Onboard: AMG GT Black Series breaks Ring record | GRR
Mercedes-AMG has taken lap record honours for production cars at the Nürburgring with its ballistic new GT Black Series. Setting a time of 6min 43.6sec “bridge-to-gantry” and 6min 48sec for a full lap, it beats out the Lamborghini Aventador SVJ’s 6:45 record from a couple of years ago.
While not in any way modified beyond standard, the GT Black Series as-delivered is a very manually adjustable car. As such, the settings for the record-setter were just-so and to devastating effect. “Maximum possible” camber joins anti-roll bars in their hardest setting and a lower ride height, by 5mm and 3mm front and rear respectively, via the adjustable coilovers.
The car’s splitter was in its Race position, spoiler blades in their middle position and nine-stage traction control in settings six and seven, changed periodically throughout the lap. It perhaps goes without saying the car featured the factory track package, which includes sticky Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 R tyres. This adjustability is what is claimed to be the key to the car’s dominance at the Nordschleife.
The result is a car that’s as close to a GT3 car as you’re likely to get on the road, albeit with power in the 700PS (515kW) range rather than 500 (370kW). Mercedes GT3 race ace Maro Engel piloted the mega Merc to its record, calling the GT Black Series “significantly faster” than his regulated racer, even on a track described as “not yet totally dry”.
The Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series is on sale for £335,000 – a significant premium over the next most-hardcore GT-R Pro variant. It earns that premium with a significantly revised 720PS+ flat-plane-crank variant of its 4.0-litre twin-turbocharged V8 in addition to the aforementioned highly-adjustable upgrades. Now with this ‘Ring record, do you think the GT Black Series has proven it’s worth it?