First corner, Turn 1, at the top of the highest point of the racetrack - hard braking up the hill, compressing from a speed of 220 - the Michelin Pilot Sport 4S claw into the asphalt, the air spring does its best, the car does not fully into the asphalt to disappear - transfer at the steering wheel, initially blind, the track drops breathtakingly, immediately early from the right edge back to the left for the following turn 2 - a fast, slightly hanging right curve. Sensitively, but emphatically on the accelerator, the instructor's AMG GT R rushes ahead of me with mile steps - aggressively barking its angry V8 evergreen into the overcast Texan sky. Stay tuned was the motto of the day. Once again. Like back then with the Premiere of the AMG GT - there is someone at the wheel who has won the DTM championship five times and the GT world championship once. Bernd Schneider, Mister DTM himself. Like 4 years ago. Back then it was the two-seater GT from Mercedes-AMG, now the author sits tightly in the fourth model developed by AMG itself - the four-door - or, as we say here at AUTOHUB, the Panamera killer.
If it was a dream at the time to be able to drive in Laguna Seca for the first time, the racetrack on which we find ourselves with the Mercedes-AMG GT 63s 4-door coupé fits the character of the most powerful production AMG ever. The Circuit of the Americas is the current Formula 1 racetrack in the USA and offers extensive run-out areas. The thought helps - while the instructor's AMG GT R paces up. There is room for mistakes. For driver errors.
A terribly fast family
Mercedes-AMG GT63 4 door coupe in the driving report
While we had equal arms in Laguna Seca back then - Bernd Schneider sat in the same model as the inexperienced journalists - this time the sharpest version of the Mercedes-AMG GT family, the R - bites its way into the tarry surface of the brilliant racetrack in front of the horde of journalists. Behind it, the “fat brother” - a brother in spirit - or a brother with new genes. Other genes. Not worse, but different. The requirement to want to shape an - at least - equal opponent to the Porsche Panamera, called for reaching into the "bag of tricks of the group". Of course, the new GT 4-door is closely related to the Mercedes CLS - but, to stay in the family picture, it is more of a blended family and therefore less of a twin of the CLS.
The (modular) “Mercedes Rear Architecture” forms the basis on which the AMG technicians were allowed to let off steam. Massive stiffeners, struts that no one had thought of before and lightweight construction ideas that would normally not be used for large-scale production. It's just not a CLS 63 AMG that has been put on wheels. Even though the 4-door did not have the tansaxle transmission of the AMG GT, at least both of them share the sporty spirit behind the idea of a racer suitable for racetracks. This time with space for four.
Circuit of the Americas
COTA is currently the only racetrack where you can experience Formula 1 in the USA. The USA GP has been held here since 2012. The course is 5,5 km long and includes 20 curves and a height difference of 40 meters.
While exiting the pit lane you will climb the highest point of the track and turn 1. The curves here are all numbered. For lack of a history, you do not have to be afraid of a cork-screw here, but primarily in front of the curves 3, 4, 5 and 6. Similar to the ace in Suzuku, Turn 3 to 6 are fast-changing bends, but they call for a cautious approach to throttle and brake, starting from the fast right bend in Turn 2. The fact that the new GT 4-door is heavier and more cumbersome than the GT R, here you can feel it for the first time. But at least from Turn 9 out, under full load of the 639 PS strong V8 snorting, one sniffs sensitively to the GT R zoom. Turn 10 is an ultra fast left kink that you drive fully. Until the braking zone of the hairpin bend Turn 11, which reminds a little of the turn in Hockenheim, you have caught up the previously trapped residue.
The flashing taillights on the instructor's GT R show that there is no playing around here, the big brother of the GT R is serious. Later peak, early on the gas. The rear wipes briefly in ESP-OFF mode, the fully variable all-wheel drive immediately distributes power to the front - the electronically controlled limited slip differential, standard in the GT 63s 4-Door, fulfills its purpose, wasting no drive torque in blue smoke on the overburdened inner wheel, easily Steering opened and the four-door catapulted forward under the pressure of its 900 Nm.
The 9 gearbox provided by Mercedes-AMG with a wet start clutch shots the gears, not unlike a machine gun. In RACE mode, the 4 door hides behind no comfort facade, it captivates you and you become a plaything of the G-forces. At the end of the almost 1.5 km long straight between Turn 11 and 12 are more than 250 km / h on the clock, without mercy bites the 6 piston ceramic brake system again. Without mercy, it pulls your cheeks under the helmet.
315 km / h - not on the racetrack
The fact that the four-door GT does not feel as comfortable on the racetrack as its lighter brother GT R is not due to it, but solely to the scale. Anyone who tries to find a “Mr. DTM ”in a 585 hp transaxle athlete with semi-slicks, the performance advantage of more than 50 hp and 200 Nm is not enough. The fact that the GT four-door model comes into series production with the all-wheel steering of the GT R makes it appear more manageable than its size would suggest. The fact that they are around 400 kilograms overweight in comparison with the hardcore athletes from Affalterbach straighten things out again. The four-door is a GT, but not a GT R.
Four rounds must be enough for a personal sense of achievement
From the AMG Ridecontrol +, active engine mounts, cylinder deactivation and the appropriate folklore of the AMG tribe, the four-door GT offers a lot and meets the highest demands. But one thing cannot be undermined in Affalterbach: physics. If you throw more than 2 tons over the racetrack, you have to listen to your tires. For the author, Bernd Schneider's leading calls were too loud - the whimpering of the front tires was not loud enough. The well-balanced balance of the four-door GT allows unspecified cornering speeds. But if you go into the curve too quickly, you do this at the expense of the front axle - slower in, in a controlled drift over all four wheels. That would have been equally bad for all tires. So, once again, Bernd Schneider wins. And the AMG GT four-door.
All photos: Mercedes-Benz