Wallpapers: Mercedes’ very angry AMG GT R

Christening your new car the ‘Beast of the Green Hell’ is quite the statement. So is painting it the same colour as The Incredible Hulk. But that’s exactly what Mercedes-AMG did with its 577bhp, mad as a badger AMG GT R.

It’s the hardest and most track-focused version of its GT sports car yet (before the Black Series arrives), using a modified version of AMG’s ‘hot inside V’ 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8. With sharper-reacting turbos and a new exhaust system, the R produces 577bhp and 516lb ft, increases of 74bhp and 37lb ft over the next most potent AMG GT, the GT S.

It’s lighter than the S, too, weighing in at 1,630kg. Which combined with the boisterous power output yields a 3.6sec 0-62mph time and 198mph top speed. That means a 0.2sec cut and 5mph rise over that GT S. Those figures put it on par with the (notably more powerful) SLS AMG Black Series, perhaps its spiritual ancestor.

But numbers only tell half of the GT R’s story. What matters to those taking it on track is the pedigree of its chassis. “It combines the driving dynamics of our AMG GT3 racing car with the everyday practicality of the AMG GT”,” says AMG chief, Tobias Moers. And there’s certainly a lot of motorsports kudos to the bits his team have fitted to the GT R.

What does it add up to around the Nürburgring? Well, when Germany’s Sport Auto magazine subjected the 577bhp bi-turbo V8 Benz to the Nordschleife they achieved a verified time of 7m 10.9s. Which – Radical lightweights excepted – makes it the fastest street-legal rear-wheel drive car to have lapped the ‘Ring. A bonafide ‘beast’ then.

We’ve driven it here, but before you head off, treat yourself to some snaps from the gallery above to freshen up your desktop for spring.

All you have to do is click the full screen/make-it-big icon in the bottom-right of the gallery above, scroll through the picture that takes your fancy and then save the super hi-res image.