It was only last week that Mercedes-AMG revealed the new GT Black series in a pretty awesome video.
This week, however, they’ve revealed some numbers in a huge press release. And as we all know, numbers can generate some serious excitement when it comes to supercars.
So let’s get the biggest number out the door straight away…
The Engine
The 2021 Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series will have a 4.0 liter, motorsport-derived, twin-turbocharged V8 that puts down 730 BHP and 590 lbs-ft of torque.
No, that is not a typo. The GT Black Series will be on even keel with a McLaren 720S and only 40 HP less than a Lamborghini Aventador SVJ in terms of grunt.
The part of the engine that is motorsports-derived is the flat-plane crankshaft that is in use for the beastly V8. Previously, all AMG V8’s have used 90-degree cross-plane crankshafts, yet to maximize the power potential of the turbocharged air and combustion potential of the engine, a 180-degree flat-plane crank was developed.
The flat-plane crank has been in use in Formula 1 and International GT Challenge racing for years now. However, due to the prohibitive cost of machining and producing crankshafts of this style, it has been reserved for motorsports and hypercars until now.
The Exhaust & Turbocharger Arrangement
Another motorsports idea in use for this engine is a very unique exhaust arrangement. In pretty much every other road-going engine, air enters the top of the manifold, enters the cylinder, combusts, and is exhausted on the outside of the engine block.
With the M178 LS2, the engine code for this monster, the exhaust is on the inside of the V of the engine, allowing the cylinders to be optimized for power from displacement. By keeping the exhaust in the “hot” area of the V, it also has a much shorter path to travel to the centrally mounted turbos, allowing for much faster spin-up and power delivery.
The only other road car that has ever used this turbo and exhaust layout is the Alfa Romeo Giulia QuadraFoglio, with a Ferrari-developed V6 under the hood. If those two names don’t scream motorsport all on their own…
It is paired with a 7-speed dual-clutch transmission that is capable of launch control and will help propel the car to 60 MPH in a hair over 3.2 seconds. 0 to 124 MPH takes under 9 seconds, and the listed top speed is 202 MPH.
Torsional Rigidity
Another reveal was that the car is stiffened by a carbon fiber cross tunnel, a technology borrowed directly from GT3 racing.
The cross tunnel, in the simplest terms, sits underneath the torque tunnel where the driveshaft runs and effectively connects both sides of the car together underneath the actual stress-bearing body of the chassis. This equates to about 7.5% more torsional rigidity side to side, as well as encasing the driveshaft in a bottom stress member that provides longitudinal rigidity.
With the transmission mounted to the rear axle, it is incredibly important to keep any loss of engine torque to a minimum, and having that torsional rigidity helps eliminate any possible body twist when the engine is at full throttle.
And that’s only three parts of the massive press release reviewed. It really is worth a full read, but we pulled out the three most important bits.
All of this in practice makes the GT Black Series about as close to an AMG GT3 as possible before running into road legality issues. In other words, this car will be a road-legal track weapon capable of devouring the opposition.
No pricing has been revealed yet, but the rumor mill is already expecting close to 200,000 Euros, or over $226,000 USD.
