2024 Mercedes-AMG GT Does an Oopsie While Donuting at the Goodwood Festival of Speed

The prototype in question didn't leave Goodwood without battle scars, though. While donuting in front of a crowd, the driver overcooked it, driving up the embankment. He also touched the hay protecting the crowd from the donuting area, damaging the splitter and underbody panel that protects the oil sump.

Oil sump? Under the engine? That's a bit weird, but also true. Merc's all-new GT doesn't use the M178 dry-sump V8 of the original, but the M177 derivative. Fret not because it's a hand-built engine as well, assembled with pride in Affalterbach by the AMG go-faster division.

Differences over the first generation don't end here. Rather than a dual-clutch transaxle, the 2024 model prepares to pounce with the AMG Speedshift MCT 9G. As opposed to the torque-converter Mercedes 9G-Tronic, this fellow uses a wet start-off clutch to reduce curb weight and for better throttle response.

Integrating a composite aluminum space frame with a self-supporting structure, the second generation further sweetens the deal with 4MATIC+ all-wheel drive. 4MATIC+ is AMG's way of branding the 4MATIC all-wheel-drive system, with the + standing for both performance and the possibility for the driver to select rear-drive mode for kicking the tail out more easily.

A 2+2 instead of a strict two-seat affair, the 2024 model is expected with a choice of four-, six-, and eight-cylinder lumps. We've already touched upon the M177, a hot-vee V8 that powers the SL 55 and SL 63. Lower down the spectrum, there is a case to be made for a non-AMG sixer and a true AMG four-pot.

The lesser engine is the M139 of the SL 43, the only Sport Leicht from the R232 generation without all-wheel drive. In this application, it belts out a respectable 375 horsepower at 5,500 revolutions per minute and 354 pound-feet (480 Nm) at 2,250 revolutions per minute.

M256 is the Stuttgart-based automaker's codename for its latest inline-six engine, a turbocharged unit that – as mentioned beforehand – isn't an AMG design. The mad professors in Affalterbach may work their magic on it for the E 63, and in this case, the AMG-tuned M256 may carry over to the GT with hybrid assistance.

In the SL 55, the M177 cranks out 469 horsepower and 516 pound-feet (700 Nm) at full chatter. Step up to the SL 63, and the twin-turbocharged V8 also improves to 577 horsepower and 590 pound-feet (800 Nm). Already spied time and time again, the range-topping GT will come in the form of a plug-in hybrid M177 with – fingers crossed – 831 horsepower and 1,033 pound-feet (1,400 Nm) of torque.