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In addition to a number of new sheet metal reveals at the 2017 Geneva Motor Show last weekend, Mercedes-AMG boss spilled some new details about the brand’s upcoming hypercar called Project One, and its specs are just as drooly-worthy, if not more, than the Aston Martin Valkyrie‘s.
Starting with the engine, the Project One will borrow the same power plant—a 1.6-liter turbocharged V6 —found in the 2016 Formula One Champion-winning Mercedes W07 car and will sing to the tune of 1,000 ponies and spin to 11,000 rpm, Autocar reports. The Project One’s engine won’t be some crazy de-tuned engine that vaguely resembles the original F1 engine, either, which is something that Ferrari has done in the past. (Case in point: the F50.) It will be tuned to be bearable on the street, though—Mercedes will lower its idle speed from 4,000 rpm to 1,200 rpm, apparently—but the engine’s case and heads will still be F1-spec, along with its energy recovery system.
Regarding the hybrid system, Moers said, “We will have four electric motors—one for each front wheel, one on the crankshaft and one on the engine turbocharger. We will use the same ‘performance’ battery cells as the F1 cars, which have advantages and limitations; but we will still be able to deliver 30km of EV range. And our target for kerbweight is 1300kg ‘DIN.'”
Project One will have F1 power, but that means F1 fragility, too. Apparently, the engine will last around only 31,000 miles before requiring “rework.” Moers, in an interview with Motoring, said, “We have an understanding of about 50,000km. This OK for us. I think that’s good enough. That’s the life of the engine. Then we do some rework, like in a race car. But you don’t need an F1 team, you don’t need special gas. You can push the button and it fires up.”
Because no dual-clutch transmission can cope with such high engine speeds, Mercedes-AMG will fit an automated manual transmission that, like an F1 car, will require a clutch pedal to initially get the car moving. Moers said, “I can tell you we will be using an ‘AMT’ (automated manual transmission) because there’s no twin-clutch gearbox capable of working with an engine that revs to 11,000rpm.”
Moers confirmed that the Project One will be limited to a production run of 275 models globally with no plans to make more. The Project One will be unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor this fall.
