Mercedes-Benz flexed its muscle in front of a home audience at the German Grand Prix by unveiling the C 63 AMG Coupe Black Series.
And while Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes-Benz powered McLaren took the Grand Prix chequered flag at the Nurburgring, no less impressive was the latest offering from AMG – the ultimate C-Class Coupe.
Arch rival BMW has waived the white flag and scampered from Formula One, but Mercedes-Benz is still a massive success story in the world’s ultimate motorsport. ‘Benz still has a full-on factory team, supplies engines to McLaren and, for the last 15 years, has supplied of high-speed medical and support vehicles.
Mercedes-Benz also competes full-on in the DTM (German Touring Car Championship) and runs SLS AMG GT3 sports cars for customer racers.
A perfect pedigree for the C 63 AMG Coupe Black Series. The stunning Coupe shows its racing heritage immediately via a complex and purposeful aerodynamics package which includes tuned front splitter and adjustable rear carbon fibre aerofoil.
Then there’s the bodywork. How about a front track widened by 56mm with massive flared guards, plus more air extraction vents than an A380 Airbus and an 84mm wider rear-end also with huge flares?
In fact while others use carbon-fibre look-alikes, the C 63 AMG Coupe Black Series runs real carbon fibre in the rear diffuser insert and spoiler lip.
Still want more? Well AMG gives you titanium-grey painted light-forged alloy wheels like the SLS AMG. They’d be massive 19-inchers with 255/35 R 19 tyres up front and 285/30 R 19 rubber on the rear.
Under the bonnet is ‘Benz-AMG’s M156 naturally-aspirated 6.3-litre V8 engine with 380Nm of power at 6800rpm and peak torque of 620Nm at 5000rpm – like the ‘regular’ C63 AMG, out-gunning BMW M3’s 309kW/400Nm 4.0-litre V8.
The Mercedes-Benz C 63 AMG Coupe Black Series drives the rear wheels via the AMG SPEEDSHIFT MCT seven-speed automatic transmission with RACE START, optional manual shifting and gear changes in 100 milliseconds, plus the AMG three-mode differential lock.
Zero to 100km/h takes just 4.2 seconds – that’s faster than all naturally-aspirated Porsche 911 models except the GT3 versions.
Big news underneath with AMG opting for a motorsport-derived coil-over setup with numerous settings for personal selection by the driver. The result is high grip and low roll angles – just as you’d expect.
Naturally brakes are massive AMG discs (390 x36mm fronts and 360 x 26mm rears) with specially-developed pad compounds.
Inside the standard setup for the Mercedes-Benz C 63 AMG Black Series is a two-seater with black DINAMICA trim. You can option a four seat configuration in which case you get the seats from the C 63 AMG Coupe – hardly a set back!
It’s all finished in hallmark black and red with lots of brushed stainless steel and high-gloss black piano-lacquer look and highlighted by the sports instrumentation and F1-style leather-trimmed steering wheel which is flattened top and bottom.
Audio is an eight-speaker CD system with double tuner, hands-free Bluetooth, colour display and USB interface.
If all that’s not enough you can option your Mercedes-Benz C 63 AMG Coupe Black Series with a ‘Track Package’ which shifts the radiator to the rear, fits Dunlop race tyes, extra aero in real carbon fibre and active rear-axle transmission cooling. You can also order a fire extinguisher.
Now that’s a true V8 Supercar!
