We knew the boffins at AMG were going to make the upcoming Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Black Series a serious hot supercar, but this wasn’t exactly what we had in mind.

These images of a burnt-out SLS AMG Black Series prototype were taken at the famous Nurburgring circuit in Germany where the car was undergoing high-speed testing.

There’s no word yet on what caused the crash, although fortunately both the driver and passenger walked away from the wreck long before the flames took over.

US enthusiast website Motor Authority reports the crash occurred at a section of the track called Döttinger Höhe, a 2km-plus straight where high-performance sports cars regularly reach speeds up to 300km/h.

Not only is Mercedes down one prototype from the crash, but the fire has also confirmed that the top-secret SLS AMG Black Series production car will carry over the standard model’s aluminium construction rather than inherit the carbonfibre chassis from the SLS AMG Electric Drive.

Like other Black Series specials, AMG’s engineers will turn up the wick for the ultra-hard-core SLS, tuning the naturally aspirated 6.2-litre V8 engine beyond the 420kW/650Nm output of the standard Gullwing, potentially to the region of 450-480kW.

A similar prototype in pristine condition was spied earlier in the week, giving us a better look at the Black Series’ enhancements.

The front-end sports a revised bumper with aggressive intakes and a new splitter with minimal ground clearance.

The wheel arches spread wider than those of the standard SLS to embrace even fatter tyres than normal.

Reports suggest the Black Series will be around 45kg lighter than the base SLS AMG, which, combined with the power boost, should see the Stuttgart stormer accelerate from 0-100km/h in the low 3s before going on to reach a top speed in excess of 200mph (322km/h).

The Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Black Series is expected to be unveiled sometime in 2013.