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Karam el Shenawy
November 15, 2022
The German hypercar has become the fastest production model to complete a lap in Green Hell. This has been your time.
It did not seem to be the most favorable day to achieve a record. The weather was sunny with a light breeze, but as is typical for the Nürburgring in autumn, the track was still wet and partly dirty in some areas. In some sections, such as the fast ‘Kesselchen’ section, the ideal line had not yet dried up completely. These were definitely not ideal conditions, especially for a vehicle with such extreme performance. With an ambient and asphalt temperature of just under 20 degrees Celsius, this time allowed for a maximum of four fast laps.
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It was 5:14:31 p.m. on October 28 and there were less than 30 seconds left until the track officially closed (he does it at 17:30) and although Maro Engel had already managed to do a couple of fast laps, he wasn’t entirely happy. It was then that he decided to take the start because as the end of the day approached, the conditions of it improved by the minute. Thus, Engel seized the last opportunity and 6:35,183 minutes later he completed the lap with the Mercedes-AMG ONE. A time that made him directly the fastest production car ever who has managed to complete the 20.832 kilometers of the northern variant of the Nürbirgring-Nordschleife, improving by no less than 8 seconds the record previously held by the Porsche 991 GT2 RS with the Mantheny Racing performance kit. In fact, if the German DTM driver had done the circuit variant known for being the scene of the Super Test for sports cars, the lap time would have been 6:30.705 minutes.
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“It has been a truly unforgettable experience”, said Maro Engel after completing the record lap that leaves the previous one. “I didn’t expect that we could set a lap time like that with those track conditions. Some crucial areas of the circuit had not dried completely and therefore the surface was delicate. It was a special challenge. We tried to find the perfect strategy during pre-tests.”
A car for history
To achieve this, Engel had to use much of the electric power of the hybrid drive of the AMG ONE which “was not easy at all, especially considering this length of track” while the DRS that equips the hypercar itself had to be used in the “most efficient way possible”. As the end of his presence on the track was approaching, the conditions of it were improving at times. Thus, Maro Engel took advantage of the last opportunity and improved the lap time until he achieved the new official record.
Mercedes-AMG took two units of ONE to the Ring (which made it possible to make the most of the time). Each of them equipped everything that an AMG ONE can offer as standard: its hybrid system with a combustion engine and four 1,063 hp electric motors, with a top speed of 352 km/h. The rest of the technology in the model ranges from a carbon monocoque and bodywork, through a prominent engine/transmission unit and active aerodynamics, to the push-rod chassis.
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The Mercedes-AMG ONE offers a technology even more complex than what can be found in a Formula 1 racing car It features fully variable AMG Performance 4MATIC+ all-wheel drive, with a hybrid-drive rear axle and an electrically-drive front axle with torque vectoring. To achieve the record, the maximum drop values were selected. Maro Engel chose the “Race Plus” driving program, which translates into the maximum performance of active aerodynamics, a specific chassis set-up, a lowering of the vehicle height of 37 mm at the front axle and 30 mm at the rear axle and, of course, the maximum power of all engines.
