Yesterday, we told you about the Mercedes-AMG G 63 Edition 55, which celebrates AMG's fifty-five-glorious years on this earth. The only trouble was, it was more of a styling exercise than adding power, which, to mark a tuning company's anniversary, seemed a little disappointing. But today's effort rights that wrong. The Mercedes-AMG GT Track Series is the most powerful customer car in AMG's history.
It's for those that wish to dedicate themselves to track days and club sport events, which means, essentially, that it's an AMG GT Black Series that isn't road legal. It comes with milled and forged 18-inch wheels are a GT-racing standard size, so you can run your choice of competition tyres. The brakes are motorsport-spec, too: six-pot calipers with composite 390mm discs at the front; four-pot calipers and 355mm discs at the rear. Naturally, there's additional cooling and an adjustable brake balance as well. There's motorsport hardware in the engine, like race-spec injectors, and the flat-plane-crank V8 delivers 734 hp and a decidedly monumental 627lb ft of torque. This wallop goes through a carbon-fibre torque tube to the rear-mounted, six-speed sequential Hewland HLS racing gearbox, which has a magnesium casing and pneumatic gear selection, and there's an adjustable differential.
Like the diff, the suspension is fully adjustable, too. This means you can alter the high- and low-speed rebound and compression of the Bilstein dampers, along with the ride height and the anti-roll bar stiffness. As you'd expect for a track-only model, there's plenty of aero addendum and weight saving - the Track Series tips the scales at 1,400kg, by the way. The bonnet, sills and boot are carbonfibre and the vents in the front wing, along with the sculpting of the sills and vertical flick-ups, control the airflow around the side of the car. There's also a double diffuser at the rear and a massive, adjustable rear wing that's balanced by the bespoke front splitter. You may also have spotted the bonnet vent. This provides engine cooling but also guides the hot air specifically to add further aero gain.
And if you were in any doubt about this car's motorsport intentions, then just cast your eyes over the interior. For a start, it's been stripped of all the unnecessaries. The pedals are fully adjustable and the bespoke steering wheel comes courtesy of racing simulator specialists Cube Controls. Behind that sits a fully programmable Bosch DDU 11 Driver Display Unit with its user-friendly layout and full data logging to help craft the perfect lap. You can also spot the exposed roll cage, which is made of high-tensile steel and bolted to the aluminium space frame with an extrication hatch in the roof. And in case you're not lightweight-racing bodied, the interior is designed to accommodate taller drivers - and there's customisable foam to tailor the seat as well. The design of the carbon safety cell, along with the five-point harness, integrated fire extinguisher system and driver safety nets, means the car meets the latest FIA standards.
The GT Track Series is an exclusive offering - just 55 of these handmade cars will leave Affalterbach, each with a numbered plaque. The cost? Well, it's yours for €369,000 plus tax, which is around £307,000 plus VAT at today's exchange rate. That does include air conditioning, though. Of course, like any car there are optional extras, but in this case they're items such as a spare parts starter kit, seat and helmet ventilation, a drinks system and a passenger safety cell. You get after sales back-up as well, although again, this isn't the standard kind. It includes technical training, individual trackside engineering support, a service hot line during race weekends and logistical help accessing spares. Technical support is provided by motorsport experts HWA AG, which will service and, should the worst happen, rebuild your Track Series if you bin it.
Stefan Wendl, head of Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing, said: "For the development of the Mercedes?AMG GT Track Series, we set ourselves the aspiring goal of being able to provide ambitious motorsport customers with a matured and highly exclusive track tool. Our engineers and motorsport experts have accomplished this in an impressive way. I am looking forward to our customers setting new personal records with the GT Track Series at racetracks around the world."
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