Tuesday 24th March

AMG announces 'most extreme Black Series ever'

Mercedes claims to have gone all-in on its new GT3 homologation car...

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In case the Mercedes-AMG GT didn’t have enough variants for you to get your head around, the manufacturer has confirmed this week that two more are inbound. One, admittedly, you do not need to dwell on unless you’re a patron of AMG’s Customer Racing Programme, because that’s what the new GT3 (a replacement for the old GT3) is being developed for. The other, you will want to know about, given Affalterbach is not pulling its punches when describing the next Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series. 

Of course, any Black Series variant is big news, based on an extensive track record of exceptional (and exceptionally rare) performance cars - so when AMG’s chairman says, ‘we are developing the most extreme Black Series ever’, it’s worth taking note. Especially when, thanks to an earlier developmental car you might remember from last year - the Concept AMG GT Track Sport, which forms the basis of both newcomers - we already know that an updated version of the flat-plane-crank V8 is doing all the heavy lifting. 

This is good news for all the usual reasons, including the scale of the likely output, which will surely exceed the 730hp extracted from the V8 in the previous GT Black Series. Indeed, to adequately sit atop the current lineup, the new range topper will need to outgun the 816hp available to the hybridised GT 63 S E Performance - a notion that suddenly makes a figure north of 900hp seem feasible, if ‘extreme’ really is a guiding principle for its maker. 

Who knows. For now, beyond ‘an unambiguous commitment to maximum performance’, Mercedes-AMG isn’t sharing any additional technical information - and new pictures of the aforementioned Track Sport (which has been testing extensively) simply reveal what you’d expect from a GT3 mule - i.e. a very serious attempt to improve on the GT’s aero package, and perhaps even rival the Porsche 911 GT3 RS for rear wing dominance. 

Interestingly, the decision to develop a successor to the GT3 has apparently led to the creation of Affalterbach Racing GmbH – a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mercedes-AMG, yet somehow distinct from its Motorsport enterprise (though the latter is still jointly responsible for the development of the race car). At any rate, this is the version due to begin testing at the Nürburgring Nordschleife, and is presumably the model we will see first. 

That said, if the bumf is to be believed, devotees will now be able to tell the difference when it comes to test mule mileage: red accents on the camouflage will in future represent the Mercedes-AMG GT3, while yellow-green will be used to indicate the Black Series, as shown in the promo vid. Which, if nothing else, should make it easier for anyone holding a stopwatch on the Nordschleife, keen to find out if the production car lap record is again being targeted. Or at least, a position adjacent to the all-conquering Mercedes-AMG One…

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• New AMG GT Track Sport breaks cover
• Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series | PH Review

[WCZ]

very cool, I love that they actually do ring times for their cars also unlikey Ferrari for example who will never even provide a laptime for their F80 which is a track focused hypercar

[Antj]

Ahhh so that’s what I saw on the GP track yesterday

[thegreenhell]

I'm sure it will be great on track, like a GT3 RS, but you'd feel like a bit of a fanny driving your pretend race car on normal roads.

[bigmowley]

Be interesting to see what engine they put in the GT3 car?
The current GT3 race car still uses the old M159 6.3 NA unit rated at about 550BHP ish depending on BOP. Bullet proof reliability and low complexity without turbos etc.
All the bullst high horsepower numbers are reserved for the “road going race car”.

[nismo48]

thegreenhell said:

I'm sure it will be great on track, like a GT3 RS, but you'd feel like a bit of a fanny driving your pretend race car on normal roads.

Indeed

[CH80]

nismo48 said:

thegreenhell said:

I'm sure it will be great on track, like a GT3 RS, but you'd feel like a bit of a fanny driving your pretend race car on normal roads.

Indeed

Yep

[willga]

thegreenhell said:

I'm sure it will be great on track, like a GT3 RS, but you'd feel like a bit of a fanny driving your pretend race car on normal roads.

Not sure that sort of clientelle have that degree of self-awareness.

Just as long as it goes with the Prada sunglasses and Ralph Lauren loafers...

[AlandSoph]

Personally, i am a bit tired of all this willy waving about road cars with 900, 1000, or more horsepower for several reasons, one, they're way beyond the capabilities of most of the drivers who actually buy one, and hence pointless, and two, the electrics in the car will allow just enough power to use the car. They may say 1,200bhp but how much of that actually is sent to the rear wheels under slow speed acceleration? probably around 5-600 to allow a rapid getaway without sitting at the lights looking like a tool as you destroy your tyres without going anywhere. The best car i ever had (briefly) was an E39 M5 which had more than enough power, handled well, and was, to coin a phrase 'chuckable'. Rather like modern video games, bring back gameplay and forget the graphics if the game's no fun..!

[loudlashadjuster]

thegreenhell said:

I'm sure it will be great on track, like a GT3 RS, but you'd feel like a bit of a fanny driving your pretend race car on normal roads.

Yeah, you can just about pull it off cruising down Stefan Bellof-Straße, less so your local High Street past Sainos.

[Its Just Adz]

thegreenhell said:

I'm sure it will be great on track, like a GT3 RS, but you'd feel like a bit of a fanny driving your pretend race car on normal roads.

Nope, wouldn't bother me.
It's not like it will be used for popping to the post office.
On a Sunday morning blast through the hills or going to a Cars N Coffee type event, I wouldn't care what others thought of it.

[WCZ]

Its Just Adz said:

Nope, wouldn't bother me.
It's not like it will be used for popping to the post office.
On a Sunday morning blast through the hills or going to a Cars N Coffee type event, I wouldn't care what others thought of it.

this

[JPC63]

WCZ said:

Its Just Adz said:

Nope, wouldn't bother me.
It's not like it will be used for popping to the post office.
On a Sunday morning blast through the hills or going to a Cars N Coffee type event, I wouldn't care what others thought of it.

this

You've still got to drive it round the estate to get to those roads, and you'll still end up in traffic at some point sitting behind a delivery van.

I'd feel a right berk in it.

I think we've reached peak PH a while back, these cars do nothing for me at all.

[LRDefender]

JPC63 said:

WCZ said:

Its Just Adz said:

Nope, wouldn't bother me.
It's not like it will be used for popping to the post office.
On a Sunday morning blast through the hills or going to a Cars N Coffee type event, I wouldn't care what others thought of it.

this

You've still got to drive it round the estate to get to those roads, and you'll still end up in traffic at some point sitting behind a delivery van.

I'd feel a right berk in it.

I think we've reached peak PH a while back, these cars do nothing for me at all.

LOL's I'm not sure your average AMG GT3 driver will be living on some kind of middle England housing estate..!! Plus I gave up thinking about what random people thought about me when I was a mere lad! Who the flip cares what other folks think....

If this is the kind of thing that rocks your boat, then good for you and fill yer boots. I'm glad these awesome machines keep on getting rolled out, good work AMG and keep 'em coming.

Sometimes I have to check I haven't been mysteriously redirected to middleagedmiseryguts.com......

[GTEYE]

It feels a bit like Groundhog Day.

This pair looks rather like the Toyota GR GT and GT3…at least with the camo on!

[vikingaero]

GTEYE said:

It feels a bit like Groundhog Day.

This pair looks rather like the Toyota GR GT and GT3 at least with the camo on!

I agree and it's part of the reason why I no longer yearn after supercars.

AMG C63
AMG C63 Black Edition
AMG C63 Vanta Black Edition
AMG C63 Extreme Black Edition
AMG C63 Midnight wky Black Edition
AMG C63 SportBruvChav Black Edition

Yawn!