Mercedes-AMG targets Porsche 911 GT3 with hot GT

 
AMG is already hard at work on a harder, faster version of its new GT sports car, set for launch in 2016.

Mercedes-Benz’s AMG performance division has already started work on an ultra-high performance version of its forthcoming GT coupé, company boss Tobias Moers has told Autocar.
‘Why not?” said Moers when quizzed on the prospect for a high-performance AMG GT.“A street-legal version of our GT3 racing car – that sounds like a pretty good idea.”
The new car will be targeted directly at the Porsche 911 GT3 though it will use neither that name nor be a Black Series model. “GT3 belongs to the other company,” said Moers, “we will find another name for our car.”
Moers would not be drawn on when the new car will be available but confirms the FIA GT3 racing version of the GT will be available from the 2016 season to replace the immensely successful SLS GT3. It would be logical to introduce the road car in a similar timeframe.
The target for the car, said Moers, is a package that excels in every area. “I don’t want to make a dragster that’s only good for doing 0-100km/h [0-62mph] in 2.8sec. We need more power, less weight, better aerodynamics and different suspension but the targets should be the power to weight ratio, drivability, lap time and tremendous feel.”
The aim for the new car will be to reduce weight by 80-100kg compared to the 1570kg S version of the GT, a task Moers admitted would not be possible without using different materials. “The car is already 80kg lighter than the SLS and has a similar power to weight ratio, so to lose much more weight we will need to use carbonfibre as we have with our Black Series models.”
He was less easily drawn on how much additional power will be extracted from the new 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbo engine, though admitted it would be fair to speculate it will be around the 550bhp mark, a near 10 per cent power increase on the more powerful (503bhp) of the two engines available for the GT at launch.
Making that power from the engine should be straight-forward as the engine shares its internal architecture with the 2.0-litre four-cylinder motor used in the likes of the A45 AMG, from which 355bhp is already extracted. He added: “That doesn’t mean we can get 700bhp from the V8 – it is not as simple as that – but the V8 is currently very understressed.”
A 550bhp GT weighing 80kg would provide a power to weight ratio of 369bhp per tonne compared to the 312bhp per tonne of the current Porsche 911 GT3.That should be enough to knock its 0-62mph time back from 3.8sec to a traction-limited 3.6sec.
Top speed is unlikely to increase from the current 193mph, as Moers is keen to equip the car with considerable downforce even at the expense of extra drag. AMG now employs an entire department of aerodynamicists for the first time in its history.
The new car will also receive a wider front and rear track to help mechanical grip. The entire package should lop 10 or more seconds off the GT’s Nürburgring lap time, which currently stands at 7min 30sec using, as Moers put it, “standard tyres, not special compounds designed to last just a few laps”.