It wasn't until the very end of the first-generation Mercedes-AMG GT's production run that the maniacs in Affalterbach came out with the GT Black Series model, which to this day is still the most intense performance I've experience on a canyon road. CLK GTR aside, the GT Black Series was by far the most extreme road car we had seen from Mercedes in terms of track performance — it's still the third-fastest production car to lap the Nürburgring. Most people, myself included, would've expected that it would be years before we'd see a new GT Black Series. The second-gen AMG GT has only been out for a couple years, and up until now the most extreme versions are the GT63 S E Performance plug-in hybrid and the GT63 Pro, neither of which are as wild as the old GT R was. We haven't even seen a race car of the new GT yet, as Mercedes has still been running cars based on the old-gen coupe in the GT3 class, which still use the old 6.2-liter V8!
And yet, a new AMG GT Black Series is coming very soon, and unlike the old car, it's genuinely linked to the GT3 race car, serving as the homologation model for it. We saw glimpses of the new GTs in the form of the Track Sport concept last year, but now Mercedes is releasing actually good photos of camouflaged versions of both the GT3 race car (the one with red accents) and the Black Series production car (the one with yellow accents). Maybe even better than the photos is the weird-ass reveal video embedded above. Never change, Mercedes marketing department.
The Black Series has more active aero
It's pretty amazing how close the two cars actually look. Both race car and road car have a totally unique, much wider body compared to a regular GT, with a longer hood and dash-to-axle ratio. They both have a massive swan-neck wing, side-exit exhaust, and a very serious rear diffuser. Neither have a rear window, instead having a blank panel like the Manthey kit for the 911 GT3 RS (though without a cool tailfin), with the CHMSL and rear camera integrated on the panel for the Black Series. The road car even has a wiper that sits in the center of the windshield and a plexiglass side windows with a race car opening for the driver; I'm guessing the latter will be an option not offered in the States.
The only real tells in these photos that the yellow car is the Black Series and not the GT3 are the Michelin road tires, the fancy headlights, the sensors in the windshield and the lack of a roll cage. Oh, and the fact that the Black Series has even wilder aerodynamics than the race car is allowed to given
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The new AMG GT Black Series will be more aerodynamically extreme than its GT3 race car counterpart.
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This marks Mercedes' return to ultra-performance road cars after years of focusing on hybrid powertrains.
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The original GT Black Series still holds the third-fastest Nürburgring lap time for production cars.
