Matt Watson drove the Mercedes-AMG One for the primary time on the Nurburgring. Past the enjoyment of driving a avenue automobile with a F1 engine as Watson put it, he was confronted with a technical downside. Mercedes engineers clarify what occurred.
The beginning button is like in AMG fashions. The automobile begins in EV mode powered by the 2 entrance engines of 163 HP every. After which the V6 engine begins. Matt Watson follows Bernd Schneider, former DTM grand champion within the Mercedes-AMG GT black sequence in entrance.
The brakes really feel extra like a avenue automobile, regardless that it’s each a avenue and race automobile. The engine is completely attractive, it responds so spontaneously as a result of the electrically pushed turbine reacts immediately. The automobile feels gentle and really steady. This primary lap was in Hybrid mode the place the suspension is sort of gentle and supple for this sort of automobile.
Now the settings change. Put it in Strat2 mode or Qualifying mode, which is just about all out. It’s more durable to get out and in of than the Aston Martin Valkyrie. Matt Watson couldn’t discover the air-con and didn’t do voice management both however each exist. The air-conditioning menu is hidden within the multimedia system.
At 10:20 Bernd Schneider will get behind the wheel in Race mode. When the battery is simply too full generally the engine stops, however throughout this lap the engine stopped once more regardless that the battery was not full. The battery additionally fees from the thermal engine if you happen to hold the V6 engine velocity as much as 6000 rpm. That is the quickest strategy to cost the battery. In Strat 2 (Qualifying) mode with a charged battery you may full 2 laps. That’s 2 laps of the Nurburgring GP circuit and never the 20 km lengthy loop. In Race mode the system ought to handle the battery energy on a regular basis.
“We needed to do 2 laps however the engine stopped on the finish of the primary lap”, mentioned Matt.
Right here is the reason from Mercedes-AMG One chief engineer”: “If the battery is simply too full, the F1 MGU-Okay unit will not be designed to be at zero torque for the combustion engine, so there may be at all times vitality you need to harvest as a result of the engine MGU-Okay has to reap round 50 Nm”. When the battery is full then you could have the issue that the vitality generated by the MGU-Okay unit you canot distribute anymore. And Matt Watson jokes saying that he understood that Bernd was not fast sufficient.
Then Matt Watson will get behind the wheel and the issue happens once more. The chief engineer at Mercedes says it’s in all probability a software program error this time, inherent in a pre-production automobile. Nevertheless, Matt manages to finish two laps whereas additionally testing the DRS system.
And right here is his conclusion:“Individuals who wish to expertise an F1 engine however don’t have the talents to drive an F1 automobile will completely love this automobile.”
“It’s really snug, you do have air-con and every part a conventional Mercedes affords: multimedia system, the seats are snug . Okay, it’s a bit noisy, however you may solely use the electrical motor for 12 miles. I’m amazed how Mercedes managed to put in an f1 engine in a highway automobile. It took 5 years to construct it for two.275 mil euros plus VAT. There shall be 275 blissful individuals who will purchase this automobile and can be capable to drive an F1 engined automobile every day which you can not do for instance with an Aston Martin Valkyrie.
