When AMG showed us the new AMG GT concept at Geneva, the first question that shot up was – what happen to the flagship sportscar? And up shot a tantalising silhouette of the Mercedes-AMG R50 or Project One – Mercedes’ Formula 1 based hypercar. Now this isn’t the first time we have been teased with a brief glimpse of the hypercar’s silhouette (we already saw that at the Paris Motor Show.
Apart from the name, there are a few things everyone seems to be agreeing upon. To start with, the car will be road legal even though it barely manages to do so. The next in line is the power figure. An output of 1000bhp is the threshold to enter into hypercar territory and the Mercedes will attain the magic number from a hybrid powertrain. A major chunk of the horsepower will be contributed by the Formula1 based 1.6-litre turbocharged V6 engine and will be complemented by electric motors. Kinetic energy recovery systems and related electric voodoo will make sure there is always enough power on tap if you plan to give it a go at any point of time.
As for the design, the teased silhouette shows us a Le-Mans style body shell with a central spine running through the length, a rear-mid mounted engine and a wide track. Surprisingly, there seems to be no rear wing as of now but a bunch of active floating panels over the rear hunches will make sure there is no dearth of downforce. It seems to have incorporated the Aston Martin Valkyrie’s almost-open-wheel route into its design which will make sure it looks the part of a radical car.
AMG boss Tobias Moers has openly said that the AMG hypercar is not chasing the top-speed ranks but you might see a Nurburgring number to show how fast it is overall. Only 275 examples of this engineering marvel will be produced and priced roughly at 2.275 million Euros (approx. Rs 18 crore). Like every other prestigious limited production car, the Project One might be sold out already. It will be showcased in Frankfurt, later this year and we can hardly wait for September.
