AMG GT Black Series Leaves GT R Pro in the Dust

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Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series

Through a lap around Germany’s Hockenheimring, AMG GT Black Series clocks a 1:43.3 time, 4.7 seconds faster than GT R Pro.

The Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series is the latest to join Affalterbach’s exclusive ultra-performance club. Casting aside every bit of luxury left, this GT is just a few mods short of being a full FIA GT4 race car, if not GT3. And with a price tag near $390,000, it’s worth every penny in performance.

To drive the point home, German publication Sport Auto (via CarScoops) recently took an orange-and-black example out to the Hockenheimring in Hockenheim, Germany for a couple of laps. What they discovered was a machine not even the GT R Pro can touch.

Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series

What does that $390,000 get you? How about a lap time around the Hockenheimring of 1:43.3? This places the GT Black Series 4.7 seconds faster than the GT R Pro, whose time of 1:48.0 occurred in August of 2019. That’s not all it bested, though.

Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series

The GT Black Series landed ahead of the Ferrari 488 Pista (1:45.9), McLaren 720S (1:45.5), and fellow Teutonic rival Porsche 911 Turbo S (1:47.8). The only road-going car ahead of it is the McLaren Senna (1:40.79); the rest are full-blown race cars with times under 1:20.0.

Half of the magic, of course, is the twin-turbo 4.0-liter V8. AMG remodeled the motor thoroughly, giving room for 720 horses and their combined 590 lb-ft of torque to gallop furiously through the seven-speed dual-clutch to the rear. The other half, though, is the aero kit. Pulling from the GT3 playbook, the GT Black Series active aero yanks down 882 pounds of downforce at 155 mph. Thus, it is as glued to the ground as a fly is to fly paper.

Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series

All of that aero is certainly helpful when launching off the line, too. After all, the Black Series reaches 62 mph in 3.2 seconds, 124 mph in under 9 seconds, and tops out at 202 mph. It may be part of the Black Series, but this GT will leave your knuckles white under the driving gloves.

The GT Black Series will likely leave Porsche white in the face, too, once it takes a swing at the Nurburgring. The current ‘Ring king is the Porsche 911 GT2 RS MR, which took on the full course in 6.40.33 in 2018, per Auto Express. We can’t wait to see AMG knock Porsche’s block off.

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Cameron Aubernon's path to automotive journalism began in the early New '10s. Back then, a friend of hers thought she was an independent fashion blogger.

Aubernon wasn't, so she became one, covering fashion in her own way for the next few years.

From there, she's written for: Louisville.com/Louisville Magazine, Insider Louisville, The Voice-Tribune/The Voice, TOPS Louisville, Jeffersontown Magazine, Dispatches Europe, The Truth About Cars, Automotive News, Yahoo Autos, RideApart, Hagerty, and Street Trucks.

Aubernon also served as the editor-in-chief of a short-lived online society publication in Louisville, Kentucky, interned at the city's NPR affiliate, WFPL-FM, and was the de facto publicist-in-residence for a communal art space near the University of Louisville.

Aubernon is a member of the International Motor Press Association, and the Washington Automotive Press Association.


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