Mercedes-AMG Project One prototype is too noisy to keep secret

The firm is testing it in Britain and curtains have been twitching

Mercedes-AMG Project One prototypeFormula One fans have long complained that the modern hybrid engines are too quiet, but one iteration of the 1.6-litre V6 turbo is facing the opposite challenge: the Mercedes-AMG Project One’s engine is too LOUD.

Certainly, too loud to keep secret. The firm has recently begun testing the first road-going prototypes of the new F1-engined hypercar, at locations such as the Millbrook Proving Ground in Bedfordshire, England.

However, its desire to keep the tests under wraps has failed, it says: “Because of their characteristic F1 sound, they are hard to keep from the public.”

Mercedes-AMG Project One prototype

This has scuppered the firm’s original plans to drive around unnoticed and pile on the many miles prototypes need to cover as part of vehicle development. And so, as it’s proving so hard to keep the testing confidential, Mercedes-AMG has now gone public with the first official shots of the production car in testing.

The hypercar’s goal is to put a contemporary F1 engine on the road. It’s actually technology built in Britain: since 1995, the Mercedes-AMG tech centre in Brixworth, Northamptonshire, has built every Mercedes-Benz F1 engine, and will do the same for the Project One motor.

Mercedes-AMG Project One prototype

Already, the engine has undergone hundreds of hours of dyno testing at Brixworth. The successful completion of this stage saw attention turn to the first prototypes.

And, now, a revision of the original plan to drive around unnoticed at Millbrook in Bedfordshire. As if even a highly camouflaged Mercedes-AMG Project One was ever going to pass unnoticed…

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Richard Aucock
Richard Aucockhttps://www.richardaucock.co.uk/
Richard is director at Motoring Research. He has been with us since 2001, and has been a motoring journalist even longer. He won the IMCO Motoring Writer of the Future Award in 1996 and the acclaimed Sir William Lyons Award in 1998. Both awards are run by the Guild of Motoring Writers and Richard is currently vice chair of the world's largest organisation for automotive media professionals. Richard is also a juror and Steering Committee director for World Car Awards and the UK juror for the AUTOBEST awards.

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