The new Mercedes-AMG One, the automaker’s first hypercar, has smashed the Nurburgring record in the road-legal production as well as super sports car categories.
The AMG registered a time of 6:35.183 minutes around the 20.832km Nordschleife section of the track, a whopping eight seconds faster than the previous record holder, the Porsche 911 GT2 RS Manthey Edition.
“At exactly 17:14:31 [on 28 October], racing driver and AMG brand ambassador Maro Engel took to the track for the last attempt of the day and burned the new, fabulous time into the legendary and demanding Eifel asphalt,” said Mercedes-AMG.
This could not have happened any later, as the circuit would have closed at 17h15 sharp.
In total, the team had less than one hour to attempt the record-breaking run as track conditions during the autumn day were damp, dirty, and less than ideal for a car in this power class.
“Towards the end of his track slot, the conditions were getting better by the minute. Thus, Maro Engel took advantage of the very last opportunity and improved the lap time to the new official record of 6:35.183 minutes,” said the automaker.
Two Ones were present at the Ring to attempt the feat that day, and both were certified by TUV Rheinland to be series-production models.
Intelligent driving
The new One fuses Formula 1 hybrid-drive technologies into a road-going hypercar by combining a 1.6-litre, V6 combustion engine with four electric motors to generate a massive 782kW.
Due to the hybrid nature of the powertrain, Engel not only had to focus on the right line but also on energy management to complete the unusually-long Nordschleife.
“This means that he could not accelerate to the maximum possible speed on all sections of the track, but also had to manage his energy,” said Mercedes-AMG.
“To do this, he used the four-stage Energy Flow Control (EFC) of the AMG ONE and let off the gas a little earlier in some sections, known as ‘lift and coast’ in technical jargon.”
Brake recuperation also assisted in controlling energy usage, thus allowing the hypercar to reach a 338km/h top speed on the long Dottinger Hohe straight during Engel’s lap.
The below video shows the on-board footage from the One’s record-smashing Nurburgring run.
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