As I alluded to in last week’s passion blog, this week’s blog will be about the Mercedes-Benz AMG One car. Since being unveiled in 2015, this actual release of this car in 2022 has been long awaited. The special feature about the Mercedes-Benz AMG One is that it runs on an actual Formula 1 engine. This allows the car to have 1,000 horsepower and a top speed of 217+ mph. While the vehicle costs $2.72 million, all 275 units are already sold out (1 going to Manny Khoshbin’s collection from the last blog).
Many did not believe that the Mercedes-Benz AMG One would truly be faster than most supercars today, which is why there hasn’t been a successful car with a Formula 1 engine yet. However, the Mercedes-Benz AMG One was able to beat the Porsche GT2RS by 8 seconds and now holds the fastest lap record on the German Nürburgring track.
Heading into some of the features of the Mercedes-Benz AMG One, Mercedes was able to do as much as they could to create a replica Formula 1 car that is also road legal. The cockpit of a vehicle has a Formula 1 style steering wheel, which has many buttons. Almost every part of the car is controllable, from brake differential to fuel usage. Additionally, the car features the very popular DRS feature from Formula 1 cars. DRS allows the rear wing of the car to open and allow for more downforce while increasing speed by 12 mph to overtake vehicles.
Another feature that the Mercedes-Benz AMG One owners will enjoy is that the car revs up to 11,000 rpm. This is very high compared to most supercars today, and allows for very high pitched revs. With today’s day and age with cars transitioning to electric and turbo motors, they are getting faster but don’t sound as nice. Mercedes kept this in mind with the AMG One and made sure drivers of the vehicle have both a fast and enjoyable experience in the car.
Taking a pause from talking about the Mercedes-Benz AMG One, I also talked about the Tesla Model S Plaid in one of my earlier blogs. The Tesla is about 7% of the price of the Mercedes-Benz AMG One, and is still quite comparable in performance. In fact, the Tesla beats the Mercedes-Benz AMG One from 0-60 miles per hour by .8 seconds. Additionally, the car is only a minute slower than the Mercedes-Benz AMG One on the German Nürburgring track. This just shows how revolutionary the Tesla Model S Plaid truly is in the car community.
In conclusion, I still believe that the Mercedes-Benz AMG One will be truly revolutionary in the car community. With the Formula 1 engine, it will boost the reputation for both Mercedes-Benz along with Formula 1. An obstacle Mercedes-Benz is currently facing is that the United States has not deemed the car as ‘road-legal.’ This means nobody in the United States would be able to take delivery of the car, even though they already paid for it years in advance. Hopefully Mercedes-Benz is able to do something to negotiate with the regulators and allow the car to be driveable in the United States, as I would love to see one in person.
Links used:
https://www.mbusa.com/en/future-vehicles/mercedes-amg-one
https://www.hotcars.com/mercedes-amg-one-may-be-most-complicated-road-car-ever/