Mercedes-AMG’s Formula One-engined hypercar has become the fastest road-legal production car to lap Germany’s Nurburgring Nordschleife race track – eight seconds quicker than the previous record holder.
0The Mercedes-AMG One – the Formula One car for the road, powered by a championship-winning F1 hybrid engine – has broken the lap record for road-legal production cars around Germany’s iconic Nurburgring Nordschleife racing circuit.
The record lap is 13 seconds quicker than the previous best Nurburgring lap time set by a road-legal production Mercedes-AMG, the twin-turbo V8-engined GT Black Series coupe, which posted a 6:48.047 time around the 20.832km layout.
Even if the road-legal restriction is removed, the Mercedes-AMG One would still be among the fastest cars to complete an official lap around the Nurburgring, only trailing the likes of the Volkswagen ID.R (6:05.336) and Porsche 919 Hybrid Evo (5:19.546) prototype racing cars.
Driven by Mercedes-AMG racing driver Maro Engel, the record-setting AMG One was a standard production car – powered by a 1.6-litre turbocharged V6 and hybrid system adapted for the road from Mercedes Formula One cars, developing 782kW.
According to Mercedes-AMG’s media announcement, the record time was set on the car’s last lap of the day (on October 28, 2022), just 30 seconds before the track closed its gates for starting a new lap– and on a circuit that wasn’t completely dry.
The 20.832km layout of the track is the variant used for official lap timing since 2019, and includes an additional section of the final straight for a complete lap (starting and ending at the same point).
Around the 20.6km layout – which does not include this 232m stretch – the AMG One posted a time of 6:30.705, maintaining its eight-second advantage over the Manthey package-equipped Porsche 911 GT2 RS.
For AMG One buyers looking to replicate the lap record drive with their own car – or more likely just keen Nurburgring fans interested in how the record was set – Mercedes-AMG has detailed how the record-setting car was configured to achieve its lap time.
According to Mercedes-AMG, the One was in the Race Plus drive mode, “maximum camber values within the delivery tolerance” for the wheels, the Drag Reduction System was activated on the straights to maximise top speed, and driver Maro Engel recuperated electrical energy in some section of the circuit to deploy it on the straights.
“In addition, Maro also used energy recovery in the braking phases. Thus, even on the long Döttinger Höhe [the longest straight on the track], the high-performance battery still offered enough power for a 338 km/h top speed,” Mercedes-AMG says in its media release, noting the car’s ultimate top speed is 352km/h.
The car was fitted with Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 R MO tyres developed specially for the car by supplier Michelin.
“That was really an unforgettable experience. 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,” driver Maro Engel said in a media statement.
“We tried to find the optimal [electrical] deployment strategy during the pre-tests … I would like to thank you for this opportunity and the trust you’ve placed in me. It was definitely something very special to drive this incredible car on the Ring.”
