What’s this, you ask? A Mercedes-AMG G 63 racing a 488 Pista? We wouldn’t blame you for thinking it was a waste of gasoline. However, while that would be true in most cases, rest assured that nobody is playing a prank on the driver of the SUV, because unlike a factory-standard G 63, this one has been modified extensively. The Italian exotic, on the other hand, is more or less stock.
Still, it should be tough for any G 63-shaped object to outrun a sleek supercar seen as how the laws of physics clearly favor the latter. That being said, let’s go through the numbers and see what we’re dealing with here.
The Mercedes-AMG G 63 is basically a brick-shaped people hauler with a twin turbocharged 4.0-liter V8 engine, producing 577 hp (585 ps) and 627 lb-ft (850 Nm) of torque. It needs around 4.5 seconds in order to hit 60 mph and if you keep going, you’ll eventually max out at about 137 mph (220 kph). It’s relatively quick, but not necessarily fast.
This is where various tuners come into play, capable of making the G 63 accelerate even harder and blow right past its factory-rated top speed. Such is the case with PP Performance, a German firm that managed to squeeze no fewer than 900 hp from this big Merc’s hand-crafted V8 unit.
Flexing its new-found strength, the modded G 63 recently went to a SCC500 event where it challenged various supercars in straight line, over a distance of 1,000 meters, or about 0.62 miles. Even though it also raced against an M4 Competition, an AMG GT R and a C 63, what we really wanted to see was how it performed against that previously mentioned Ferrari 488 Pista.
Powering the Ferrari is a 3.9-liter twin-turbo V8 engine, normally good for 710 hp (720 ps) and 568 lb-ft (770 Nm) of torque. This one has a little more power, at 740 hp (750 ps), but that shouldn’t change the variables all that much.
The fact that they raced from a roll actually made things easier for the rear-wheel drive Ferrari, as did the distance over which they raced. If I’m being honest, I expected the G 63 to do a better job than it did, considering it had almost twice as much power as it did back when it first left the factory. In the end though, that Ferrari was just too aerodynamic, which matters a great deal at high speed.
By the time it crossed the 1000-meter mark, the G 63 was doing 154 mph (248 kph), while the 488 Pista was pushing 186 mph (300 kph). If this was Mortal Kombat, they’d call it a flawless victory.
Sergiu got to experience both American and European car "scenes" at an early age (his father drove a Ford Fiesta XR2 supermini in the 80s). After spending over 15 years at local and international auto publications, he's starting to appreciate comfort behind the wheel more than raw power and acceleration. Full profile
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