The long awaited Mercedes AMG Project ONE, now renamed the Mercedes AMG ONE. What a hypercar ! The Mercedes AMG ONE really is a F1 street legal hypercar. It’s insane!
Driving Mercedes AMG ONE on track | First customer drives | F1 hypercar | AMG Project ONE
Nearly seven years since the concept was revealed, the Mercedes-AMG One finally made its debut in production form in late May. A forbidden fruit in the United States because regulations would hamper performance, the F1-engined hypercar was delayed a few times since the engineers had a hard time meeting emissions regulations. The fact an F1 engine idles at 5,000 rpm certainly didn’t help, and bringing it down to 1,200 rpm posed quite a challenge.
That’s all in the past now as the AMG One is finally ready to be delivered to those 275 customers who had to patiently wait for what is essentially an F1 car for the road. Mercedes’ performance division organized a dedicated event in Immendingen where owners had the opportunity to sample the hybrid machine. YouTuber Rana65556 is among those who have ordered the car, and he decided to document his trip to German by shooting a video.
AMG One project leader Marco Lochmahr provided a technical tour of the AMG One with its adjustable active aero and the 1.6-liter V6 engine bolted directly onto the carbon monocoque chassis. To meet emissions standards, the ICE uses a pre-heated catalytic converter. How does that work? The hypercar always starts in electric mode and can be switched to gasoline power only after about 50 to 60 seconds once the catalytic converter reaches the optimal temperature.
The powertrain looks exceptionally complicated once you take off the two panels incorporating vents and NACA ducts. We also get to find out there’s a switch mounted to the left of the adjustable pedal box that needs to be used to depressurize the gasoline tank before refueling. Installed on the right side of the car, the fuel cap automatically opens when the procedure is completed.
Marco Lochmahr also goes through the driving modes, including Race+ to deploy the louvers in the fenders and the rear wing while the ride height is lowered. With the combustion engine running, the AMG One is exceptionally loud, up to the point it seems having a conversation with the passenger would pose a real challenge.
Even though it’s a fully fledged hypercar with 1,049 horsepower and a 0 to 62 mph (100 km/h) acceleration in 2.9 seconds, it still has a boost function. It’s technically called Pass mode akin to a race car and it shifts the AMG One into the lowest gear possible for maximum acceleration performance. It can be turned on in every driving mode to unlock the hybrid powertrain’s full potential.
How many of these will actually be driven remains to be seen, but those who will properly use their hypercars know already the combustion engine must be rebuilt once every 50,000 kilometers (about 31,000 miles). The ICE redlines at a screaming 11,000 rpm and produces 566 hp on its own in a car that weighs a relatively low 1,695 kilograms (3,730 pounds). It needs seven seconds until 124 mph (200 km/h) and maxes out at 219 mph (352 km/h).
These staggering numbers should lead to another impressive figure as everyone is expecting Mercedes-AMG to establish a new Nürburgring record for the fastest production car.
