As it stands, it seems there's just one (get it?) car that can beat the Mercedes-AMG One's lap record at the Nürburgring. Yes, another AMG One. The old record established on October 28, 2022, by Mercedes‑AMG brand ambassador Maro Engel is no longer valid. That's only because he managed to improve it by several seconds.
On September 23, 2024, the DTM driver crossed the finish line in 6 minutes and 29.09 seconds. That's quite an improvement over the previous record of 6 minutes 35.18 seconds. For the sake of clarity, we're talking about the longer 12.92-mile (20.83-kilometer) configuration of the Green Hell. The AMG One is now the first street-legal production car to dip below the 6:30 mark.
Mercedes doesn't list the lap time around the shorter 12.8-mile (20.6-kilometer) layout but the hot lap from 2022 was done in 6 minutes and 30.7 seconds. As to why the three-pointed star decided to give it another whirl, it knew there was room for improvement. In the previous attempt, the track conditions were not ideal as some sections of the challenging circuit were damp.
AMG obliterated its own record during Maro Engel's third timed lap on a dry Nordschleife with 68 degrees Fahrenheit (20 degrees Celsius) measured on the asphalt and 59 degrees Fahrenheit (15 degrees Celsius) in the air. These were ideal conditions to beat the already impressive performance from nearly two years ago. The AMG One completed the lap at 6:56 PM.
We can't think of too many cars that could put the AMG One's lap record in jeopardy. The Aston Martin Valkyrie is one of them and maybe the upcoming McLaren W1. We're also adding the LaFerrari successor as a potential threat. We're ruling out the Red Bull RB17 because it’s a track-only machine. The same goes for the Lotus Evija X despite its 6:24 lap.
Maybe the influx of electric hypercars could rise to the challenge, but with the Nürburgring being so long, we wouldn't hold our breath. Perhaps Rimac can prove us wrong with the new Nevera R. With the Mission X, Porsche said it would conquer the 'Ring but a production version has not been announced yet.
It's hard to imagine a car that will ever beat the overall record established by the Porsche 919 Hybrid Evo in 2018 when racing driver Timo Bernhard lapped the 'Ring in a mind-boggling 5 minutes and 19.5 seconds. An honorable mention goes to the electric Volkswagen ID.R driven by Romain Dumas to a 6:05 lap in 2019.
Mercedes-AMG One breaks its own Nurburgring record
