Mercedes-Benz AMG has published the offical lap time for its One hypercar at the Nürburgring, and it’s a new record for production cars.
During an attempt on Oct. 28, the One was piloted by racing driver Maro Engel around the full 12.9 miles of the Nürburgring Nordschleife in a time of 6:35.183. The time smashes the previous record of 6:43.61, set by AMG’s own GT Black Series in 2020. This time, the run was made in damp conditions.
“I didn’t expect that we would be able to set such a lap time with these track conditions,” Engel, who is a successful Formula E and DTM driver and winner of the 24 Hours of Nürburgring, said after the run. “In some crucial areas of the track, it hadn’t dried completely yet and was therefore tricky.”
Mercedes finally revealed the production version of the One in June, and the first examples will be delivered to patient customers soon—it’s been a five-year wait since the reveal of the concept at the 2017 Frankfurt auto show.
The car is powered by the same engine found in the current crop of cars raced by the Mercedes F1 team. It’s a turbocharged 1.6-liter V-6, specifically the unit from the championship-winning race car from the 2015 season. The One actually features a more sophisticated powertrain than the F1 car, though.
While in the race car there’s only the turbocharged V-6 and a motor-generator driving the rear wheels, plus a second motor-generator integrated with the turbocharger, the One has two additional motor-generators. These drive each of the front wheels and provide the One with all-wheel drive. Peak output is 1,049 hp, though the car is relatively heavy for a two-seater, weighing in at 3,737 pounds, or close to the weight of a Ford Mustang GT.
For the record run, the One was set in its Race Plus drive mode. This mode is designed for track use and in addition to lowering the car (37 mm at the front and 30 mm at the rear), it also dials the aerodynamic and chassis settings to the max. Engel also used the car’s drag reduction system during the run.
Production of both the One’s F1 powertrain and the car itself is handled in the U.K. The powertrain comes from Mercedes‑Benz AMG High Performance Powertrains, the division that develops and builds Mercedes’ F1 power units.
AMG will build a total 275 examples, each priced at 2.275 million euros (approximately $2.3 million), and all build slots are gone. Even though a lot of the build slots went to customers in the U.S., AMG wasn’t able to certify the car and its finicky F1 engine for sale here without a substantial loss in performance, and thus won’t sell it here. There is some hope for U.S. customers in the form of the Show or Display rule. Under the rule, non-U.S. certified cars with historical or technological significance can be granted permission for private import, albeit with restrictions, such as annual mileage limited to 2,500 miles.
