Page 100 - Motor Trend (February 2020)

NEWS OPINION GOSSIP STUFF

Angus MacKenzie

The Big Picture

Ready to Race: Factory-built GT3

race cars are the ultimate thrill ride

t’s one of the wildest cars Mercedes makes. But forget
about ever being able to drive it on the road. All
brutalist aero and thundering V-8, maximum attack
wrought in lightweight aluminum and carbon fiber,
Ithe 2020 Mercedes-AMG GT3 is your factory-built
ticket to racetrack glory.
GT3 has become one of the world’s most popular racing
categories for drivers and fans alike, and it’s not hard to see
why. Rather than anonymous high-tech spaceships shaped
in a wind tunnel, GT3 racers look like the road-going
supercars we lust after—Porsches, Ferraris, Corvettes,
Aston Martins—and they race on some of the world’s
most iconic tracks, including Le Mans, Daytona, Spa,
Bathurst, and the Nürburgring Nordschleife . (Check out
our coverage of GT3 racing on MotorTrend On Demand.) parts. Forget a grizzled race mechanic with a lifetime of Some carmakers
The 2020 GT3 is an upgrade of the 2016 Mercedes experience; the car tells you when a part needs replacing. have their GT3
racers created
racer. Changes include a dramatic new grille that offers After my stint in the edgy Lamborghini Huracán GT3 by third-party
more protection to the front radiators and also previews a Evo a couple of weeks earlier (see story, page 76), I’m race engineering
shops, but
coming face-lift for the regular Mercedes-AMG GT. A lot of apprehensive as the Mercedes-AMG GT3 rumbles down
Mercedes has
effort has gone into improving durability and reducing the the pit lane at EuroSpeedway Lausitz, south of Berlin. engineered
cost of operation. That sounds like road car engineering, I have the traction control on 1, the most aggressive and developed
its GT3 at its
not glory-hunting, on-the-limit track warriors. But for a setting, and the ABS intervention on 3. But by the end
headquarters in
growing number of automakers, developing and selling of the first lap, I’m already channeling my inner Lewis Affalterbach.
GT3 race cars is a lucrative business, fueled by a surge of Hamilton and dialing back the nannies.
well-heeled enthusiasts chasing the ultimate thrill ride. It’s thunderously loud, the cabin awash with an
And just as with a road car, a robust, reli- unfiltered metallic feedback loop
able, well-engineered race car is likely to of engine noise and transmission
attract more buyers. whine. Hand-of-god downforce keeps
As will good customer service. Order it supremely planted through fast
a GT3—prices start at about $441,000— corners and under heavy braking,
and you’ll be invited to a factory racing and the suspension rides the curbs
tech center for a full briefing on the car. Mercedes-AMG with impressive composure. The feedback through
will also send one of its race engineers to help your team the steering is rich and detailed, and the big V-8, its
learn how to set it up, giving baseline recommendations NASCAR party-mode soundtrack spitting from a pair of
for things like tire pressures, ride height, wing and splitter side pipes, is simply magical, delivering ballistic thrust
settings, and spring and damper rates. with nuanced throttle response.
According to the manual—yes, the Mercedes GT3 comes I had expected to be intimidated by the Mercedes.
with one—the 550-hp 6.2-liter V-8 will only need a rebuild Instead, I’m utterly exhilarated. This is a confidence-
every 15,500 racing miles, and the transmission every inspiring car, its performance envelope a broad runway
6,200 miles. A new feature that uses RFID technology you feel empowered to explore rather than, as in the
tracks the life of various components such as suspension Huracán GT3 Evo, a razor’s edge you struggle to find.
Should I win the lottery, this predictable, bulletproof
Mercedes would be my GT3 race car of choice.
Mercedes-AMG team driver Maro Engel, who helped
develop the car, is pleased to hear this. “The feedback
from our gentleman drivers is they can get closer to the
pros in our GT3 than in other cars.” And that, right there,
is the genius of this car. It’s tough to build a race car that
works for gentleman drivers yet still has the pace, preci-
sion, and poise a pro driver craves. But that’s exactly what
the 2020 Mercedes-AMG GT3 delivers. Q

Angus MacKenzie gets a briefing on the Mercedes-AMG
98 MOTORTREND.COM FEBRUARY 2020 GT3 before his laps at EuroSpeedway Lausitz.