Formula 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.”
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.
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…