F1 For The Road: The New Hypercar Benchmark?

In a week from now, Mercedes-AMG will finally pull the wraps of its 50th anniversary present to the performance motoring world: a 1,000hp, street-legal, F1-inspired hypercar called Project ONE.

Despite the model’s final exterior form having only been teased with a couple of dimly-lit images, there’s a lot we already know about this two-seater, four-wheel drive, carbon fiber bodied machine – and it sounds extremely promising. All, however, is set to be revealed a couple of days ahead of the 67th International Motor Show (IAA) in Frankfurt, Germany, which opens its door next Thursday.

Mercedes-AMG_Project-ONE_3

So what should we expect from Project ONE? Mercedes-AMG has said the “two-seater supersports showcar” is going to bring “fully-fledged Formula 1 hybrid technology to the road.” At the Nürburgring 24 Hour race earlier in the year, some of that technology was put on show, Mercedes-AMG revealing the car’s mechanical architecture which includes an RPM-limited-for-the-road variant of Mercedes-Benz’ PU106C F1 engine – a 1.6-liter 90-degree V6 turbo hybrid powerplant – to drive the rear wheels via an automated manual transmission, and electric motors to independently power up the front wheels. Combined, Project ONE’s output will eclipse the 1,000hp mark, which will result in a top speed “exceeding 350km/h.”

Celebrating 50 years of Mercedes-AMG success

Of course, this sort of performance comes at a price: just 275 examples will be built (all are rumoured to have been pre-sold, however), each coming with a price tag of almost $2.5mil US. For owners who intend to use their Project ONE regularly, there’ll also be the added cost of returning the car to Mercedes-AMG for engine refurbishment after 50,000km of use. Such is the cost of owning what will surely be the closest thing to a modern-day F1 machine for the road though.

Brad Lord
Instagram: speedhunters_brad
brad@speedhunters.com

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1

I'm hoping it pays homage visually to the CLK GTR. Looks promising.

2

yeah CLK GTR is the best.

Need For Speed: High Stakes made it legendary.

3

agreed. that was a video-game car of legend to me and many others.

4

Can someone explain that suspension setup to me? It looks intuitive enough, but why isn't the hardware symmetrical, and does that even matter?

5

It's a bit more complicated than people are making it seem. Yes it is an 'unconventional design' and they must have some reason for it. Also 'cantilever suspension' is not a type of suspension design, so these people who are commenting do not actually have an engineering background like I do (I have a degree)...the suspension would most likely be classified as a pushrod/rocker arm type suspension system with a coupled 'third' spring.

As you can see, it is not symmetrical. The upper shock is actuated by both sides of the suspension, there for it controls the ride height and is probably much stiffer to help control the loads imposed by aerodynamic downforce.

One shock is very special, because it has 'two springs' on it. That is the 'diagonal shock' that is located in a weird position. It is difficult to tell with 100% certainty, but it looks like one side is a 'push' shock and one side is possibly a 'pull shock'...I honestly have no idea why they would do this, and I've never seen it used on another vehicle before. Of course, it must have some benefit but without any information from the development teams I can only guess.

6

It is a pushrod suspension without rollbar. Simplified, one coilover is acitve when both wheels travel up or down the other is active when one wheel drops and the other goes up.

7

That's a cantilever style suspension set up. It doesn't need to be symmetrical because the pushrods that connect the strut to the control arm can be made to any length. A few reasons to do this type of susupension is to mount the struts in board to the centre line of the chassis. There is a lot more room for wheel sizes/width, and you can also use smaller/shorter strut bodies since, you can make the pushrod that connects the strut to the control arm as long or short as you need it to be and the strut no longer needs to attach at the control arm to the strut tower on the chassis which is the reason they're quite long in the first place. Hope that clears it up a bit!

8

Thanks, that does clear it up a bit lol.

9

Do you mean the front suspension? There are lever arms and pushrods in place of a typical coilover shock on the dual-A-arm setup. It's now a cantilever design with remote springs/shocks. Since the rocker arm only travels in one plane, as long as there's little to no deflection, the shocks/springs could technically go wherever they wanted.

10

Both the front and rear are cantilever

11

Thanks, I forgot to look at the back. it was late and I may have had a few to drink...

12

Only 1.6 liters? I'd prefer to spend my (imaginary) millions on something with some more capacity. Its probably just a mental thing that 1.6l isn't enough but obviously it makes the power.

13

1.6L seems clownishly small for displacement for anything other than a motorcycle engine or Wankel. I wonder how much of that 1,000hp is coming from those 6 cylinders.

14

It's going to be from the exhaust gases spinning the turbo. Also I imagine the rpm's will be quite significant for a road going car, not the 12,000rpm of the f1 spec engine but something closer to 9k maybe?

15

What's your view on rotaries?

16

Seems like he had traveled from the time where F1 cars still got 12 cylinders.

17

It's an rpm limited, road going version of their formula 1 engine. 1.6L is enough. Watch some formula one and you will see that engine displacement isn't a huge factor in making power when you have proper engineers designing the engines. One of the reasons they made the rom limited version is that formula one cars idle at approximately 5-7000 rpms, which if you look at almost any petrol engine, is the redline.

18

I'm a proper engineer who has built formula cars, and I can tell you that displacement is a HUGE factor in making power.

You only see this as an exception because you are talking about a turbocharged engine with hybrid power. Those are two major supplements to engine power, and without them the 1.6L would be a complete joke (see Fernando Alonso's Honda Engine rants for more info.)

Sorry, but I was raised with the big guys...the 3L V10 Engines that revved to 19k+ RPM...those boys made some noise too.

A 2.5 Million dollar car with a 1.6L power plant better have some serious electronic wizardry, or it's going to be a seriously uninspiring engine. It won't sound good, and it won't make much torque either. Why would you care about revving out an engine if it doesn't sound any good, either?

19

I wouldn't be surprised, if the 1.6 v6 turbos of today made more torque, than the old 3.0 v10 engines.

20

Hey Joe,

i was commenting that with Mercedes know-how, a 1.6L engine won't have any problem making the 1000hp, the turbo and the hybrid power will do most of the grunt work. I've been watching formula 1 and other Motorsports series since the 90's and agree that those engines with their displacement and noise were far better for spectators, it was a much more simple time back then. The strives in technology means a more efficient engine package (turbo/hybrid) that will more or less keep up with the cars of old. People just need to wrap their heads around the fact that turbos are on a comeback because of the fact that smaller engines can be made but still create a decent amount of power.

21

You must be American. That makes no sense...

22

the next CLK GTR perhaps ?

23

Nuts. Really pleased and excited that Merc have decided to do this. Also, 50,000km isn't that bad for an engine overhaul, considering how advanced the ICE is in the car - it'll take years for most (if any) owners to get anywhere near that (30,000 miles for the imperially-minded). Just hope Lewis gets free servicing for life ;)

24

Please can this be the new pace car for F1

25

More like LMP1 for the road

26

The hypercar = hyperbuck.
That is one thing for sure.

27

American! Common thats an ignorent comment... If american are the only Neanderthals that like bigger engines why does the merc SLS have a big ol 6.0l with what i believe has an American style cross plane crank, im not positive that it does but they sound very deep throaty muscle car "american" sound compared to tge raspy flat crank European cars (except new gt 350 mustang has one) yeah even tho there going for f1 style and the engine makes sende in every way alot of motorheads that like bigger engines like the oh v16 bugati or v10 audis, v8 jags, v12 1:1 or v8 + Ferrari or lambos so there all dumb americans?qThey could have gone with a 1600cc zingie turbo 4 banger...! But they didn't because they know people spending big money want an engine that has alot of manlyness. But yeah no big engine to heavy plus its no feat its been done over n over but i understand the mentality. Lighten up everyone has right to own opinion without being critisized.

28

Btw sorry about the typos ect. my phone has cracked screen its easy to make errors.

29

Is it actually possible to make a car cooler than the CLK GTR though?

30

Arguably. But not this one for sure.

5.0L V8/6.0L V12 > 1.6 turbo V6

31

Ahhh....an F1 car for the road? So, it will make zero noise, have no torque, be boring as hell and stuck behind other vehicles all the time? Because that's what a F1 car is like these days.

32

Yeah, because a 3 Liter 19000 RPM F1 engine would totally makes sense idling at 8000 rpm behind traffic. BTW, this 1.6 Liter turbo hybrid makes FAR more torque than any of the naturally aspirated Formula engines.

33

lmao I guess it is

34

Hoping to see a big V8 or V12. Pretty disappointing.

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