I was looking through lap times of different production cars, and there are some wildly out of place cars doing ring laptimes, some cars are faster than they seem they should be, while others are slower than they should be. Which got me thinking how some cars truly get tested in showroom condition, and others get the “marketing” treatment to produce a laptime a showroom car would never touch, solely to sell more cars. Then I found this article that talks exactly about just that.
https://www.thedrive.com/porsche/11012/nurburgring-times-dont-matter
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i agree its a bit of a gimmick. ‘oh this car is 5 seconds faster on a 7 minute lap!!’ Like dude thats 5 seconds out of 420 seconds of driving. literally a 1% improvement.
0-60 is also not as important as 5-60. theres a good article on it and shows how many cars achieve a great 0-60 due to launch control, awd, and turbos… but fall flat on the 5-60. most of this is because newer cars have downsized engines with big turbos , they lack low end instant power that a big motor would give
When I saw the list of cars that were in front of the LP670-4 Super Veloce and Carrera GT I knew there has to be some HUGE differences in testing conditions. Tires, tunes, roll cages, weather, traffic, driver, these are things that could shave off 10-20 seconds.
The newer the car, the more watered down the driving experience is to make them safer. This is why peak automotive experience ends around 2008
There are still genuine experiences you can get. Anything with a true 6 speed and a clutch is going to be a good time. ZL1 1LE, Viper ACR, Shelby GT350R, even my RS is still very much a driver’s car. With thar said, I’m pretty sure all these cars aren’t being made anymore, but still great cars made after 2008 😋
The Green Hell _ Jackie Stewart ?
“Bomb the Nürburgring” - James May
I like the idea of a track that tests acceleration, braking, corerning, unsettling surfaces (corkscrew, kerbs, etc) and being long enough to notice any potential brakefade and other shortcomings that are only apparent after 5 mins of hard driving.
It would be nicer if it was done on “showroom-spec” cars like you mentioned though.
And also, the 'Ring is such a long track driven by so many drivers in so many different weather conditions, it seems nearly impossible to get consistent results.
The best test would be the same driver who’s job it is to drive every car on a much shorter track in a much more stable climate. But it’s probably an unrealistic wish.
I like Pobst Laguna Seca tests. It’s a pretty balanced track, also Road Atlanta is nice.
The only Nürburgring times that matter are your own personal times.
I don’t think it ever mattered how quick or fast you’re car was around a track. If all you care abou tis to have the fastest car around a track then you will need a new car every year or so or just buy an F1 car and even then you will then go for a rocket car. Just buy the car you like th elook of and the one you like to drive. If that’s a Mk2 Fiesta then that is the car for you, if it’s a Ferrari then that’s also cool.