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2021 Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series at Lightning Lap 2022

Originally Posted by Car and Driver

Lap Time: 2:37.0
Class: LL5 | Base: $327,050 | As Tested: $340,820
Power and Weight: 720 hp • 3632 lb • 5.0 lb/hp
Tires: Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 R, F: 285/35ZR-19 (1O6Y) MO1A R: 335/30ZR-20 (108Y) MO1A

As the GT Black Series tears down VIR's front straight toward a peak speed of 166.0 mph, all the pit wall hears is the sound of air rushing around the body and the whoosh of the turbochargers. On the inside, however, the Benz V-8 puts out more mechanical noise than a cruise ship's engine room, and there's also the metallic tinks and pops you get in a purpose-built race car. If AMG fitted any sound insulation, it's not working. But that's about the only thing that doesn't work on this car.

The Black Series is a track weapon with every lap-shrinking trick. An adjustable front splitter has two threaded supports that keep it from being ripped off at speed. The rear end flies a tall biplane setup with a large wing perched above a second smaller airfoil. In the center of the upper wing is an electronic air brake that deploys to help slow and stabilize—valuable when you have to brake from 166 to 52 mph to make Turn 1. In that first corner, the stiff suspension and the stickier of the two Pilot Sport Cup 2 R tires Michelin developed for the AMG work together to hang on all the way to a record-setting 1.25 g's.

Under the louvered carbon-fiber hood hides a flat-plane-crank version of AMG's twin-turbo 4.0-liter V-8 that's been jacked up to 720 horsepower. Put your foot in it, and just as you start to think, "Hey, this thing is frighteningly quick," an afterburner seemingly lights, sending the world into a slightly terrifying blur that doesn't quit until the dual-clutch automatic shifts at the V-8's 7200-rpm redline. The dual-clutch transaxle is so well programmed that vanity is the only real reason to engage the paddles.

If you're looking for understeer, look elsewhere. Over the 24-corner gauntlet, the Black Series nips at the heels of the nearly million-dollar McLaren Senna's 2:34.9 record. If you eliminate the Senna's gains on the long straights, the GT is essentially tied with it. Value is difficult to discuss when a car costs this much, but the AMG puts up the second-best time ever and costs less than half as much as the Senna. We can't wait to see what kind of time AMG's Formula 1–inspired mid-engine Project One sets.