Mercedes-AMG is gearing up to launch the latest generation of GT coupes as a fully fledged GT3 racer, and it’ll use lessons learned from the track for a new Black Series road car.
Yesterday, the German performance carmaker announced the AMG GT Black Series is making a comeback, having previously served as the limited-run flagship of the first-generation model, but has so far been absent from the second-gen lineup.
Set to serve as the car upon which the GT3 race vehicle will be homologated, AMG’s Black Series is doing things differently to the likes of Ford, which drew inspiration from the Mustang GT3 racer for the Mustang GTD road car.
Promised to be the “most extreme Black Series ever”, a brief video of both the GT Black Series and the new GT GT3 car at the Nürburgring appears to hint at what’ll be under the bonnet, with both cars sounding distinctly different to the existing GT lineups.
AMG is still running the first-generation GT in its GT3 racing program, powered by a naturally aspirated 6.2-litre V8. This engine was never available in the first-gen GT road car, which instead had a twin-turbo 4.0-litre V8 heart.
It’s likely the new GT3 and Black Series will be united in being powered by twin-turbo V8 engines, given the prevalence of this layout in racing competitions, such as with the upcoming Toyota GR GT and GR GT3 models.
While the first-gen GT Black Series looked wild enough – and was briefly the fastest production car to lap the Nordschleife – it appears its successor will go one step further.
Though camouflage covers the details, the GT Black Series appears to get a GT3-inspired aerodynamics package which includes a swan-neck rear wing and side-exit exhausts.
These enhancements will likely see it compete with the upcoming Porsche 911 GT2 RS as the new ‘sports car’ king of the Nürburgring, though it’s unlikely either will challenge the Formula 1-derived AMG One for overall honours.
“At AMG, we develop vehicles to exceed expectations,” said AMG CEO Michael Schiebe. “And that is exactly what the future Black Series and the new GT3 will do.”
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