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Mercedes-AMG GT R 'Beast of the Green Hell' Drifts on the Wet 'Ring Track

The last thing the Mercedes-AMG GT S needed was a more extreme version, and yet, courtesy of the people at AMG and the new pills they started taking, that was exactly what it got one year ago.
Mercedes-AMG GT R Coupe on the 'Ring 31 photos
Photo: YouTube screenshot
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The Mercedes-AMG GT R added an extra 75 hp and 73.8 lb-ft (100 Nm) of torque over the already impressive figures boasted by the S version to bring its specs to 585 horsepower and 516 lb-ft (700 Nm). That's a lot of grunt to be headed only for those rear wheels.

Luckily (and not at all accidentally), the Beast of the Green Hell also wears ridiculously wide 325/30 ZR 20 Michelin Sport Cup 2 tires to maximize the contact patch, but if you're heavy-footed, then there's nothing to keep the wheels from spinning freely.

A bit of water on the asphalt has always been the perfect lubricant for a session of not-so-safe fun on the track, but when the car is driven by professional race drivers, it all turns into something resembling figure skating, only a hell of a lot more interesting.

The Mercedes-AMG GT R here is a 'Ring taxi, and it's probably giving the ride of a lifetime to some lucky guy with the money to spare. We can see the driver launch the GT R into soft oversteer in every possible turn as long as it deems it safe. When sandwiched between other cars, he chooses to keep the GT R balanced, put some distance between them and then resume the sliding.

It's not just the sheer beauty of the Mercedes-AMG GT R that catches the eye here or the elegance of the slides, but also the fact that drifting isn't something we get to see too often on the Nordschleife since it's not allowed. Still, when it's wet, who's to say whether you are drifting or merely suffering from a bit of 'unintentional' oversteer?

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About the author: Vlad Mitrache
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"Boy meets car, boy loves car, boy gets journalism degree and starts job writing and editing at a car magazine" - 5/5. (Vlad Mitrache if he was a movie)
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