MBWorld Editor

DIME Racing has announced the launch of its new program to sell turnkey, street-legal, "race cars" for the road through Mercedes-Benz dealerships.

Read the rest on the MBWorld homepage. >>

PaulE550

Interesting story. Could you please explain how you managed to get a heavily customized and tuned car from a third party performance shop to be both fully warrantied from MB, as well as sold directly through MB dealerships? Given everything I've read regarding MB's corporate policy on modified or tuned vehicles, this announcement would seem to go against the current MB corporate stance on warranty support for such vehicles. Thanks.

Sanch

+1 its faster than their hero car atm (GTR) - for cheaper.

JSwan724

I think they mean that they will be SOLD and serviced at selected dealerships. Warranty issues will be on Dime.

However I totally agree that a 745hp DIME GT at that price point raises lots of questions as to why the upcoming AMG GTR isn't at least 600hp.

AMG 17GT

As you are aware this statistical numbers thing is all about elevating a model and that horsepower range will be reserved for the black series.

JSwan724

You're correct.

But even the Black would be underpowered at 600-650hp compared to the Dime offering.

I think if one were to consider a Dime GTS over an AMG one there would be insurance and resale issues that should be addressed and resolved before purchase.

emericr

I am sorry but for $300K+, I am buying a Huracan or 650S

JSwan724

If I read the article correctly, the Dime GT is SUPPOSED to be in the $170k range.

They'll be rare as hens teeth and I am sure price markups will prevail.

Future value ???


How's your new ride?

Now you're a GT ADDICT.

4everalone

What are the length and terms of this warranty?

Rahul Ravu

Here is an article that quotes the price at $150k.

http://www.roadandtrack.com/new-cars...epower-amg-gt/

rsalco

My MB store sales guy e-mailed me this AM asking if I wanted to order one for '18. I told him my understanding was that next year's 100 cars are all sold; he replied that his order book was still open to build one. As of this AM. Hmmmn..... Since I already have a GT S from him, he isn't trying to lure me with the DIME as bait, later to switch me into an S.


Told him if he can find a home for my present car, I'll order the DIME. Unlikely to happen m'thinks.

Jim Brady

The Pirelli World Challenge will have a new class next year GT4. It will be focused on street cars unlike the GT3 version of (AMG, Porsche, McLaren Audi) which has become a factory race series. Dime is focusing on this market. They will be competing with three WC cars this year. Two AMG GT's and an SLS. Next year they are hopfull that they will have a number of customers to compete in the GT4 series.

The DIME vehicle base is a the GT version with suspension, brake, aero and engine upgrades to compete in that series. They have several dealers they will be working with for the new vehicles. As someone said the warrantee is on them for thier products.
They will also offer street upgrades with the various upgrades for current owners of GTS and GT's.

If you think about it the AMG 4cylinder with 355 hp which is half of the 4.0 their power numbers are believeable. Personally they are conservative as the limiting factor is the DCT transmission.

Nice to see someone putting AMG vehicles on the track. It's pretty clear thier marketing focus is race on Sunday sell on Monday.
Good luck to them.

unpollo2

Would like to see some real world results. So far the tunes I've seen haven't really boosted acceleration times just created added torque and corresponding wheelspin which takes away from true speed. Or they have been limited to the gearing and shift limits of the transmission.

745hp I would expect mid 2s 0-60 times and low to under 10s 1/4 mile times and welll over 200mph top speed.

If DIME does it then yes it is a helluva bargain at 170k.

Jim Brady

I would like to see what the 60-130 mph times would be. I think that's a better barometer of horsepower as it eliminates driver variables, sketchy dyno readings and launch control which optimizes grip.

I understand DIME performance upgrades are available for the GTS so we shall see.

emericr

Unpollow: tunes have been proven to take the car into the high 10s in the quarter which is about 1/2 a second quicker than stock. That's solid evidence that tuners have added real power to the car and the chassis can handle it. From what I hear, turbo wheel upgrades with just one wheell being changed are not making any real difference. I am confused on the price. Is 150k the price of admission with the car or do u have to provide a GT and then pony up the 150k. I wonder if they would just do turbo upgrades and tune without all the track upgrades. With à warranty that could be a great option.

JSwan724

Go see WEISTEC. They have a GTS candy store with all flavors of upgrades.

sonystyle02

I have my car tuned by Dime and have been talking to them about this so hopefully I can clear up some info.

The $150k price tag is inclusive of the GT, aero, and internal upgrades so you're looking at +$40k for this Dime edition.

I have their tune, downpipes/midpipes, and soon air filters as well so I'm sure they'll piece out the upgrades but you'll have to call in to be sure. Due to my impatience, we tuned it before I had a baseline done and haven't dyno'd it post mods either. With that said, the butt dyno likey.

emericr

Sony, thanks for the clarification and pricing is actually reasonable for all those mods and warranty.
I wonder if the warranty for getting "a la carte" items would be thru them or any MB dealership like the entire unit. If it is only thru them, California is a bit far for service for a Florida car.

AMG 17GT

We can fix that. Let's buy a landing pad in Carmel.....

JSwan724

So to be clear,

-- BASE GTS is $150 and;
-- DIME UPGRADES are up to $40k.
-- Warranty is from DIME.

AMG 17GT

I believe it will be a base GT 113 k plus 40k.

ML63 AMG

Larger turbos, tune, and downpipes is all you really need to make that much power.

The 4.0L can take almost 40PSI, it's just the turbos that are intentionally smaller from the factory to prevent tuners from blowing motors with tunes

emericr

the ad states that warranty is completed at mb dealerships so that's why I am confused. If warranty is only at Dime HQ then it's no different than other tuners like Eurocharged and renntech.

jrcart

You would like to see some real world results??? There are all sorts of threads here on this forum with real world GT-S results from many different tuners. A tune and headers gets these cars into the 10's on stock rubber. Drag radials and a few additional mods will push it into the mid 10's. Obviously more torque and HP are going to increase wheelspin but a skilled driver knows exactly how to manage it so if you are trying to infer that 745hp is unusable power you are greatly mistaken. You would need to add over 300hp to the stock hp ratings to find the limits of the transmission/clutches on these vehicles. The GT's have the same clutch packs as my SLS Black Series and it was making over 850hp and never had any clutch, transmission or shifting related issues....and no, a mere 745hp should not and will not take a 3700 pound vehicle to sub 10 second 1/4 mile times

kumizi

I've seen a couple of results from tune and downpipes. Nothing concrete about any additional mods.

I've been ready to do the turbo upgrade and asked several times but I haven't seen any trap speeds from upgraded turbo cars.