Inside the Mercedes-AMG Parts Truck, the Rolling Supermarket for Its GT Racers

Crashes, damaged cars, and general maintenance of nuts and bolts and other consumable parts are part of the deal during every racing weekend, so unless an incident is a "big one," most fans understandably don't think much about what goes on behind the scenes keeping cars on-track. But besides the obvious work required of mechanics to repair broken and worn-out pieces, have you ever asked yourself where those replacement items come from?

The answer depends on the series and team in question, of course, with some operations stocking more parts inventory than others. In the case of GT3-class racing in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, budgets to run a single car for the full season fall somewhere between $5 million and $8 million, depending upon how well funded a team is. But no crew carries its own endless supply of every bit and bob it might find itself needing during a single event's various practice, qualifying, and racing sessions.

During the 2024 IMSA season-opening Rolex 24 at Daytona, Mercedes-AMG—which won the race in the GTD Pro-Am class with Winward Racing and drivers Daniel Morad, Russell Ward, Philip Ellis, and Indy Dontje—allowed us to pop inside its mobile parts trailer for a look at its mobile racing-parts superstore.

Inside the nondescript black and silver trailer parked in the competitors' paddock are cabinets, drawers, trays, and shelves stocked with almost anything a team might need to keep its Mercedes-AMG GT3 race cars running smoothly or to repair damage.

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"[We stock] everything except for a full chassis," says Eric Kehe, who helps manage the parts trailer to supply teams with what they need. "Every bolt, every washer you can think of on the GT3 and GT4 car, you'll be able to find in here. And just everything that keeps the cars in shape for the race. We have some miscellaneous stuff, too ... so teams don't have to worry about anything, and everything's in one location. In all of these trays we have here, it's all sorted by size."

The trailer also keeps a few engines and transmissions on hand, with a team of engineers working from a lounge situated on its "second story" level above the main inventory area.

According to Kehe, that inventory includes a car's worth of full running stock, usually with at least two sets of everything. Naturally, there are more of the pieces teams tend to go through the most, be it a particular fastener or larger bodywork items like front splitters.

"Things like [fasteners], it depends on how many go into the car," Kehe said. "We try to keep at least 20 of each nut or whatever. I think our whole inventory is around 8,600 parts or so, including multiples of the same part."

If you've ever maintained or helped to maintain a race car, you're likely familiar with the regular process of going over its nuts and bolts, verifying they're torqued properly and replaced when necessary. In the case of the AMG GT3, there are certain factory-specified nuts and bolts for the car you won't find by popping into a local hardware store when in a pinch, which means teams rely on the AMG trailer for them when needed. In the case of some pieces, this occurs often as teams swap them out as part of their proactive maintenance/problem-avoidance job list. As Kehe says, "The fuel cell is a good example because a lot of those bolts and washers, once you take them off you don't want to use them again. You [especially] just don't want to have anything damaged around there."

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Whatever a team needs beyond that—bodywork, wheels, suspension arms, fuel pumps, filters, oil, springs, dampers, and more—it's able to pay for it on the spot, just like it's shopping at a racing superstore with a well-organized trackside accounting system behind it.

"We have a whole catalog set up online [that teams can access from their garage or trailer]," Kehe said. "From there, they get a shopping cart on the computer, and you can go in and just add things line by line in your cart. As soon as they place that order, I get that order, then we can go through and pick everything they need and get it to them. They pay for what we have in stock."

Seeing so many parts on hand, it's natural to wonder how the AMG crew knows how to quickly find specific items. Even with a well-organized system in place, it's not always easy to know which piece someone is after amongst a collection of pieces whose collective value must run well past the million-dollar mark. (One small but specialized bolt costs $98 alone.)

"A lot of time goes into it, putting things where there's other common parts around it," Kehe said. "We try to keep all the fuel stuff together; all the electronics are in one cabinet. Really just thinking it out, figuring out where everything goes. For the most part, stuff that we regularly sell, I'll be able to tell you where it is. We also keep an inventory on our computer that shows the location and part numbers, as well. But it helps us to know [from memory] where stuff is during high-paced needs at the track, because we can just go right to it."

Even so—and perhaps like your own garage or workbench area at home—everything isn't always straightforward no matter how familiar Kehe and the rest of the Mooresville, North Carolina-based parts-support staff are with the trailer's wares.

"Dealing at times with German people, everyone has a different name for every part," he said with a smile. "So you [kind of have to] figure out what they're talking about."

The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the Mercedes-AMG team are back on the track this weekend for the Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring on March 16.