It's been a while since Mercedes-AMG made one of its "Black Series" monsters. Indeed, the vaunted SLS Black Series was discontinued as far back as 2014. The Black Series was and is all about 2-seater hard top demi-racers designed with 98 percent focus on track performance and 2 percent on meeting the minimum possible standards for road compliance. Expert drivers' weapons that AMG has no interest in selling to collectors – the company wants these things thrashed, hard.
So, meet the latest. The Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series becomes the most powerful AMG V8 ever, with a 4-liter, twin turbo, flat plane crank donk pumping out a mighty 730 peak horsepower as well as a very healthy 800 Nm (590 lb-ft) of torque all the way from 2,000 to 6,000 rpm. The turbos alone can push an eyebrow-raising 1,100 kg (2,425 lb) of air per hour, according to Daimler, and I'm not sure I could push a single one on my current diet.
It's not an electric; you'll have to wait an agonizing 3.2 seconds to get up to 100 km/h (62 mph). But keep the boot planted for a further 5.8 seconds and you'll have rocketed past double that speed, and should you find a road long and straight enough and sufficient twinkle in your eye, you can wind it right out to 325 km/h (202 mph).
Yes, the engine lurks beneath an expansive front hood, but the 7-speed dual-clutch transmission sits between the rear wheels in a transaxle arrangement to distribute the weight a bit more like a mid-engined supercar.
In the name of shaving off tenths, the aeros on this thing are full and fruity. Behold the gigantic front grille, for starters, and an active double-decker rear spoiler that looks like you could sit your desktop computer on and lift it up and down. The front splitter is huge, and if you want it huger you can pull it out so far it's no longer street legal in the name of bulk downforce.
There are whopping big scoops in the hood. The underbody is almost entirely paneled. There are wide-set fancy carbon side skirts, flicks and fins. There are six gill slits down each side, and that's one more than you get on most actual sharks. Painted up in an almost liquid, highly reflective silver, it looks as mean as it's sure to go.
There's plenty of carbon in the bodywork, even some of the bits that don't look like carbon, but the chassis is aluminum. There's coil-over suspension at all four legs, with adjustable spring preload and race-bred active damping that prides itself on being able to distinguish a flat, smooth track from a dodgy, bumpy one. Perhaps by the bumps? I'm no rocket surgeon but that's how I'd do it.
Electronics-wise, you get yourself a drift-friendly traction control system with variable levels of side slip. The interior is all about Nappa leather, orange stitching, racing seats, carbon accents and a conspicuously large rollover bar tempting you to flip the thing.
The GT Black Series is quite an assault on the senses, and clearly destined for an impressive Nordschleife lap, which we'll surely be made aware of in the fullness of time. Sadly, the doors open sideways like some sort of commoner's conveyance, and we're sorry to say its Instagram clout may never recover from this unforgivable oversight. No influencer worth their selfie stick is going to drape themselves over this thing if there's a butterfly-door McLaren two parks over. Or hell, even one of the gullwings Mercedes itself made famous. Sideways doors indeed.
Check out a video below, or flick through some truly drooly photos in the gallery.
Source: Mercedes-AMG
