Mercedes-AMG One sets Nurburgring lap record

The limited-production Mercedes-AMG One has reset the Nürburgring Nordschleife lap record for production cars, shaving eight seconds off the existing time.

The Mercedes-AMG team and driver Maro Engel had just four laps late on the afternoon of 28 October to break the record of 6 minutes 43.300 seconds, set in June, 2021, by a Porsche 911 GT2 RS with a Manthey Racing performance kit.

Conducted in less than optimal conditions on the famous 20.8km, 156-corner track in southern Germany, the track was still damp in places when Engel, a Mercedes driver in the DTM series, first broke the production car lap record, then bettered it with his fourth and final run of the day; the new benchmark now standing at 6 minutes 35.183 seconds.

The AMG One combines an F1-derived 1.6-litre petrol V6 with four electric motors to deliver a combined output of 782kW. One of those electric motors is attached to a turbocharger on the mid-mounted V6, with another in the engine itself, while the other two are on the front axle, allowing all-wheel drive and torque vectoring. Power from the ‘E-Performance’ hybrid V6 is delivered to the rear axle via an automated seven-speed manual transmission, with a limited top speed of 352km/h.

The engine serves as a stressed member of the AMG One’s full carbon fibre monocoque, with all the body panels in carbon fibre and carbon ceramic brakes used to reduce weight. Active suspension, adjustable aerodynamics and specially developed tyres are also part of the specification for the Mercedes-AMG One, which is priced from AU$4.2 million. Despite this price, all 275 units that Mercedes-AMG intended to build for the global market had sold  before production commenced in August.

The AMG One that Engel drove was completely standard, with the German stating that one of the keys to setting the new Nürburgring lap record was employing the electrical energy in the best possible way. For much of the lap, Engel also utilised the car’s ‘Race Plus’ driving mode that maximises aerodynamic assistance, stiffens the suspension and lowers the ride height, while an inbuilt DRS system allowed Engel to reach 338km/h on the Nordschleife’s few flat, straight sections.

While Mercedes-AMG now has the production car record, the outright Nürburgring Nordschleife lap record remains with Porsche, whose Evo variant of their 919 Hybrid LMP1-H car set a time of 5 minutes 19.546 seconds in 2018, breaking a record that had stood since 1983.