730hp confirmed for AMG GT Black Series!
The Black gets nearly 150hp more than a GT R. Second only to a Mercedes-AMG One...
Seven hundred and thirty horsepower. More than a Porsche 911 GT2 RS, more than a Ferrari F8 Tributo, more than a McLaren 720S. It's an enormous amount of power from an AMG, fully 90hp more than the next most powerful car in the range, the GT 63 S 4-door. The two-door GT range itself has never breached 600hp, with both GT R and GT R Pro boasting 585, so this is an enormous leap for the Black.
All AMG is saying for now is that the V8 has been "re-engineered" to produce the power, which seems a little modest to say the least. Still, we'll know for certain come this time tomorrow - it promises to be quite the reveal.
UPDATE, 09/07/2020:
That didn't take long. No sooner had we finished speculating about leaked pics of what was almost certainly the new Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series did Mercedes-AMG officially confirm that it is the new GT Black Series model courtesy of a YouTube teaser video. Whether or not said video has been pushed live in response to the Instagram leak - or simply coincides with it - hardly matters. What is now beyond doubt is that the Black Series is real and obviously very close to its official reveal.
Clearly the details will have to wait for then; marketing hokum aside, the video tells us nothing more than the leaked pictures did - save for the fact that the Black Series emits 292g/km CO2, which is 8g/km more than the GT R Pro we tested at the end of last year, signifying the output increase which had been widely predicted. Otherwise it's just good to know that return of a Black Series model is definitely imminent after what seems like a long hiatus. More news when we have it...
ORIGINAL LEAK STORY
Well, this is not something you see everyday. Actually, scratch that, this is something like we've never, ever seen before. Assuming these pictures from Instagram are to be believed, Mercedes has successfully applied the Black Series treatment to the AMG GT. Which is not in itself a daft ploy, given the BS heritage stretches back a decade and half now and across five models. But for this GT, it appears AMG has gone completely and totally berserk - a level beyond even the Black Series cars have seen before. Which is saying something.
Because while the SL65 Black had its rude arches, the C63 its aggressive aero kit and the SLS its GT3-aping aesthetic, there's never been anything this mad before. The towering, terrifying rear spoiler we assumed was some kind of diversionary tactic has made it to the real car, as have exhaust pipes the size of beer steins, a bonnet that wouldn't look out of place on a GTE racer and shin scraping side skirts. It would be a stretch to call this GT Black Series attractive (in a way that certainly the old CLK could be, for example) but it's positively bristling with intent. If the AMG GT could perhaps have been accused of mixed messages in the past - sometimes cruiser, sometimes sports car, sometimes sun-seeking roadster - then the stated aim for this one couldn't be any clearer if the numberplate said 'GT2s are for losers'. This is the Nurburgring record attempt Mercedes, and it's trying extremely hard to beat Porsche.
As a reminder, the current fastest laps resides with Mercedes' direct rival, Lars Kern setting a stunning 6:44.75 in a Manthey Racing modified GT2 RS at the end of 2018. That's a record validated by the Nurburgring, too, usurping the top spot previously held by the Lamborghini Aventador SVJ by just two tenths - it had done 6:44.97 earlier that year, to steal the standard GT2 RS' thunder, which had recorded 6:47.25 in 2017. So there's a very, very high bar for the Black Series to hurdle.
But from these pictures it looks exceptionally well prepared for the task at hand. Don't forget, either, that the exceptional GT R Pro has already done a 7:04 with 'just' 585hp; who knows what might be possible if the Black Series has that 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 boosted beyond 650hp, a figure it seems eminently capable of. With even more aerodynamic grip surely being produced as well (and potentially less to haul around, given the Pro's chunky 1,575kg kerbweight), sneaking an AMG GT into the 6:40s may well be possible. Whether it will actually happen, of course, remains to be seen. As does exactly what this GT Black Series is packing underneath the wild exterior. Count us among those chomping at the bit to know more, though - updates to follow as we have them!
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Maybe I've spent too long staring at hard-tuned JDM cars, but nothing about that looks outrageous to me, especially given that it's the top of a long list of AMG GT model grades. If you want to bolt meaningful downforce onto a production road car, that's what it looks like - it's not really a question of if you or I like it, it's whether the airflow likes it.
Looks decent to me, not as crude as the original SLS Black press car that had that nasty-looking filler cap recessed into the wide arches.
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