Mercedes-AMG boss Tobias Moers is confident that the upcoming Project One hybrid hypercar will be so extreme that it will lap the Nurburgring “minutes faster” than the A45.
Moers told Road & Track at the Geneva Motor Show that the A45 laps the circuit in just under 8 minutes and that while the Project One probably won’t be faster than Stefan Bellof’s 6:11.13 second lap, it has the potential to be considerably faster than the Lamborghini Huracan Performante.
What is particularly remarkable about AMG’s performance targets for the Project One is that it says it will be more fuel efficient than the A45 and be fitted with the most efficient combustion engine on the planet.
“It’s the combination of the most efficient combustion engine on the planet–it’s more than 40 percent thermal efficiency in the Formula One engine. In the Formula One, it’s 47 percent; For Project One, it’s 41 percent. That’s much more than every other combustion engine you get today. Combine that with electric motors [at the front wheels], with attitude to be always on in the drive mode? Easy,” he said.
Moers also revealed that the Project One will be able to record blistering lap times over and over again without losing electrical power as the 918 did on its lap of the Nordschleife.
“This is my understanding of always on. You have to bring energy back to the batteries, and you need the combustion engine being supportive to bringing back energy to the batteries. But this is part of that thing. We did all the numeric simulations like that.”
The covers to the Mercedes-AMG Project One will be taken off at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September.
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