Placing an precise F1 engine in a street-legal hypercar was no simple feat for Mercedes-AMG, however they lastly did it. The One hypercar was launched in September 2017, and after many engineering hurdles, manufacturing began in August 2022. F1 champion Nico Rosberg ordered his in 2018 however needed to wait six years to gather the automotive. A brand new video reminds us simply how finicky this F1 automotive for the street actually is.
You have most likely heard the story about how the turbocharged 1.6-liter V-6 needs to be rebuilt as soon as each 31,000 miles. Effectively, there’s extra to it than that for the reason that AMG One’s startup process have to be obeyed to the letter. Nico Rosberg made the error of shutting off the automotive prematurely earlier than the engine reached its optimum temperature.
Had he completed this six instances in a row, Mercedes would have bricked the automotive, stopping him from utilizing it once more. Then what? A One proprietor must ring up Mercedes and ask somebody from AMG to come back with a laptop computer and unfreeze the automotive. Speak about first-world issues…
It takes 5-8 minutes for the combustion engine to succeed in optimum temperature if the automotive is stationary. Driving it round lowers the wait time to 2-5 minutes. It is price noting the hypercar at all times begins in totally electrical mode. The ICE does not kick in till the catalytic converter reaches 932°F, a course of that takes wherever from 60 to 90 seconds. Throughout this time, the AMG One successfully behaves like an EV.
As soon as the combustion engine comes alive, the quickest manufacturing automotive across the Nürburgring turns into impressively loud. A lot in order that Mercedes-AMG delivers the hypercar with noise-canceling headphones as a result of some would possibly discover the 120 decibels overwhelming. It was even louder through the growth course of however the engineers finally managed to make it barely extra civilized. There isn’t any faux engine sound being pumped by way of the audio system. It is all mechanical.
Mercedes-AMG CTO Jochen Hermann instructed Rosberg that getting the software program proper was essentially the most difficult a part of the prolonged growth course of. From earlier statements made by firm representatives, we realized that reducing the engine’s idle velocity from the F1 automotive’s 5,000 rpm to 1,250 rpm was additionally an enormous endeavor.
Hermann admitted the AMG One was essentially the most sophisticated automotive to develop within the historical past of Mercedes and he believes it should by no means be replicated. The German model has already dominated out doing one other F1-powered street automotive ever once more attributable to stricter emissions laws. Solely 275 models of the AMG One are being hand-built and Nico Rosberg is just not the one F1 driver who signed his title on the dotted line. David Coulthard can also be on the listing.
As if the AMG One wasn’t particular sufficient already, Nico’s has a black three-pointed star on the entrance that took 16 layers of paint, all of which have been utilized by hand.
