**The Future of Performance Cars: A Debate on Naturally Aspirated and Turbocharged Engines**

As we stood amidst the sleek, modern lines of the Mercedes-AMG GT 63 S 4MATIC+, it became clear that the debate on the future of performance cars was far from settled. The question on everyone's mind was whether to stick with traditional naturally aspirated engines or take a bold step into turbocharged territory. The answer, much like the engine itself, is multifaceted and complex.

For one, we have the Mercedes-AMG GT 63 S 4MATIC+, which has been touted as a flagship model for the brand. Its V12 engine, naturally aspirated and producing an astonishing 630 horsepower, is a nod to the past. However, its counterpart, the BMW M6 Competition, takes a different approach altogether. With its turbocharged inline-6, it offers a more modern take on performance, albeit one that may not tick all the boxes for enthusiasts seeking raw power.

**The Amg Project One: A Technological Marvel**

But before we can even discuss the merits of these two engines, there's another player in the mix – Mercedes' project one. This ultra-exclusive supercar boasts a 1.6-liter turbocharged engine, direct from their F1 division. It's a bold move that questions everything we thought we knew about performance cars. Is this the future? Will it appeal to enthusiasts who crave raw power and noise? Or is it just another example of a brand trying to be hip and trendy?

As I pondered these questions, my mind wandered to the wider market space and how both approaches will play out. The debate is far from settled, with some arguing that naturally aspirated engines are where it's at – offering a more engaging driving experience and a sense of tradition that can't be replicated by turbocharged power. Others, however, see the future in efficiency and technological advancements, as embodied by the project one.

**The Nurburgring and Lap Times: A Controversy Waiting to Happen**

One thing is certain – when these cars finally arrive, it'll be fascinating to see how they stack up against each other. The Nurburgring, that holy grail of motorsport tracks, will play host to a showdown between the naturally aspirated GT 63 S and the turbocharged M6 Competition. But what about project one? Will its F1-derived engine give it an edge in terms of performance?

As I reflected on my own experiences with cars, I realized that there's a recurring theme in my content – if it puts a smile on your face, then all else is secondary. Take the iconic Mini Cooper, for instance. Its sheer joy and grin-inducing nature have made it an enduring favorite among enthusiasts. In contrast, lap times are a different beast altogether.

**The Radicals and their Approach to Performance**

But what about brands like Radical, which have taken a bold approach to performance by creating cars that are both fast and accessible? For them, the question isn't about raw power or efficiency – it's about putting a smile on your face. And if that means sacrificing some of the grunt for the sake of handling and usability, then so be it.

As I concluded my thoughts, I couldn't help but feel that this debate is far from over. The world of performance cars is constantly evolving, and new technologies are being developed all the time. But one thing remains certain – if it puts a smile on your face, then all else is secondary.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhi guys i'm schmie and today you join me in the gtc4 lusso t with mr jw hello and with benzine ben in the back hello who's enjoying the comfort i suppose back there it's actually not too bad and we've basically well we've been on the launch of this car you might have seen my video you might have seen james's video already but we wanted to sort of do another piece which is going to come probably a little while later so if you haven't seen the video of this already do go check it out but this is one of the fuel for thought pieces so picking a topic that is of quite a lot of interest to ourselves and to other people and basically going into a little bit more detail with what we know and our sort of thoughts about it and i thought it'd be fun while we're here with james we've been driving in the car together to talk about something that is very relevant particularly to this car which is the general downsizing and shrinking of engine sizes for efficiency and economic economic reasons economy efficiency and that and various sort of legislative move i mean that's certainly the the what we think is the main reason behind the idea ferrari won't necessarily directly pitch it as that the initial pitch from them is what we've done is created a car targeted as a different audience so they've removed four-wheel drive and gone v8 which is uh aimed at saving weight um but having spent like half a day now in this car we both quickly came to the conclusion that this is actually an exercise to sell more cars in regions which are dictate dictated by uh much stricter rules around taxes emissions and taxes because they're like china but also european countries scandinavian countries for example where cars can be heavily based on their emissions or based on the size of the engine or these kind of things and therefore it can make quite a dramatic difference so in the uk the difference between the gtc4 lusso t with the 3.9 liter twin turbo v8 and the regular lusso with the 6.3 liter v12 is only 36 000 pounds because both cars come into our top taxing bracket both cars come into our top road tax bracket so there's other than the sort of fuel economy side of things they basically it's the fix 36 000 pounds difference but in some countries it can be a hundred thousand pounds different or more depending on the taxes in those countries even doubling the price between the v8 and v12 and there it would make substantially more sense to go for a v8 car but it is not just ferrari we've also been talking about that absolutely the um the interesting thing is is is that i mean counter to that take mclaren yeah yeah i'm good at good example they've actually gone the other way now they're still turbocharged but what i found interesting was the 540c was i believe launched with exactly the same reasons they wanted to have a car which would appeal to those difficult markets launch of 720s they've gone the opposite way they've been oversized larger engine they've gone up from 3.8 to 4.0 uh more power more torque great but it's interesting that their flagship car right now uh in terms of what you can buy from them yeah um right now they aren't pitching it towards what is from what i hear their second largest market so yeah but and and that i suppose for mclaren they've created this sort of differential in their in their products but you do have new cars and the one in particular i'm going to mention ford gt absolutely yeah twin turbo v6 647 brake horsepower still so more than enough and just some noise off there we go the v8 now it's a nice noise there's no question the ship is nice as well yeah but it's not the v12 it's no v12 you know however i am listening to hearing the ford gt i'm like to see what that's yeah well that's going to be like the v6 and see yeah because sound is quite a big a big part of this too yeah what i always find is interesting is that you know take mclaren and ferrari mclaren doesn't have the stigma of having to have that naturally aspirated sound that everyone is used to and has become a signature of the brand because they launched from day one as a turbocharged car yeah the top c came out exactly so day one they've been a blown car but now ferrari i mean you know let's not beat around the bush 488 came out and the overriding thing was it goes like hell but it doesn't really sound that great yeah and they have this stigma that especially went out with a bang it was incredible you know they've got engines from the the v12 series is brilliant and then they launched their newest sports car it's a little bit deflated yeah to the extent that the same engine is in the california t and this car yeah well loosely speaking same block it's a it's a twin turbo v8 yeah what i think is interesting is sound is almost the most important part because driving and riding in this car today i don't think any of us think that it's low on power you know yeah and the only thing that's really missing is that sound ingredient and it's interesting like you say with mclaren that they they don't have this uh expectation of having that sound um and a similar sort of thing uh with ferrari i think is is possibly aston martin the sound of the dv11 really disappoints me yeah really i thought they did quite a good job of keeping it alive but this is the problem they've had to do quite a good job it's not like yeah oh my god like it makes me weak at the knees take my card can we go the other way around do you know what the other way around so it said the aston they went from the six liter naturally aspected to the 5.2 twin turbo which this topic of discussion mercedes amg four liter twin turbocharged v8 sounds the nuts you've done it they've done a much better job of making it sound inside and outside yeah you've got some artificial crackles but even before you've got the crackles you've still got a very shouty muscle eva yeah now one thing that i haven't sort of mentioned in my video about this car is that for me this actually sits in the bracket of the rs6 it's a sort of powerful twin turbo v8 comfortable comfortable four-seater car um i love the artificial drama that is the pops and bangs on the okay the run of the rs6 and that's a car which is a hundred thousand less than this and going back to the importance of emotion and soul and a brand that's historically passionate there's this i'm amazed that they haven't gone to the extent of engineering in even if it is artificial not cares they just want to hear that and look at lamborghini look at the hurricane exactly the v10 in the hurricane has probably the most artificial cracks you can imagine in the car but it's great but the smile on your face and you look forward to it now you know people watching this might say yeah but this is your more sort of family orientated practical practical car you might think so but the presentation we sat through said this is aimed at a younger audience which wants to drive more it's rear-wheel drive it's got side slip angle control on it honestly i watched a video this guy picked his wife up in a dinner dress and he went drifting up a mountain so i was like expecting you to get in this thinking yeah it's going to feel like a 488 and it's i don't know it doesn't set me a light i don't think i'm in a ferrari i think i'm in a very beautiful environment they've taken they started with the ff as a let's have a go at re bringing back this four seat sort of platform shape format whatever you wanna call it obviously we had the four five six then they had the the six twelve three in recent times yes the ff was a new take on the 4c format with the hatch it allowed them because of the sporty characteristics of the car to basically make it an oversized 458 in the way it drives but a little bit towards gt which i guess created the segment space which now the gtc4 lusso has come into and even the v12 version of this car which you haven't driven yeah i'm sure you will at some point and it'll be interesting to know what you think when you do is also quite a lot more docile interest like this okay driving normally right obviously as we discussed earlier in here turn it up to sports and it sort of the shifts give you that sense of shifting gear yeah i've got stuff down shifts speed increases so i'm going to throw a bit of a curve ball here in the wider market space and funny that we were talking a minute ago about amg and nasty going to their sort of ultra flagship cars one we know exists is one we know that's going to exist project one versus valkyrie yeah interesting very different approaches one's gone old-school fully naturally aspirated v12 the other one is putting in the most technologically advanced turbocharged engine they've probably ever made directly out of their f1 car 1.6 liter which makes me question where's the market going because one of them thinks everyone wants it to be loud and flamboyant and you know sound crazy and the other one wants to go down the efficient power technology demonstrator yeah so when those two cars land well we won't see the mercedes project one yeah amg project one car until frankfurt motorshow in september but when those cars land it's gonna be fascinating to see them yeah and i would imagine they're approach to let's go for lap times because i know one of the the primary pitches during the uh project one preview during geneva was how fast it was around yeah the ring they kept saying it was so fast around the nurburgring okay i'm gonna be really interesting to see both brands totally different approaches to achieving a similar yeah so we might be having nurburgring controversy at next year's geneva as well no comment it sounds good exactly right but you know a recurring theme in my content is always if it puts a smile on your face i don't care how fast this goes i mean take your gta for example yeah it's not the last word in lap times it's far from it but how you are beaming from ear to ear and i think you know unless you're and even if you are looking to set lap times all of these are the wrong cards just get a yeah like radical and have done so for me how fast something goes with number plates is cool and completely irrelevant you need a smile per mile factor miles per mile exactly like you have horsepower smiles per gallon i drove tim's classic mini not too long ago i couldn't stop smiling couldn't stop giggling and that for me is the most important thing so when i came out of that pitch last night and they were like it's focused towards a younger more dynamic audience that wants to enjoy driving and evidently drifting i was like this will be interesting it'll be like the sort of rs6 but rear wheel drive yeah and i don't know if it is i think it's have you been able to tell that it's only two-wheel drive do you know what i expected it to light up traction way more than that not as much as i thought it would now we have drizzle it's probably going to be yeah crazy fall but yeah um the uh the system in the v12 and in the ff is obviously done quite cleverly in the sense of the the way the four wheel drive system only interacts at slower speeds which is slightly off topic from the uh naturally aspirated versus turbocharged debate is this four wheels it really works yeah it does it's it's virtually shortened the wheelbase for sure that's the one virtual shockwave wheelbase yeah and the car gets a big one low down torque is impressive it is very good yep but my next one is really cool it is good yeah we just don't get a bit quiet the feeling at the top 760 newton meters in here it's a lot yeah um but i think yeah that's a pretty good summary of our thoughts of the the way engines are downsizing or where it's going and how it's quite heavily i think for us based on other regions more so than the uk at least now obviously this changes all the time and now we've got some lovely brain we must be under like the only rain cloud in tuscany yeah but it's it's an interesting one it'd be interesting to see where where this develops and um yeah what the weather does as well have fun i can see it through the panoramic room yes oh yes oh look anyway i'll wrap it up there thank you very much benzene and mr jw check out james's videos as well from from here and i hope you enjoyed our thoughts in this field for thought thanks for watching guys catch you soon cheers youhi guys i'm schmie and today you join me in the gtc4 lusso t with mr jw hello and with benzine ben in the back hello who's enjoying the comfort i suppose back there it's actually not too bad and we've basically well we've been on the launch of this car you might have seen my video you might have seen james's video already but we wanted to sort of do another piece which is going to come probably a little while later so if you haven't seen the video of this already do go check it out but this is one of the fuel for thought pieces so picking a topic that is of quite a lot of interest to ourselves and to other people and basically going into a little bit more detail with what we know and our sort of thoughts about it and i thought it'd be fun while we're here with james we've been driving in the car together to talk about something that is very relevant particularly to this car which is the general downsizing and shrinking of engine sizes for efficiency and economic economic reasons economy efficiency and that and various sort of legislative move i mean that's certainly the the what we think is the main reason behind the idea ferrari won't necessarily directly pitch it as that the initial pitch from them is what we've done is created a car targeted as a different audience so they've removed four-wheel drive and gone v8 which is uh aimed at saving weight um but having spent like half a day now in this car we both quickly came to the conclusion that this is actually an exercise to sell more cars in regions which are dictate dictated by uh much stricter rules around taxes emissions and taxes because they're like china but also european countries scandinavian countries for example where cars can be heavily based on their emissions or based on the size of the engine or these kind of things and therefore it can make quite a dramatic difference so in the uk the difference between the gtc4 lusso t with the 3.9 liter twin turbo v8 and the regular lusso with the 6.3 liter v12 is only 36 000 pounds because both cars come into our top taxing bracket both cars come into our top road tax bracket so there's other than the sort of fuel economy side of things they basically it's the fix 36 000 pounds difference but in some countries it can be a hundred thousand pounds different or more depending on the taxes in those countries even doubling the price between the v8 and v12 and there it would make substantially more sense to go for a v8 car but it is not just ferrari we've also been talking about that absolutely the um the interesting thing is is is that i mean counter to that take mclaren yeah yeah i'm good at good example they've actually gone the other way now they're still turbocharged but what i found interesting was the 540c was i believe launched with exactly the same reasons they wanted to have a car which would appeal to those difficult markets launch of 720s they've gone the opposite way they've been oversized larger engine they've gone up from 3.8 to 4.0 uh more power more torque great but it's interesting that their flagship car right now uh in terms of what you can buy from them yeah um right now they aren't pitching it towards what is from what i hear their second largest market so yeah but and and that i suppose for mclaren they've created this sort of differential in their in their products but you do have new cars and the one in particular i'm going to mention ford gt absolutely yeah twin turbo v6 647 brake horsepower still so more than enough and just some noise off there we go the v8 now it's a nice noise there's no question the ship is nice as well yeah but it's not the v12 it's no v12 you know however i am listening to hearing the ford gt i'm like to see what that's yeah well that's going to be like the v6 and see yeah because sound is quite a big a big part of this too yeah what i always find is interesting is that you know take mclaren and ferrari mclaren doesn't have the stigma of having to have that naturally aspirated sound that everyone is used to and has become a signature of the brand because they launched from day one as a turbocharged car yeah the top c came out exactly so day one they've been a blown car but now ferrari i mean you know let's not beat around the bush 488 came out and the overriding thing was it goes like hell but it doesn't really sound that great yeah and they have this stigma that especially went out with a bang it was incredible you know they've got engines from the the v12 series is brilliant and then they launched their newest sports car it's a little bit deflated yeah to the extent that the same engine is in the california t and this car yeah well loosely speaking same block it's a it's a twin turbo v8 yeah what i think is interesting is sound is almost the most important part because driving and riding in this car today i don't think any of us think that it's low on power you know yeah and the only thing that's really missing is that sound ingredient and it's interesting like you say with mclaren that they they don't have this uh expectation of having that sound um and a similar sort of thing uh with ferrari i think is is possibly aston martin the sound of the dv11 really disappoints me yeah really i thought they did quite a good job of keeping it alive but this is the problem they've had to do quite a good job it's not like yeah oh my god like it makes me weak at the knees take my card can we go the other way around do you know what the other way around so it said the aston they went from the six liter naturally aspected to the 5.2 twin turbo which this topic of discussion mercedes amg four liter twin turbocharged v8 sounds the nuts you've done it they've done a much better job of making it sound inside and outside yeah you've got some artificial crackles but even before you've got the crackles you've still got a very shouty muscle eva yeah now one thing that i haven't sort of mentioned in my video about this car is that for me this actually sits in the bracket of the rs6 it's a sort of powerful twin turbo v8 comfortable comfortable four-seater car um i love the artificial drama that is the pops and bangs on the okay the run of the rs6 and that's a car which is a hundred thousand less than this and going back to the importance of emotion and soul and a brand that's historically passionate there's this i'm amazed that they haven't gone to the extent of engineering in even if it is artificial not cares they just want to hear that and look at lamborghini look at the hurricane exactly the v10 in the hurricane has probably the most artificial cracks you can imagine in the car but it's great but the smile on your face and you look forward to it now you know people watching this might say yeah but this is your more sort of family orientated practical practical car you might think so but the presentation we sat through said this is aimed at a younger audience which wants to drive more it's rear-wheel drive it's got side slip angle control on it honestly i watched a video this guy picked his wife up in a dinner dress and he went drifting up a mountain so i was like expecting you to get in this thinking yeah it's going to feel like a 488 and it's i don't know it doesn't set me a light i don't think i'm in a ferrari i think i'm in a very beautiful environment they've taken they started with the ff as a let's have a go at re bringing back this four seat sort of platform shape format whatever you wanna call it obviously we had the four five six then they had the the six twelve three in recent times yes the ff was a new take on the 4c format with the hatch it allowed them because of the sporty characteristics of the car to basically make it an oversized 458 in the way it drives but a little bit towards gt which i guess created the segment space which now the gtc4 lusso has come into and even the v12 version of this car which you haven't driven yeah i'm sure you will at some point and it'll be interesting to know what you think when you do is also quite a lot more docile interest like this okay driving normally right obviously as we discussed earlier in here turn it up to sports and it sort of the shifts give you that sense of shifting gear yeah i've got stuff down shifts speed increases so i'm going to throw a bit of a curve ball here in the wider market space and funny that we were talking a minute ago about amg and nasty going to their sort of ultra flagship cars one we know exists is one we know that's going to exist project one versus valkyrie yeah interesting very different approaches one's gone old-school fully naturally aspirated v12 the other one is putting in the most technologically advanced turbocharged engine they've probably ever made directly out of their f1 car 1.6 liter which makes me question where's the market going because one of them thinks everyone wants it to be loud and flamboyant and you know sound crazy and the other one wants to go down the efficient power technology demonstrator yeah so when those two cars land well we won't see the mercedes project one yeah amg project one car until frankfurt motorshow in september but when those cars land it's gonna be fascinating to see them yeah and i would imagine they're approach to let's go for lap times because i know one of the the primary pitches during the uh project one preview during geneva was how fast it was around yeah the ring they kept saying it was so fast around the nurburgring okay i'm gonna be really interesting to see both brands totally different approaches to achieving a similar yeah so we might be having nurburgring controversy at next year's geneva as well no comment it sounds good exactly right but you know a recurring theme in my content is always if it puts a smile on your face i don't care how fast this goes i mean take your gta for example yeah it's not the last word in lap times it's far from it but how you are beaming from ear to ear and i think you know unless you're and even if you are looking to set lap times all of these are the wrong cards just get a yeah like radical and have done so for me how fast something goes with number plates is cool and completely irrelevant you need a smile per mile factor miles per mile exactly like you have horsepower smiles per gallon i drove tim's classic mini not too long ago i couldn't stop smiling couldn't stop giggling and that for me is the most important thing so when i came out of that pitch last night and they were like it's focused towards a younger more dynamic audience that wants to enjoy driving and evidently drifting i was like this will be interesting it'll be like the sort of rs6 but rear wheel drive yeah and i don't know if it is i think it's have you been able to tell that it's only two-wheel drive do you know what i expected it to light up traction way more than that not as much as i thought it would now we have drizzle it's probably going to be yeah crazy fall but yeah um the uh the system in the v12 and in the ff is obviously done quite cleverly in the sense of the the way the four wheel drive system only interacts at slower speeds which is slightly off topic from the uh naturally aspirated versus turbocharged debate is this four wheels it really works yeah it does it's it's virtually shortened the wheelbase for sure that's the one virtual shockwave wheelbase yeah and the car gets a big one low down torque is impressive it is very good yep but my next one is really cool it is good yeah we just don't get a bit quiet the feeling at the top 760 newton meters in here it's a lot yeah um but i think yeah that's a pretty good summary of our thoughts of the the way engines are downsizing or where it's going and how it's quite heavily i think for us based on other regions more so than the uk at least now obviously this changes all the time and now we've got some lovely brain we must be under like the only rain cloud in tuscany yeah but it's it's an interesting one it'd be interesting to see where where this develops and um yeah what the weather does as well have fun i can see it through the panoramic room yes oh yes oh look anyway i'll wrap it up there thank you very much benzene and mr jw check out james's videos as well from from here and i hope you enjoyed our thoughts in this field for thought thanks for watching guys catch you soon cheers you\n"