Mercedes' £2.5million F1-powered hypercar too loud to keep secret"

Mercedes' £2.5million F1-powered hypercar too loud to keep secret

Thursday 20 September 2018 15:18

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Mercedes' attempts to keep road tests of their Project One hypercar have been spoiled after the Formula 1 engine powering the beast was too loud. The company took the surprise step of releasing testing images of the car, which is expected to cost over £2million when available.

Silver Arrows' star Lewis Hamilton is reportedly top of the list for one of the 275 models that will be built.

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The road legal machine will have a 1.6-litre turbocharged V6 hybrid engine – the same spec that powered Hamilton to the 2015 world title.

Special vents can be seen on the car to prevent the engine from overheating, while it will be limited to 11,000 RPM – F1 cars rev up to 13,500 RPM.

"The successful completion of [engine] dyno tests was followed by the installation of the highly complex powertrain into the first prototypes, which since then have been driving around unnoticed on a secret test ground in England," a statement read.

The first spy shots as the @MercedesAMG Project ONE hits the road! ????

Turns out it's harder to test a car with an @F1 engine in secret than we thought... ???? pic.twitter.com/ZXLglIYU78 — Mercedes-AMG F1 (@MercedesAMGF1) September 20, 2018

"But today it turns out to be more difficult to keep this testing confidential: the camouflaged prototypes of the Mercedes-AMG hypercar are still being driven on closed off test grounds and racetracks.

"However, because of their characteristic F1 sound they are hard to keep from the public."

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