The GT Track Series is an even more focused, non-road-legal derivative of AMG’s sports car.
Having already pushed the envelope rather far with the Black Series, Mercedes-AMG has developed an even more extreme and non-road-legal version of the GT.
Dubbed the Mercedes-AMG GT Track Series, it uses a fettled version of the Black Series’ flat-plane 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8. Thanks to motorsport-spec fuel injectors and other unspecified tweaks, it produces 533kW, up from 530kW. The Black Series’ seven-speed dual-clutch transmission is gone too, replaced with a Hewland six-speed sequential racing gearbox. This remains in a ‘transaxle’ position at the rear of the car, driven by the engine via a carbon fibre torque tube.
On the suspension front, the Track Series features Bilstein dampers that are adjustable for ride height plus low- and high-speed rebound and compression levels. The anti-roll bars can be tweaked also.
A set of 18-inch forged wheels are shod in slick tyres measuring 325mm in width at both ends of the car. Under these, you’ll find motorsport-friendly big steel brakes. At the front, there are six-piston calipers squeezing 390mm discs, while at the rear AMG has fitted 355mm rotors and four-pot calipers.
To complement the high levels of mechanical grip the Track Series’ chassis is sure to give, the car also gets a highly-developed aero kit to maximise downforce. The most obvious feature of this is the adjustable high-level rear wing, based on the part fitted to the Black Series. At the other end of the car is a bespoke and also adjustable splitter.
Being a dedicated track car, the Track Series is able to do away with most of the road car’s creature comforts for its stripped-back cabin, although you do still get air conditioning. To keep the occupants safe should the worst happen, there’s a roll cage bolted to the car’s spaceframe structure, plus five-point harnesses for the bucket seats and a fire extinguisher system.
The steering wheel is a bespoke design developed in collaboration with sim racing company Cube Controls, and behind this is a Bosch Driver Display unit replacing the road car’s gauge cluster. Elsewhere in the cabin are dials for the 12-level ABS and traction control systems.
Thanks to its pared-back nature and the use of carbon fibre for many of its body panels, the Track Series tips the scales at a very reasonable 1400kg. This is, however, over 100kg more than an AMG GT3.
The Track Series is priced from €369,000 (around AUD$540,000). Included in that figure is technical support from HWA AG, best known for developing the CLK GTR racer of the late nineties. Just 55 will be made, in a nod to AMG celebrating its 55th anniversary in 2022.
