Mercedes AMG GT3 in 1/18 scale; be still my beating heart … 

Mercedes-Benz and motorsports have a long partnership, mostly stellar, with oodles of success. Take Team Mercedes’ six straight Formula 1 titles as the most recent mark of excellence.

Yet its sports cars have been champions too through the years, a prime example was Sterling Moss’s win of Italy’s famous Mille Miglia in 1955 in a record time that will never be broken. OK, they don’t run the race anymore for safety reasons, but still!

Mercedes began partnering with customer racing teams, private teams with Mercedes support, in 2010 with its GT3 cars. That started with its SLS gullwing sports car and continues now with its AMG GT3 coupe. That leads Autoart, long a maker of excellent foreign car makes, especially race versions, to create a 1/18 scale Mercedes AMG GT3 Gruppe M racer.

The History

Gruppe M is a private customer race team that has had much success since its founding in the early 2000s, highlighted by its 2005 season when the team won 11 FIA GT races and its championship.

A few years back Gruppe M joined forces with Mercedes to enter various GT series with the AMG GT Coupe, or what’s known as the GT3 racer. Similar to its road car (which I recently tested; https://savageonwheels.com/2020/07/01/2020-mercedes-benz-amg-gt-c-roadster/), the GT3 features a monstrous 550-horsepower V8 under its massive hood. This one is a 6.3-liter V8 naturally aspirated beast with oodles of torque and a six-speed tranny.

Last year Gruppe M won the GT3 World Cup at Macau, edging out two Porsches. The driver was Raffaele Marciello. The team also won the GT3 driver’s championship and team title.

Along the way this powerhouse team and Mercedes also placed second in the California 8-hour GT race and third at the grueling 12-hours of Bathurst in Australia. Driving that car, the one modeled here by Autoart, were Marciello, plus Maximilian Gotz and Maximilian Buhk. Their names are printed atop the model car’s roof.

The Model

Some of Autoart’s composite bodied die-cast cars are sealed, which is fine, but it’s nice when you can pose a car with some portion open. This time the doors flip out to expose the race car’s interior. Cool!

There’s a matte silver roll bar around the interior to provide safety for the driver and I like the thin two-spoke racing steering wheel with Mercedes logo at its hub. There’s a spring off the left side and a decaled dash readout and a similar set of detailed buttons on the large console. Cool too is the large blower vent that aims right at the driver as it coils off the dash. The black AMG branded race seat also features built-in head supports and fabric shoulder harnesses and metal clasps.

The outside is what is gonna wow you though with the fabulous yellow and reptile green paint scheme, complete with snakeskin-look scales around the front and rear haunches and coming from the giant black breather hole in the hood. Yes, you see a metallic look radiator inside that hole.

There’s a No. 999A on the windshield and rear window, plus in the air scoops on the front quarter panels, just before the doors’ front edges. Black Gruppe M Racing decals flatter the racer’s doors, hood and rear fenders, with the other prominent sponsor being represented with green Mann Filter logos in choice locations. Plus AMG is plastered on the rear wing, its winglets, the nose, and roof.

Special details are all over this racer. There’s the red tow ring coming from the smoked chrome toothy grille, multi-layer jewel-like headlights, a massive black nose spoiler and twin carbon fiber-look winglets just above that at the car’s front corners.

Delicate black mesh covers the air vents coming off the wheels and brakes, plus black plastic mesh in the hood and over the rear wheels. Side window trim mimics carbon fiber, there are four vents in the rear window, sharp taillights, and a big black plastic diffuser under the tail.

Need more? Sure you do. A flat black gas filler is blended into the carbon fiber-look passenger’s side rear vent window and the black racing slicks are labeled Pirelli PZeros. Front wheels are poseable and behind the lacy black race wheels are giant silver disc brakes and silver AMG branded calipers.

There’s a small radio antenna atop the roof, plus the race mirrors have reflective faces and a fine green trim stripe along the front edge. Then there’s this … matte chrome look side exhausts that are partially revealed by six rectangular cutouts and one oval for the exhaust pipe’s outlet. Sexy!

Oh, and did I mention that massive rear spoiler? It’s held aloft by stylish thin black supports.

Would it have been nice to see the massive AMG V8? Sure, but that would add cost to an already spectacular model that you’ll likely pose with the hood down anyway. As it is, this Autoart AMG GT3 racer is a fine value for all that you get, plus it’s beautiful!

Vital Stats: 2019 Mercedes AMG GT3

Maker: Autoart
Scale: 1/18
Stock No.: 81931
MSRP: $160

Link: Autoartmodels.com