Mercedes-AMG turns 50 next year, and there’s a wild rumor that it will celebrate its big birthday with a hypercar featuring F1 hardware.
The current Mercedes-Benz F1 W07 Hybrid has been a fairly stellar race car this season, featuring a high-revving 1.6-liter turbocharged V-6 and energy recovery systems. It’s unclear how much of that F1 power unit will trickle down to the road-going hypercar, but TopGear.com claims it spoke to a Mercedes insider at last week’s Belgian Grand Prix who said “it’s definitely happening.”
The report also suggests the hypercar will use three electric motors, a gullwing-style canopy, and carbon fiber construction. AMG is allegedly targeting a power-to-weight ratio of one-to-one (likely 1 hp for 1 kilogram), but will aim to give the hypercar relatively civilized road manners. The insider also claims the AMG hypercar is just one of two special cars planned for the performance division’s 50th anniversary.
A few months ago, Aston Martin confirmed it will produce its own F1-inspired hypercar in partnership with Red Bull Racing. Dubbed the AM-RB 001, the hypercar is being developed by Red Bull Racing’s chief technical officer Adrian Newey, who suggested the powertrain will include a naturally aspirated V-12. Aston and Red Bull are also targeting a one-to-one power-to-weight ratio with F1-levels of cornering grip. Development of the AM-RB 001 is well underway, and a prototype could appear as soon as next year.
Source: TopGear.com
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