The Mercedes-AMG GT2 Edition W16 Is An 819bhp F1-Inspired Track Toy

Even though the second-gen Mercedes-AMG GT has been kicking around for a couple of years now, it seems the old car’s still got some life in it. Meet the AMG GT2 Edition W16, a racing car freed from the regulations imposed bythe series it races in and designed merely to be very flipping fast on a track.

Before you get too excited about a Bugatti engine swap, it’s not that sort of W16 – it’s named after Merc’s current Formula 1 contender, which is why it also features a similar livery to it and bears the signature of actual schoolboy Kimi Antonelli on its doorsill.

The starting point is the AMG GT2, a racing version of the original car built for the SRO GT2 series, designed mainly for wealthy amateur and pro-am racers. That car already packs the same flat-plane crank version of AMG’s 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 as you got in the old GT Black Series, and makes 697bhp in restricted racing form.

Without any rulebooks to satisfy, though, AMG has upgraded the turbos and tweaked the engine’s electronics, pushing that figure up to a maximum of 829bhp, as well as a peak torque figure of 738lb ft. That’s unleashed when you activate the new Push2Pass system, similar to the one that’ll feature on next year’s F1 cars, which temporarily turns the boost pressure up to Spinal Tap levels. Otherwise, it’s making a measly 730bhp and 590lb ft. Pathetic, if you ask us.

It’s all sent through a six-speed sequential racing gearbox, mounted in a transaxle configuration out on the rear axle. Underneath there are fully adjustable racing dampers and anti-roll bars with four stages of adjustability. The whole package weighs a total of 1430kg, kept down thanks in part to new magnesium wheels.

The aero’s had an overhaul compared to the competition car, too. New, slipperier door mirrors, active louvres above the front wheels and a new small Gurney flap out back in addition to the gigantic existing wing all feature. The big addition, though, is a drag reduction system, shutting the louvres and flattening out the rear wing to up the top speed to upwards of 199mph.

Mercedes let Antonelli have a go in the car in between revising for his exams, and he had this to say: “I had the opportunity to test drive the Mercedes-AMG GT2 Edition W16 and had so much fun that I would have loved to spend more time on the track. The Push2Pass function is a truly sensational feature… I am very proud to be part of this project and to have my signature immortalised in every Mercedes-AMG GT2 Edition W16.“

We suspect he’ll be one of the 30 people getting his hands on one, then, with each example starting at €679,000 (around £590,000) before VAT. As well as the car, that also nets you a special car cover plus an OMP racing suit and Bell helmet, both designed in the colours of the Merc F1 team.