The all-new Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series claims Nurburgring record for production cars, this is the news coming out of Germany today. In the hands of GT3 racer, Maro Engel the GT Black Series lapped the famous Green Hell in 6 min 43,616 sec for the 20,6 kilometre-long track (measured without the straight at track section T13) and 6 min 48,047 sec for the 20,832 kilometre-long total track (measured with the straight at track section T13). These times are 1,35 seconds quicker than the current record held by the Lamborghini Aventador SVJ. The all-time lap record is currently held by a no-rules Porsche prototype (which you can read about here).

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Latest of the breed

The Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series is the latest in a line of high-performance AMG Black Series derivatives (you can learn all about it by clicking here). The car boasts 537 kW of power from a flat-plane twin-turbocharged V8, sophisticated aerodynamics and extensive suspension adjustment options. A completely standard car was used to set the record-breaking time.

Read up on each of the Black Series models at this link.

For the record-breaking run Mercedes engineers set the front splitter in its ‘race’ position, and the lower and upper wing blades of the rear spoiler were each adjusted in the middle position and the adjustable coilover suspension was lowered by five millimetres at the front and three millimetres at the rear to further enhance the venturi effect of the front diffuser. Front camber was adjusted to maximum of negative 3,8 degrees on the front wheels and negative 3,0 degrees at the rear to allow the Michelin Pilot Cup 2 R rubber maximum contact during hard cornering.

In his own words

“That was a really impressive ride,” said Maro Engel after completing the lap. “With speeds of up to almost 270 km/h in the Kesselchen section of the track or well over 300 km/h on the long Döttinger Höhe straight, the AMG GT Black Series is significantly faster than my GT3 racecar. To finally drive around the Nordschleife in 6 min 48,047 sec with a production road car in these track conditions is really awesome. Like my GT3 race car, the AMG GT Black Series offers a lot of adjustment possibilities, all of which enabled me to create a setup that was tailor-made for me.”

“It’s really impressive how much downforce the Black Series generates and how confident and reliable it can be driven, even at the absolute limit. My hat is off to the developers from Affalterbach for what they have put on wheels here. And I’m very pleased that I was able to demonstrate these fascinating engineering skills with this great lap time,” said Engel.

Interestingly, the conditions on the day were not ideal as Engel set off for his run late in the afternoon. The outside temperature was seven degrees Celsius with track temp of ten degrees Celsius . In addition, some sections of the extremely demanding track were not yet totally dry.