Mercedes-AMG ONE
Maro Engel is back in charge of the attack
Following on from 2022, Mercedes-AMG brand ambassador Maro Engel was in charge of this attack at the Nürburgring, and he impressively improved his own record by a large margin.
In October 2022, the Mercedes-AMG ONE recorded the fastest time of 6 minutes 35.183 seconds at the Nürburgring Nordschleife, the fastest production car. Since then, no driver or production car has been able to beat this record. The one who challenged this record was once again the Mercedes-AMG ONE.
Mercedes-AMG brand ambassador and DTM (Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters) driver Maro Engel took on this grueling challenge and achieved a remarkable breakthrough: his time of 6 minutes 29.090 seconds was recorded in a notarized manner over the 20.832 km course. The hyper sports car, equipped with hybrid technology derived from F1 cars, beat his own previous production car record by more than five seconds.
With this time, the Mercedes-AMG ONE became the first road car to break the 6 minutes 30 seconds barrier. Mercedes-AMG Chairman and CEO Michael Siebe expressed his delight at this significant record-breaking achievement:
“We have held the record for the fastest production car for almost two years. Yet at Mercedes-AMG we always want to push the limits and sometimes even exceed them. That’s why, once again, with the Mercedes-AMG ONE, we have proven that we can go beyond the limits. The hard work and dedication of the whole team has paid off and I’m proud of our teamwork and our great result. Once again, we have demonstrated the Mercedes-AMG spirit and expertise.”
Lift and coast accurately
The Mercedes-AMG ONE is being meticulously prepared for the attack. This time, the car is making efficient use of electric power by strategically using a “lift and coast” technique, which allows the car to coast and efficiently regenerate power.
To overcome the high hurdle that was theirs two years ago, careful preparation was necessary. Furthermore, their target time of under 6 minutes 30 seconds required ideal track conditions. And then the day arrived, 6:56 PM on September 23, 2024. Under perfect conditions with an air temperature of 15°C and a track temperature of 20°C, Maro Engel put in an incredible lap on his third lap, completing the course in an impressive time of 6 minutes 29.090 seconds.
Just like Lewis Hamilton and George Russell have shown in the Formula 1 Grand Prix, Engel needed to make the most of the electric energy from his hybrid powertrain, a huge challenge when the track is over 20km long, so it was important to use the right sections of the track to recover energy when braking and store it back in the battery.
Engel took advantage of the Mercedes-AMG ONE’s four-stage Energy Flow Control (EFC) system, sometimes lifting his foot off the accelerator a little earlier than normal, employing the “lift-and-coast” technique familiar from Formula 1 and the World Endurance Championship (WEC), which use hybrid powertrains. Preliminary tests in the Affalterbach driving simulator and on the Nordschleife allowed him to optimize the lift-and-coast technique for his attack lap.
The Mercedes-AMG ONE used in this attack was certified as a production vehicle after undergoing rigorous inspection by TÜV Rheinland, in accordance with the lap regulations of Nürburgring 1927 GmbH & Co. KG. In addition, independent notary public Wige Solutions was present to verify the vehicle’s proper condition and the accuracy of the recorded run.
