Mercedes-AMG plans hot GT Black Series

Mercedes-AMG boss Tobias Moers has confirmed that a Black Series version of the new Mercedes-AMG GT sports car is in the pipeline.

“It won’t be here soon, because Black Series cars tend to come towards the end of a car’s production cycle, but an AMG GT Black is a car we must do,” he revealed at the Detroit motor show.

Before then, Moers had promised to turn the GT into “a full family”. This means a convertible version will be forthcoming, probably in 2016, as well as a high-performance GT3-style version that will be positioned between the existing GT S and the hardcore Black Series.

When interviewed about this car previously, Moers explained the plan thus: “We need more power, less weight, better aero and different suspension, but the targets should be the power-to-weight ratio, driveability, lap time and tremendous feel.”

He also suggested it would be fair to speculate that a GT3 would have around 550bhp. A Black Series would clearly need to move the game on farther still.

The SLS Black Series achieved 622bhp from its 6.2-litre engine, an output well within the reach of the GT’s all-new twin turbo 4.0-litre V8 engine. This would require a specific output of 155bhp per litre, nowhere near the 180bhp per litre output already offered by the closely related 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine in the A45 AMG.

However, the GT Black Series would not even need that much power to eclipse the performance of the equivalent SLS.

The standard GT weighs about 80kg less than the equivalent SLS, with the aim for the GT3 version being to shed another 100kg, resulting in a kerb weight of about 1440kg.

If the Black Series were simply no heavier, it would beat the equivalent SLS’s power-to-weight ratio with just 580bhp, before taking into account the probable massive torque advantage of the twin-turbo V8 over the highly tuned normally aspirated engine used by the SLS.

The SLS Black Series was capable of recording a 3.6sec run from 0-62mph, so expect the GT version to be just as quick, although, like the SLS, shorter gearing and the additional drag from a downforce-inducing aerodynamic package are likely to keep the top speed below 200mph.

Source: www.autocar.co.uk