Mercedes Now Owns Fastest Laguna Seca Four-door Record
Mercedes AMG GT 63 S takes the lap record from the Tesla Model S, edging out the EV’s time by a slim but satisfying margin.
If you aren’t familiar, Laguna Seca is an iconic road course located in Monterey County, California. The 2.2-mile track features 180 feet in elevation change, and eleven total turns, including the iconic ‘corkscrew.’ This isn’t the first time Mercedes has been at the top of the four-door lap list. However, Tesla wore the crown until recently. Now, though, the German powerhouse is back on top.
According to Motor Trend, the Mercedes AMG GT 63 S has just edged out the Tesla Model S. This isn’t exactly the vehicle you’d expect to see on the leaderboard. However, it’s lap time of 1:36.55 was enough for the electric car to sit atop the mountain. Remarkably, this record was held for three years straight by the 2015 Cadillac CTS-V.
It seems for now, though, that none can hold a candle to the beastly Merc. The 4.0-liter Biturbo V8 under the hood puts out a whopping 630 horsepower and 664 pound-feet of torque. Running the power through its lightning-quick nine-speed automatic transmission, this big beast is far from sluggish. The zero-to-sixty sprint takes only 3.2 seconds, and it will continue to a top speed of 195 miles per hour.
So how fast was it? The Merc crossed the line with a time of 1:36.26, beating the Tesla by less than three-tenths of a second. That may not seem like a lot to most. However, on such a fast track with quick lap times, it’s going to be a struggle for any manufacturer to edge out the foxy AMG four-door.
Laguna Seca isn’t the only track the AMG GT 63 S is dominating the four-door competition at. According to Motor 1, it’s also the fastest around the legendary Nurburgring Nordschleife with a time of 7:25.41. This record is fairly debated, though. Technically, the production sedan record belongs to the Jaguar XE SV Project 8. However, Mercedes claims the AMG GT 63 S to be a ‘four-door coupe.’ We’ll let you decide on that one.
Overall, whether you consider it a sedan or not, we all know this thing is an absolute monster. Even if it does eventually get beat out, the times this car is putting down around various courses is blisteringly fast.
Photos: Motor Trend