Chris Harris interrupts the bad news from Volkswagen to take for a spin in the updated and softer Mercedes-Benz A45 AMG. Don’t worry, that’s softer in a good way, as he explains.
You lot obviously don’t watch Harris’ motor show videos enough so he has spliced his A45 review in among his walk around the Frankfurt Motor Show.
The wraps have finally come off the Mercedes-AMG C63 Coupé and here it is! The overall shape of the C Class Coupé is proving to be a bit of an oddity here at AUSmotive HQ.
From most angles the shape looks very good. But from the three-quarter rear it just looks wrong—a bit too much like a GLE Coupé. And if there’s one thing a sporty Merc shouldn’t look like, it’s a bloated SUV.
That aside, the new C63 Coupé kicks goals everywhere else, mostly thanks to its 4.0 litre V8 biturbo. We’ve seen it already in the saloon and estate models and there’s been no tweaks to the key specs. That means the C63 Coupé has 350kW/650Nm and the C63 S (pictured) has 375kW/700Nm. They’re huge numbers!
This coupé is not exactly light, flirting with 1800kg, yet it can still reach 100km/h in only 3.9 seconds (C63 S). Top speed is limited to 250km/h, but can be raised to 290km/h with the optional AMG Driver’s Package (presumably that’s not an extra large set of balls).
As far as styling goes the C63 Coupé has had its wheel arches pumped up. They’re 64mm wider at the front and 66mm wider at the rear. The increased track affords improved handling as well as beefy looks.
Grip is provided by 255mm tyres up front and 285mm at the back. You get 10-spoke 18″ alloys as standard on the C63 and 5-twin-spoke 19″ wheels on the C63 S.
Rear traction is aided by an old skool mechanical limited-slip diff on the C63, while the C63 S gets electronic trickery. Mercedes-AMG says the rear axle has been redesigned for the C63 Coupé and the electronic diff yields more sensitive and faster responses compared with the mechanical version.
The Mercedes-AMG C 63 Coupé will make its world premiere at the Frankfurt Motor Show on 15 September. European sales release will commence from March 2016.
We’re expecting the Mercedes-AMG C63 Coupé to be revealed in the next 24 hours; until then here’s a very quick teaser. As you might expect, the car sounds pretty good.
Last week Mercedes-Benz released images and details for its new C Class Coupé. It stands to reason then that we all want to know about the hot AMG version, the C63. Well here’s a first look thanks to these leaked images.
Power will come from the same 4.0 litre V8 biturbo found in the C63 sedan and estate. The full reveal for the coupé version should be later this week, so we won’t have too long to wait for the full monty.
[Source: zero2turbo | Thanks to John for the tip]
Bernd Schneider is a Bathurst 12 Hour winner and Mercedes AMG brand ambassador. Recently he was in Bathurst for an AMG drive day. Once the snow had melted, this is what happened when he was given the keys to an AMG GT S and sent out on an empty Mount Panorama circuit.
It was another dismal weekend of racing for Daniel Ricciardo at the British Grand Prix. He was forced to retire on lap 22 with electrical problems.
He more than anyone would have enjoyed the recent report from Autocar suggesting Red Bull Racing could cast Renault aside in favour of a new partnership with Aston Martin Racing. The most obvious benefit of such a union would be the connection Aston Martin has with AMG and the hope that Red Bull could use the seemingly unstoppable Mercedes-Benz engine.
Alas, any such hope has been dashed after Niki Lauda, Mercedes AMG F1 non-executive chairman, rubbished the rumour in no uncertain terms.
“There’s not even a discussion. No discussion at all,” implored Lauda. “I haven’t heard anything from them and we never talked about it. I have breakfast every morning with Helmut [Marko] so I should know.
“We never thought about it because we have four teams running our engines, so we don’t even have capacity.”
More damning comments came from an unnamed Mercedes AMG F1 spokesperson who slammed Red Bull’s treatment of current engine partner Renault: “Red Bull have been asking [for engines] since February 2014—they ring up every week! If you see how they’ve treated Renault they are not a good partner to have…”
Oh well Daniel, there’s always 2016. At least that’s the final year of the Renault contract. Fingers crossed for 2017, maybe?!
[Source: Motorsport.com]
UPDATE: It seems Niki and Toto Wolff, Mercedes AMG team principal, aren’t on the same page. Wolff telling Autosport that he’s “leaving the door open” to discussing a deal with Red Bull.
Just over a month ago Chris Harris gave us his take on the new Mercedes-AMG C63S. We’re not sure how we missed it, but we’re sorry we did.
It’s Harris by numbers, but they’re numbers that work so well. We’re presented with an in depth look at the car, including the interesting bits under the skin.
Respect to the viewing audience is paid by the length of the video. At a touch over 20 minutes it’s not too long. More importantly, it’s long enough to give us a proper sense of the car.
And, of course, with 375kW/700Nm to play with from the 4.0 litre twin turbo V8 engine it’s pretty easy to make the new C63 go sideways. So easy in fact, you can pick a winner while doing it.
AUSmotive is about to go into a hiatus of some sort while I head on an overseas holiday for the next five weeks or so. I’ll be flying to Germany later this week and the items on my magical museum tour, in itinerary order, include:
If I get a chance I may post some updates while I’m away, but I can’t be sure if the time or urge will come my way. I return to Australia in early May and I’m going to have an awesome time experiencing some very cool automotive content.
With regards to updates you may best to keep an eye out on Facebook and Twitter.
Here we go again, another season of Formula 1 images starting in the best place on the calendar, Australia! You can relive the 2015 season opener after the break with our gallery of 89 images, all clickable to 2560px mega image sizing.
Lewis Hamilton has made a perfect start to his world championship title defence with a seemingly easy win at Albert Park yesterday.
It was a funny week for Formula 1, with the Giedo van der Garde v Sauber saga dominating headlines, the return and then no show of Manor, Valtteri Bottas’ injury withdrawal and the failure of Kevin Magnussen and Daniil Kvyat to start after their cars died on the out lap before the race.
Only 13 cars started the grand prix and it seems a miracle that 11 of them finished. The expectations were that more cars would run into reliability problems.
In the end Hamilton defeated his teammate Nico Rosberg by 1.3 seconds. You sense Hamilton would have been able to hold off Rosberg if a serious challenge for lead was mounted. It wasn’t.
Sebastian Vettel claimed the final podium step in his Ferrari debut, a few seconds ahead of Felipe Massa.
The real winners, though, were Sauber who had their two preferred drivers finish strongly. Felipe Nasr marked his F1 debut with a fifth place and Marcus Ericsson came home eighth. Last year Sauber didn’t manage a single championship point, now they have 14 after just one race. Who knows what the courts will dictate for them in Malaysia and beyond, but after a terrible week that’s one team party that would have been a blast last night.
The Toro Rosso kids had a fun time with the grown ups too. Sadly for Max Verstappen he was forced to retire, but Carlos Sainz finished in a credible ninth place.
Jenson Button did finish the race in his McLaren. But he was stone motherless last, two laps off the pace, and the only finisher who didn’t score a championship point. It was valuable testing time for the struggling McLaren-Honda outfit.
It’s easy to tell how boring this race was when the highlight was the post-race podium interviews conducted by Arnold Schwarzenegger. Yes, that Arnold Schwarzenegger!
I had a shiver of horror go down my spine when Arnie was announced for fear that this interview would end in high farce. Fair dues to the Hollywood icon because either he has a clue or is a genuinely good actor and thankfully he handled the role well.
So, who knew Arnie was a Formula 1 fan!
There will be more exciting times ahead in this 2015 F1 season, but save from the sunny weather and mostly clean racing this was as dull as it gets for a season opener.
Well done Lewis, well done Nico, well done Mercedes, you were just too damn good.
Mercedes-AMG will launch its new GT3 racecar at the Geneva Motor Show (5–15 March). Based on the AMG GT road car, the new customer GT3 machine will replace the successful SLS AMG GT3. The new AMG GT3 will be ready for competition in 2016.
For now we’ve got the image above and a couple of sketches for you to admire.
After showing off its new car via twitter last week Mercedes AMG went with a low key launch for its 2015 Formula 1 car on the morning of testing in Jerez.
World champion Lewis Hamilton and teammate Nico Rosberg were on hand to take the covers off the F1 W06 Hybrid for the second time. Rosberg then took to the track to begin the car’s official test season.
Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport says his team will not be taking anything for granted as it prepares to defend its dominant 2014 season.
“From outside, winter might look like a rest time in Formula 1. But this couldn’t be further from the truth,” Wolff said. “Long before the end of last season, development work on our 2015 car became the main priority. The winter months are the most intense, with everybody at Brackley and Brixworth working around the clock to prepare for the season ahead.
“There’s a famous Babe Ruth quote I always say to people: ‘Yesterday’s home runs don’t win today’s games.’ We are fully aware that success is not only hard won but can also be short-lived without the right approach.”