LOS ANGELES: The American racing, research and automotive development company’s latest turnkey car promises nearly twice as much horsepower as a standard Mercedes-AMG GT and 10 times the exclusivity of even the upcoming range-topping 319kph GT R model.
The DIME Racing Edition AMG GT promises an output of 745hp, that’s 283hp up on the standard GT’s 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 and 168 more than even the 2017 GT-R will be able to deliver.
What’s more, the GT-R will be limited to 2,000, which will make it comparatively common compared with the DIME. Just 100 are planned over the next 12 months, and each will have a special VIN number for future collectability.
The final touch will be a complementary Stefan Johansson Växjö watch (the Swiss watch company founded by the renowned Swedish racing driver) complete with a serial number matching that of the finished car.
Unlike a number of companies in the hot-rodding and customisation community, Huntington Beach, California-based DIME’s upgrades and improvements aren’t simply exercises in carbon-fibre excess or taking a screwdriver to a car’s supercharger or turbos and plugging a PC into its on-board computer.
Instead, any adjustments or improvements it offers customers for their road cars or individual race cars were honed on the track – particularly in the GT3 class, where DIME competes with cars developed in-house based on AMG-powered Mercedes.
So, when the company announces it can do something special to the already special Mercedes-AMG GT, it should generate a ripple of excitement among those that know. It’s also why, as well as boosting horsepower and engine breathing, each car will get a completely revised suspension set-up, a new cooling package, unique wheels and reworked aerodynamics, the most prominent of which is a huge, adjustable GT3 class rear spoiler.
Best of all, all of the refinements will not alter the car’s classification. It will still be a road-legal ride.
Prices for the DIME Racing Edition AMG GT will start at US$150,000 (RM630,000) plus the cost of a donor Mercedes-AMG GT, but for that outlay, each car will come with what the company describes as a “bumper-to-bumper” warranty.
NOTE: DIME Racing hasn’t got a video of their masterpiece, so here’s the next best thing – the original GT R video below.
Keyword: DIME Racing GT special edition Mercedes going fast