The hyper game will get a new participant in the form of the Mercedes-AMG Project 1 which will be unveiled at this year’s Frankfurt Motor Show. It will enter the league of the La Ferrari, Porsche 918 and McLaren P1. Project 1 has been derived entirely from F1 technology that has helped Mercedes clinch multiple world titles and will be limited to 275 units.
A video detailing the underpinnings reveals that the petrol engine in this hypercar will be the same 1.6-litre turbo charged unit found at the back of their 2014 title winning car. In addition to that, Project 1 also gets four electric motors which have been attached to the front wheels, turbo and the crankshaft respectively. The car has a range of 24km in all electric mode and will be powered exclusively by the motors on the front wheels. There are separate gearboxes for the front and rear wheels with the latter being an eight-speed single clutch unit. The combined output of five motors gives this car a power figure of 1000bhp!
Further evidence of F1 design and technology is visible in the positioning of the battery pack and control unit which sits behind the front wheels to create a perfect balance. Also visible is the race car style push-rod suspension both in the front and rear, carbon ceramic brakes and 335 section rear-tyres, all of which are massive for a road going car. To put it into perspective, the 2016 Mercedes AMG F1 car that won Nico Rosberg his title, used 325 section rear tyres.
Now that we have got the geeky bit in perspective, let us bring some reality into the picture. The car is limited to 275 units and unsurprisingly all of them have already been accounted for. Production of the car is expected to begin sometime next year and AMG says it will build one car a day to ensure that the order books are closed up before 2020. The car will be road legal across the world except China and is expected to be insanely fast but luxurious in that Mercedes-Benz way. The company says it will start testing the car soon and if the past is anything to go by, then we can expect that Mercedes-Benz will attempt to make a name for itself by breaking the lap record at the Nurburgring within the next three years.
