How does 1000 HP-plus from a 1.6-litre engine sound to you? Or a 0-200 KMPH acceleration run of less than 6-seconds? What about the F1-like steering wheel or the liberal usage of carbon inside the cabin? Still not impressed? What if I tell you that this is basically the road version of the championship-winning F1 car from Mercedes-AMG? Mind blowing, right? Well, at least we are still trying to recover from the shockwaves Mercedes has sent across the entire car industry. Dubbed as the Mercedes AMG Project One, this hypercar comes with a V6 turbo petrol hybrid F1 engine that has been tested by none other than Lewis Hamilton.
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Mercedes AMG Project One Offers unadulterated Formula One technology for the road. The new hypercar will thus soon become the first commercially available vehicle with F1 hybrid powertrain and road approval. Here’s all that we know about the new Mercedes AMG hypercar. The new hypercar will have a sticker price of USD 2.72 million when it goes on sale in future.
Also See- Mercedes-AMG C43 Review
Mercedes AMG Project One – Engine Performance
Official stats aren’t totally clear at the moment. But what we know for sure that here’s a four-banger displacing just about 1.6-litre and benefitting from an F1 hybrid system. Well, hold your breath for this motor revs all the way to 11,000 RPM. True, F1 engines have a 15,000 RPM redline but the company has reduced it for the Project One to enhance the engine life by reducing the wear-and-tear. Maximum power is in excess of 1,000 BHP! Top speed is more than 350 KMPH. The company even claims a below 6-seconds run to 200 KMPH from a standstill. To put things in perspective, the much publicized Bugatti Chiron has a claimed 0-200 KMPH timing of 6.5 seconds.
Mercedes AMG says,”The hypercar is a true performance hybrid that marks the pinnacle of what is currently technologically feasible. In terms of output and efficiency, this hypercar points the way to “AMG Future Performance”. It is a project that sets a spectacular milestone on the way to the future of Mercedes-AMG. The Mercedes-AMG Project ONE.”
Mercedes AMG Project One – Images
Mercedes AMG Project One – Technical Specifications
Of course, the (relatively) small capacity V6 engine is aided by a turbocharger, which itself is helped by an electric motor to eliminate any sort of lag. There’s another electric motor working overtime on the crankshaft to add another 160 BHP to the kitty. Well, this is not it. There are also two electric motors to independently power each of the front wheels. These motors produce 160 BHP each and spin all the way to 50,000 RPM. This setup allows torque-vectoring and lightning-quick launches from a standstill. You can run this hypercar only on these electric motors alone to get an approval from the Greenpeace.
The engine comes mated to an eight-speed automated manual transmission with F1-style paddles mounted on the steering wheel column. The cabin offers two seats, two large-size screens that provide all sorts of data, and really a lot of carbon fiber. Oh by the way, there’s no rear windscreen. Mercedes AMG goes on to claim that as much as 80 percent of the energy produced at the brakes is used to charge batteries that help make the car faster. This is the same “ultra efficient = hyper fast” philosophy that has made AMG F1 cars enjoy a great advantage ever since F1 switched to turbo-hybrid powertrains in 2014.
The Project One uses the same batteries and cooling system that you find in the F1 cars of Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas. The batteries are positioned behind the front axle to optimize the weight distribution.
Mercedes AMG Project One – Exterior and Interior
The bodywork is smooth and reminds us of some Le Mans cars from the bygone era. The car has smooth flowing lines and overall, the Project One looks every bit a new-age hypercar that we’ve dreamt of. The front-end has gaping air-dams. The hood reminds us of the Tesla Roadster a bit. The headlights are sleek and look modern. The roofline has a hint of a Porsche while the pop-up rear wing gets an integrated airbrake.
The highlight of the interior has to be the F1-like steering wheel. There are a couple of 10-inch screens, plenty of carbon fibre all around and little else. You get two seats and, as we said, no rear windscreen.
