The Project One concept car will punch from a standing start to 124 miles per hour in six seconds (124 mph converts to 200 kilometers per hours, which has a nicer ring to it in Europe). Six. That's quicker than a Bugatti Chiron. The top speed of the thinly veiled "concept" is "over" 217 mph, which doesn't seem like much in a Chiron world, but it's plenty once you're there.

There's also in excess of 1,000 horsepower scrabbling at the road through an eight-speed gearbox and four tires. The tiny 1.6-liter single-turbo V6 spins out to an 11,000-rpm limit and it claims more than 40-percent thermal efficiency.

All this, and it can drive as a zero-emission electric car for 15.5 miles when it needs to. For the lucky few on the list with $2.54 million to spare, they'll have to understand the fully stressed engine and eight-speed transmission combination will have to be taken into AMG every 31,000 miles or so for a full tear-down and overhaul.

Before that, though, they'll be running through a number of driving modes, from full electric to what AMG calls its High Dynamic Mode for setting the fastest lap times. Just like the dominant Mercedes-AMG Formula One engine, the Project One's powertrain has a split turbocharger, a 120-kW electric on the turbo itself and another one on the crankshaft. Then there are another two smaller electric motors to drive the front wheels.

So it has one hyperactive little V6 and four electric motors. The mid-mounted V6 is largely similar to the Formula One engine, using pneumatic valves to cope with the higher revs, its four overhead camshafts are driven by spur gears and its rev limiter is mostly to keep it safe on pump petrol. The electric motors themselves spin at up to 50,000 rpm, which is more than double the current standard of 20,000.

Just like in the engine that broke the mold for Formula One, AMG has separated the exhaust and compressor turbines to keep the inlet air as cool as possible. The MGU-H (it's Formula One speak for Motor Generator Unit - Heat) sits on the turbocharger's connecting shaft, spinning the compressor wheel at up to 100,000 rpm.

"The Hypercar is the most ambitious project we've ever made," Mercedes-AMG Chairman Tobias Moers insisted. "This marks another highlight of the successful strategic development of Mercedes-AMG as a performance and sports-car brand.

The fast-spinning MGU-H technology moved Moers to claim the Project One will have better throttle response than a naturally aspirated engine, with the electric motor boosting the turbocharger.

Built at Mercedes-AMG's High Performance Powertrains unit in Brixworth, England, the powerplant can recuperate up to 80 percent of the energy on throttle lift off. The MGU-H takes excess energy from the exhaust and either stores it in the lithium-ion battery or sends it around to the crankshaft's 120kW electric motor to deliver more urge.

The car is effectively all-wheel drive, with another two 120-kW electric motors on the front axle, giving it full torque vectoring to each individual wheel. It can also recuperate up to 80 percent of its braking energy, with each electric motor having its own floor-mounted power-electronics unit.

"Motorsport is not an end in itself for us," Daimler's chairman Dieter Zetsche explained. "Faced with intense competition, we develop technologies from which our production vehicles also subsequently benefit. We are drawing on our experiences and successes from three constructors' and drivers' world championships to bring Formula 1 technology to the road for the first time: in Mercedes-AMG Project One."

AMG isn't keen to talk about the details of its batteries, which have the same arrangements and cooling systems as the Formula One car, but there are four times as many of them.

The car's EQ Power + electric drive system runs at 800 Volts, instead of the more usual 400 Volts, to shrink the cable cross sections. The eight-speed manual transmission is based around the Formula One unit, but has been heavily redesigned for road use. The hydraulically actuated gearbox can do its own shifting or change gear via steering wheel-mounted paddles.

The pushrod, mutli-link suspension systems bolt directly onto the carbon-fibre chassis tub, but it's more complicated than that. There are two coilover systems sitting horizontally at each end, and the pushrod sprints struts eliminate the need for a stabilizer bar. It's designed to deliver comfort, but to eradicate rolling movements in quick direction changes.

It retains ABS, while its ESP has three stages, including off. There's a partial carbon-fiber cover for the forged aluminium center-lock wheels and each of its 10 spokes has three slots to extract heat from the brakes.

The front wheels run to 10.0J x 19-inch clad in 285/35 ZR19 Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 rubber, while the 12.0J x 20-inch rears use 335/30 ZR20 versions. The wheels and tires fill up the arches on a sleek, brutally efficient show car, with AMG claiming very little of the forward-cockpit car is designed for show and almost all of it for speed.

"The Project One is the hottest and coolest car we have ever designed," Daimler's chief design officer Gorden Wagener said. "It combines our design philosophy of Sensual Purity with the performance of our Formula One racing cars and is the perfect embodiment of Performance Luxury. "This hypercar's extreme design marks a milestone in design ‑ there are no lines, and the interior is stripped down to the essentials."

The F1-inspired Project One's bodywork has a long rear end and a front splitter that automatically extends at speed, while the air intake for the engine is mounted on the cabin roof.

Just as the public has been getting a slow drip of information about the Project One, Mercedes-AMG has been slowly accumulating its own details and information on the potentially revolutionary hypercar as it goes through test after rigorous test. As such a hotly anticipated car, Mercedes-AMG is well aware spy photographers and car enthusiasts are stoked about any brief look at the car testing on-track. So, the company decided to get ahead of the intrigue by releasing its own testing images.

It's possible the official press release is a response to a recent report from Germany's Auto Motor und Sport that pointed out the car had been testing on closed race tracks in England and Spain. The report also noted that Mercedes-AMG made it clear in contractual agreements with prospective buyers that this is not a car that can be bought and immediately flipped for profit, much like Ford did with its GT supercar.

As expected for a vehicle that is attempting to put Formula 1-based hybrid technology into a road-going car, the Project One has been undergoing multiple types of drills for months. Mercedes-AMG used virtual engineering to digitally try hybrid components and later put the car through Brixworth-based High Performance Powertrains' (HPP) dynos to simulate track driving. Those powertrain pieces were then put into prototypes, as seen in the photos above.

The tech driving the car is anything but simple, and the claimed results are anything but average. AMG says it will run on a mid-mounted 1.6-liter turbocharged V6 that is paired with four electric motors (one attached to the turbo, one attached to the combustion engine, and two on the front wheels). Revving up to speeds of 11,000 rpm, the car will have more than 1,000 horsepower, will be able to run from zero to 124 mph in less than six seconds, and could theoretically top out at about 217 mph.

Mercedes-AMG will only build 275 examples of this modern marvel, and even with a $2.7 million price tag, they're all spoken for. Production isn't expected to begin until 2019

In March, Autocar reported that Mercedes-AMG had investigated challenging the outright Nürburgring lap record. Mercedes was said to have studied the fastest two laps, both set by racing driver Stefan Bellof in a Porsche 956, with the intent of setting a new benchmark using the AMG Project One, which will now be called merely the AMG One. Apparently AMG believed it could be done, the hardest part being "finding the right driver." AMG boss Tobia Moers still believes the One could win the day even after the Porsche 919 Hybrid Evo obliterated the old mark by nearly a minute. But Moers quashed the attempt, telling Australian site Motoring, "Could we beat the Porsche's'Ring time? We could, probably," then adding, "I just don't know what we'd do it for."

Moers admits the Porsche run "was impressive," and a One victory "would be close." To give the One a chance at the title, engineers could rework the aero, yank out the air conditioning, and put on different tires. But Moers can't see the point of a fully homologated production car challenging a race car that's been upgraded beyond any legal race spec. "Theirs is a racing car that isn't actually fit to race anywhere, in any class, anywhere. It doesn't have any rules," he said. At one point there had been rumor of a track-only version of the One, which might have made more sense to field, but such plans, if there really were any, were axed.

For a quick rundown of the figures, Bellof's 35-year-old record stood at 6:11.13, set during qualifying for the Nürburgring 1000 KM race. The 956 produced 630 hp in its most powerful guise from a 2.5-liter, twin-turbo V6. The upgraded 919 Hybrid Evo put out not less than 1,160 hp from the combined efforts of its 2.0-liter V4 ICE and electric motor. Having had its aero tweaked and been stripped of its A/C, windshield wipers, and jack system, it averaged 147 miles per hour around the 'Ring, hitting a top speed of 229 mph, to set a lap time of 5:19.55. We're still waiting on final specs for the AMG One, but it's expected to make more than 1,021 horsepower from its 1.6-liter turbocharged V6 and four electric motors, and post a top speed beyond 218 mph.

We can see Moers' point. Now that the One's been placed in the ring with the 919 Hybrid Evo, Mercedes takes the biggest risk. If the One doesn't set a new best lap, it looks like the Mercedes-AMG hypercar lost, and explanations of the lopsided competition won't get trumpeted as much as the mark in the L column. Every One is already sold, and has given new dimension to the brand a year before the first customer delivery.

And yet, we think the challenge is all the more worthwhile if Moers really believes the AMG One can do it. To have a fully homologated road car from the sporty division of a luxury car brand beat a dedicated, unrestricted effort from the legendary racing division of a legendary sports brand at the world's most iconic lap-record track? We'd buy tickets to that show.

The vehicle we've all been referring to as the Mercedes-AMG Project One now has an officially official name: Mercedes-AMG One. A bit anticlimactic, perhaps, but it makes sense because once the 1,000-plus-horsepower machine actually goes into production, it will no longer be a project.

Mercedes also confirmed today that the One will feature active aerodynamics. That helps the automaker explain its moniker: Formula One is the pinnacle of motorsports, and since the AMG One borrows a great deal of its high-performance technology from the company's forays into F1, including its turbocharged 1.6-liter V6 engine and electric motor combination, borrowing the One name feels credible.

At least it's easy to remember. And can we all agree that we're glad it's not called the Mercedes LaMercedes?

Putting a Formula One engine into a road car has always felt unrealistic, and now that Mercedes is actually trying to do it in the AMG One, the engineers are finding out how difficult it really is. Passing emissions is the biggest roadblock. In total, the car formerly known as the Project One fell prey to a nine-month delay in development because of the challenges faced with this specific issue.

In an interview with Top Gear, Tobias Moers, CEO of AMG, says that finding a stable idle was the toughest part.

"Getting a stable idle at 1,200 rpm, that's challenging. To give you a simple example. You have leakage in the throttles in Formula One, and nobody cares, because it runs at a 5,000 rpm idle. At a 1,200 rpm idle, you have to meet the emissions regulations. You need a stable, proper idle. If it's unstable, your emissions are unstable."

When the objective is to make maximum power, emissions don't matter all that much. Still, a 1,200 rpm idle is really high for a road car. It's clearly worth it to AMG and its customers to make it work with this engine, though. Here's what Moers said about feedback from the people who are waiting for their cars: "You know what they tell me? 'Make sure that the car works. Because of what we experienced in the past with hybrid cars, take your time.'"

So, Mercedes still intends on delivering an incredible hypercar with a modified Formula One engine, but it doesn't appear to be going silky smooth. We don't think anybody's surprised about that, though; Formula 1 engines were never intended for a road car application.

Mercedes-AMG put "Top Gear's" Jack Rix in a private studio with an AMG One, and let the journalist have his way with the static hypercar. Rix turned on the cameras and put on a show, divulging further particulars of Stuttgart's crouching tiger. The 1.6-liter turbocharged V6 is built in the same British factory that builds the Formula 1 engines for the Mercedes-AMG Petronas team. The motor also can also brag about a thermal efficiency of 40 percent, matching the Toyota Prius.

Road manners and emissions requirements mean that instead of the 5,000-rpm idle and 14,000-rpm redline in the F1 car, the One idles at 1,200 rpm and maxes at 11,000 rpm.

Three F1-spec electric motors contribute mojo, one at the crank, one at each front wheel. They spin up to 50,000 rpm and add 160 horsepower apiece to a total figure expected to number at least 1,050 horses. In pure EV mode the front motors do all the work, making the One a front-wheel-drive hypercar for up to 15 miles.

The bodywork's been shaped and polished so as to aid motivation depending on application. For high-speed reasons, the front badge has been airbrushed on, and the 10-spoke wheels — in aluminum or magnesium — wear carbon inserts to reduce drag. When racing is the reason, flaps atop the front fenders stand up to increase downforce on the front axle, and the electrically-deployed rear wing deploys its wing-in-a-wing.

In September 2018, Mercedes-AMG claimed it didn't see the point of using the One to set a new record on the Nürburgring. It has obviously changed its mind: The Formula One-derived hypercar just set a new record for street-legal production cars on Germany's grueling track.

DTM pilot Maro Engel lapped the Green Hell in 6.35.183 on October 28, though the record wasn't announced until now. In comparison, the Porsche 911 GT2 RS MR logged a time of 6:38.835 in June 2021, and the Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series took 6:43.616. It sounds like the One could have been even quicker in better weather conditions: AMG explained that the track was damp and slightly dirty.

Mercedes made no modifications to the One to set the record; if it had, it wouldn't be eligible to claim the production car crown. The company notes it dialed in the maximum camber values before letting Engel loose on the track, however. The car's gasoline-electric hybrid drivetrain consists of a turbocharged, 1.6-liter V6 engine and four electric motors. The system is closely related to the one that powers AMG's championship-winning Formula One car, and it delivers 1,063 horsepower in this application. While setting a record with this much power might sound easy, Engel stresses it's quite difficult. He notably had to make the most of the brake energy recuperation system.

"We tried to find the optimal deployment strategy during the pre-tests. Like Lewis Hamilton and George Russel on their race weekends, I also had to deploy the electrical energy of the hybrid drive in the best possible way. That's not easy, especially with this length of track," he said. He ultimately selected the "Race Plus" driving mode that provides the best possible aerodynamic profile and lowers the ride height.

Records are meant to be broken. While the One's is seriously impressive, we can't help but wonder who will manage to beat it.