It shouldn’t be all that much of a surprise to learn that the Mercedes-AMG GT R can dash around the Nurburgring in seven minutes and 11 seconds. After all, Mercedes-Benz has worked tirelessly to tie the GT R to the legend of the ‘Ring; the carmaker dubbed the 577-horsepower super sports car the “Beast of the Green Hell,” after Jackie Stewart’s pet name for the 12.9-mile long Nordschleife, and even released a series of teaser videos set at the track that, depending on how you were feeling the first time you watched them, came across as endearingly goofy or eye-rollingly silly. And that’s not counting the hours and hours AMG spent testing the car’s development prototypes on the ‘Ring.
But still, that time. Seven minutes, 10.97 seconds. That’s faster than the McLaren F1 lapped the ‘Ring with Mika Häkkinen behind the wheel. That’s faster than the 2010 Dodge Viper ACR, which set production car track records the way Tom Brady finds open receivers. It’s only two seconds and change behind the 2015 Nissan GT-R NISMO with the N Attack Package, which had more power, two additional driven wheels, and was set up with an in-house option pack designed specifically to kick the ‘Ring’s ass. And it’s only 14 seconds behind the production car champ, the Porsche 918 Spyder.
Crazier yet, that bonkers lap time wasn’t set by one of Mercedes-AMG’s in-house hot shoes who knows the GT R better than his own bathroom. It was recorded by German car magazine Sport Auto’s test driver, Christian Gebhardt.
Oh, and for what it’s worth—in Sport Auto’s hands, the Porsche 918 Spyder lapped the Nordschleife in 7:13.
