German sports cars should probably be the point of comparison for American sports cars. Both nations’ cars both tend to adopt a muscular, semi-utilitarian stance, rarely with the clean or fanciful lines used by the British and Italian manufacturers. They both aim to be practical – the Germans with cutting-edge tech and the Americans with sheer simplicity – and both tend to be cheaper than their equals.
Cadillac has had the likes of Audi, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz in their sights for some time now. Ford’s Focus repeatedly wades into the hot hatch battles that Volkswagen started. SSC’s Ultimate Aero might have had the speed to butt heads with the Veyron, but in terms of driving experience, it’s probably more akin to the extremely hard-edged Gumpert Apollo.
The AMG GT R competes in the opposite direction – as an extremely German response to the Dodge Viper.
Eye Of The Beholder
Amusingly, it might actually have less supercar panache in terms of styling than the last Viper. They even introduced it in a wonderfully cartoonish green Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles livery called Green Hell Magno in honor of the Nurburgring’s nickname. It’s got the right proportions, but a goofy approach. It’s got the 300SL proportions, but with a large oblong front grill jutting from the front, and slightly bug-eyed headlights. It looks a bit like a saiga.
Folding Fangs, Snakeskin Body
In terms of performance, however, an entirely different animal comes to mind. All members of the viper family have hinged fangs that flip out when needed - and the GT R boasts the ability to control exactly how much venom it wants to pump out. In most cars, the traction control is either on or off, maybe with a medium setting: the GT R offered nine settings at its 2017 debut, dialed back to five in 2020.
The source is a 4-liter twin-turbo V8 with 577 hp and 516 lb-ft of torque, mounted near the middle of the car and channeled through a seven-speed semi-automatic double-clutch transmission with paddle shifters. It’s designed with a close gear ratio, and a lightweight dual-mass flywheel intended to eliminate turbo lag. In a straight line, it’s good for 0-60 in 3.6 seconds, quarter-mile in 11.4, and a top speed of 198 mph.
Compared to the base model car, it’s not much heavier even with its extra gadgets. It’s a cocktail of aluminum, carbon fiber, and magnesium, along with some structural tricks. As Car and Driver notes, “The R’s carbon-fiber torque tube is some 40 percent lighter than the S’s aluminum unit, and a cross-shaped carbon-fiber underbody brace subs in for the trio of aluminum elements that serves the GT S, shaving mass and adding stiffness.” The front spoiler and fenders, the rear diffuser, and the roof are also carbon fiber. Optionally, it can be equipped with aluminum wheels and carbon-ceramic brakes.
Serpentine Speed: Downforce and Handling
AMG has been making Mercedes muscle for decades. Their sworn mission in life has been to ensure that almost every single Benz will have a variant that can blow smoke and go sideways more outrageously than a dictator’s ambassador at a press conference. The GT R is almost exactly the opposite.
It may have very big and sticky tires, but it’s still a rear-wheel-drive car- which means you can drift it. So, the car can bite if you want it to, but that’s not what it was made for. The comfortable if snug interior, stiff ride quality owing to the modified adjustable suspension, the small trunk space due to the transmission being mounted underneath and behind the driver, the loss of at least 6 optional convenience features from the base model – these compromises hint at its real purpose.
The Stuttgart sidewinder can weave through turns effortlessly in part thanks to said suspension improvements and huge sticky tires, but there’s even more going on. It has four-wheel steering, a widened stance compared to the base model, and a pair of venturi tunnels below the rear wheels. Its astounding brakes are like digging a quartet of anchors directly into the asphalt.
You’ve heard of a spoiler being automatically extended at speed to help with stability? AMG has its own eggheaded take on that. The GT R instead put a flap underneath the car, in order to reduce air pressure. It doesn’t push the car down onto the track – it pulls it down. It’s not even the only active element on the car; the outer vents on the front stay closed to reduce drag, only opening when needed to cool the tires and brakes.
Retaking the Ring
That the car was developed on the Green Hell clearly paid off; the GT R and the R Pro both posted superb times. Clearly, though, AMG thought they could do more. A tuned 720 hp, 590 lb-ft version of the GT R – the Black Edition – this year broke the production car lap record for the Nurburgring. At 6:43, it defeated the 6:45 time of the reigning Italian champion, the Lamborghini Aventador SVJ.
The Black Edition is the only front-engine car other than the Viper ACR Extreme in the top 10 at Nurburgring. In order to get its spectacular run, the car also had to be kitted out with a host of track modifications. Notably, both cars have ridiculous wings: the Viper ACR got a carbon fiber surfboard, while AMG went for a stepladder.
Buying the Basilisk: Price
The Viper comparison starts to fall apart on cost. The base models are fairly comparable, but as the variants get more potent, so does the price gap. It’s $390,000 for the Black Edition, while the ACR Extreme tops out at $155k. There’s no question that it is the more impressive car, but is it more than twice as awesome?
Maybe not. The GT R Pro is 3 seconds slower than the ACR Extreme on the ‘Ring. Still, there’s no doubt you’re getting what you pay for. Crucially, the Black Edition is $30,000 cheaper than the car it beat – and that is as close to the Vipergeist as you could hope to get.
Sources: Ars Technica, Motor Trend, Motor Week, Car and Driver, Nurburgringlaptimes.com, Road & Track, Top Gear, US News, and World Report