The Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series has just beaten the production car lap record around the Nurburgring with a 6:43.616 lap time, some 1.3 seconds faster than the Lamborghini Aventador SVJ.

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When the Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series was unveiled a few months back, we knew the £335,000 monster would offer serious performance for those who can afford it. That assumption has now been confirmed as the car sets the Nurburgring production car lap record with GT3 racer Marco Engel at the wheel. It’s worth noting that the lap record was set without the T13 straight, which is now the norm for manufacturers setting lap times. With the T13 straight included, it completed the lap in 6:48.047.

What is the Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series?

Wasn’t the AMG GT R Pro the track car? We thought so too. Apparently not. This car doesn’t feature any GT R badges, instead its an entirely different car based on the regular GT. You’d usually find this bodykit attached to a Mansory kitted car, but this is entirely the work of AMG.

The twin-turbo V8 inside remains the same, except this time its been fitted with a lighter, flat plane crank and breathed on, heavily. It now produces 720bhp and 590lb ft, up 143bhp and 74lb ft over the GT R Pro. Top speed? 202mph. 0-62mph? 3.2 seconds. 0-124mph? Under 9 seconds. Not bad then hey?

Suspension wise it gets competition-spec coilovers but with AMG’s ride control, which is electronically controlled via some dials in the cabin. The GT R Pro does away with this and you have to manually adjust the coilovers. If you do want to get hands on in the pit garage you can adjust front wheel camber and front and rear anti-roll bars.

For this record run, the front splitter was extended to race position, while the spoiler was adjusted to its middle setting. The coilovers were dropped 5mm at the front and 3mm at the rear, while the camber was adjusted to its maximum negative value. The traction control setting was between 6 and 7.

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