, attract a comparable audience, of course, but the Black Series is heavy metal for Pro’s progressive rock. Excess from all areas, Pro + 20 percent, as far as AMG can legally, and with conscience. Calm down, go. And at this rarefied end of the supercar market, that’s currency.
AMG mentions the 911 GT2 RS, McLaren 720S and Ferrari F8 Tributo as its closest competitors, all mid or rear-engined cars, I point out usefully. Yes, but the Mercedes-AMG philosophy is the front center engine, with a transaxle gearbox in the case of the GT. They run half-engine and transmission, it’s not that different. “In addition to AMG’s several acres of grooved and punctured hood, Letzel is right.
Excess of all areas, a Pro + 20 percent, as far as AMG can legally, and with a clear conscience, go
At every corner, like the Pro, competition specification coilover suspension, but with electronic AMG driving control camper vans instead of the manually adjustable clicks on the Pro. However, the tilt of the front wheels and front stabilizer bars and backs can be adjusted by hand, so you can at least look busy on your local track day.
To be honest, we were expecting Liberty Walk-sized built-in arch extensions (see exhibit A, Black Series SL65) that give these Mercs their monstrous and cartoonish quality. On close inspection, there are wider arches here, but apologetic edges to accommodate the wider Pilot Sport Cup 2 Rs, not the carbon fiber porches at every corner. At least the rest of the body is not slowing down.
Up front: A larger grille comparable to the GT3 race car, a manually adjustable front diffuser with two positions: street and race, and overall more holes than a Richard Curtis dash. There are grilles on top of the wheel arches to relieve pressure and improve downforce, side skirts as sideboards, and a completely flat floor to suck up the asphalt. There are no official AMG downforce numbers, just “significantly more than a GT R Pro.” We do not doubt it.
Something that I missed? Oh yes, the scaffolding of a rear wing. A double-deck platform, where the angle of both “blades” can be adjusted manually, but also an electronically controlled flap on top that can be moved automatically or manually controlled by a button on the center console. Interestingly, the AMG specification sheet notes that “the large dual-flow outlets on the hood not only discharge hot air, but also direct it beyond the A-pillars, this way the rear wing can flow optimally and it can also be reduced. ” LESS.
There was also a lightening: There’s thinner glass for the windshield and hatch, carbon-fiber hub seats as standard, carbon hood, carbon fins, carbon tailgate, and a staggered carbon roof. Carbon ceramic brakes too, and for the full Bernd Schneider, an optional track pack adds a titanium roll bar, four-point harnesses, and a fire extinguisher. Result of this death by carbon fiber? A gross weight of 1,540 kg – 35 kg less than the GT R Pro.
AMG isn’t putting a cap on production numbers for the Black Series, just a limited period in which it will build them, but it’s not cheap – £ 275,000 plus local tax, making £ 330,000 in the UK.
For anyone with only a passing interest in cars, the existence of the AMG GT Black Series must be ridiculous. If your thing is to demolish race tracks, buy a race car. If you want to have fun on a B-road, a £ 30k hot hatch will do a better job. If you are only interested in flagrantly displaying your wealth, there are other, less flattering ways to do so. It’s all true, but let’s celebrate this crazy, crazy car for what it is: Mercedes flexes his considerable engineering muscle, takes a car released six years ago, and surgically improves until it becomes the ultimate expression of speed. And anger.
Photography: Philipp Rupprecht
