Mercedes-AMG have introduced the third and most powerful road-legal avatar of the AMG GT: the R, packing all of 585 PS.
The new AMG GT R is not just more powerful, or more aerodynamic, or more intense. It’s just more. More sophisticated, agile and technologically advanced to make the art of going faster seem just that little bit easier.
The car is extensively based on the AMG GT3 – which is not road-legal – and uses several inputs from their racing programme. The grille is the most telling sign of that. Gone is the comparatively meek front grille from the AMG GT S and in comes a seriously mean-looking 15-vertical-slat ‘Panamericana’ grille instead. Other visible changes are – obviously – the new paint shade of ‘AMG green hell magno’ and some more aero bits, notably the wider front air dam and splitter, and, at the rear, the double diffuser and large carbon fibre rear wing. The GT badging on the rump is followed by a yellow ‘R’ suffix.
While the GT3 uses the SLS’ old magical and rather large 6,208-cc naturally-aspirated V8, the GT R gets a tuned up 4.0-litre V8 biturbo, seen in the other GT cars. Still packing direct injection and hot-in-V twin-turbochargers, the 3,982-cc unit puts out 585 PS at 6,250 RPM and 50 more Nm of torque (so, 700 Nm) between a higher 1,900 RPM to 5,500 RPM. The AMG SpeedShift seven-speed dual-clutch transmission feeds the numbers to the rear wheels. One key difference in the R is the inclusion of nine-level traction control, adjustable suspension, and active rear-wheel steering: the secret to its sharper cornering. Also, the weight is down 90 kg to 1,555 kg: that’s 376 PS/tonne. What Mercedes-AMG also tell you is that it will now do 0-100 km/h in just 3.6 seconds and go on to a top speed of 318 km/h.
What this means is, with the 585-PS (coincidentally what the 63 S-spec 5.5 biturbo V8 puts out) peak output from the 4.0, the ‘R’ is, in essence, the next-generation ‘Black Series’. The good news is – remember, it’s road legal – that it will come to India sometime, perhaps the first half of next year. Something big, green, mean and ready to smash – not the next Hulk movie – records. Let’s wait and see what it’s priced at, though.
Here’s a video of Lewis Hamilton taking a spin, with Linkin Park’s ‘Papercut’ for company:
Story: Jim Gorde
