Mercedes-AMG has secured the fastest lap of the Nürburgring Nordschleife for an 'executive class' car with its GT 4-Door Coupé.
Secured with a 2021-model-year GT 63 S 4Matic+ driven by AMG development engineer Demian Schaffert, a time of 7min 27.80sec for the complete lap has been officially recognised by the track.
The time beats the previous segment record of 7:29.81 set by Stuttgart rival Porsche with a Panamera Turbo S earlier this year. It also beats the previous lap time set by a GT 4-Door Coupé (again driven by Schaffert) in 2018 by 2.3sec.
The 2021 version of the 630bhp GT 63 S, which has been in production since September, is claimed to feature subtle tweaks to the chassis and other fine-tuning measures. The car used in the record was standard aside from being fitted with Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tyres, the optional aero package and bucket seats with a four-point harness for safety.
Mercedes claimed the track conditions for the record attempt were “anything but optimal,” with some wet areas and an air temperature of just 7deg C.
The lap time isn’t the fastest for a four-door saloon, being 4sec behind that of the Jaguar XE SV Project 8. However, the Nürburgring categorises 'executive' cars differently, with models such as the BMW 5 Series and Mercedes-Benz E-Class in the ‘upper mid-range’ category.
The AMG GT 4-Door Coupé shares its top tier category with the Mercedes S-Class and other large coupés, such as the Audi A7 Sportback.
Next year, AMG will bring out an even more powerful, plug-in hybrid variant of the GT 4-Door Coupé, dubbed the GT 73. Using an electrified version of the twin-turbocharged 4.0-litre petrol V8, its expected output should be close to 800bhp.
It remains to be seen if this version will try to beat today's record.
READ MORE:
Mercedes-AMG GT 4-Door Coupé 2020 review
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A bit meaningless?
Yeah, these records tumble quite quick, still, when you think, it wasn't that long ago when it was sports cars, supercars that were the only cars who could go this fast and handle well enough, so it's progress I guess.
Peter Cavellini wrote:
I think the general consensus is that the track itself is getting faster as they keep adding better surfaces and smoothing out jumps.
The next biggest improvement is tyres which get routinely faster, this is partially a matter of technology and partially a matter of more extreme tyres being specified on quick cars. Remmeber when the M3 CSL tyres were controversial?
Finally the drivers are putting in more laps both in the real world and in simulators, with Nurburgring laps having greater marketing significance the cars are more likely to be fitted with cages and the drivers told to get a fast lap and not worry about bending a development car.
Ergo if you ran an older car (properly maintained) on its current spec of tyres, with a driver who didn't own it you'd probably see faster times.
As an aside the Top Gear track has also got quicker over the years as they resurfaced it and put more racing kerbs in it.