Blistering around the Nürburgring Nordschleife race track

Driving the Nürburgring Nordschleife is a must-do bucket list dream for most professional and enthusiast race drivers alike. It is a one of a kind race track that challenges your skill and fear levels.

Mercedes-AMG ONE has just recorded a new all time record by running the 21.8km track in a time of 6: 35: 183 min.

The driver, Maro Engel, will live with this achievement in memory for the rest of his life.

“That was really an unforgettable experience,” said Engel after completing the record lap. “I didn’t expect that we would be able to set such a lap time with these track conditions. In some crucial areas of the track, it hadn’t dried completely yet and was therefore tricky. That was a special challenge. We tried to find the optimal deployment strategy during the pretests. Like Lewis Hamilton and George Russell on their race weekends, I also had to deploy the electrical energy of the hybrid drive in the best possible way. That’s not easy, especially with the length of the track. In addition, the DRS function had to be used optimally. But that’s also a real Formula 1 feeling. I would like to thank you for this opportunity and the trust you’ve placed in me. It was definitely something very special to drive this incredible car on the Ring.”

“I’m proud of the whole AMG team – everyone who was involved in this project,” said Philipp Schiemer, chairperson of the board of management of Mercedes-AMG GmbH.

“At first, it didn’t look like a new record. The weather was sunny with a light wind, but the track was – typical of the Nürburgring in autumn – still damp and partly dirty in some areas. In some sections, such as the fast Kesselchen section, the ideal line had not yet completely dried. All in all, they were not ideal conditions – especially for a vehicle in this extreme performance class. By the time the track was passable for a first fast lap, the remaining time to perform the record attempt had whittled down to less than an hour. With air and asphalt temperatures of just under 20 degrees Celsius, this was only enough for a maximum of four fast laps.”

The Mercedes-AMG ONE offers a standard 782kW and a top speed of 352km/h.

For the record drive, the maximum camber values within the delivery tolerance were selected. Engel chose the “Race Plus” driving programme, which means active, maximum possible aerodynamics, tight chassis tuning, vehicle lowering by 37mm at the front axle and 30mm at the rear axle and, of course, full power from all motors. Drag Reduction System (DRS) was activated.

Engel used special energy management for the lap of the 20.8km Nordschleife. He also used energy recovery in the braking phases.

Enjoy this spectacular achievement here.

Source: MotorPress