Our earlier tip off with the dates for the 2012 Nürburgring 24 hour race have now been confirmed by the official race website. Clear your diaries for the weekend of 17–20 May 2012 and be ready to enjoy more N24 action.
[Thanks to Obi & Marcel for the tips]
One of the world’s newest supercars, the McLaren MP4-12C, has unofficially lapped the Nürburgring in 7 minutes 28 seconds. The time was recorded by respected German magazine Sport Auto.
Perhaps McLaren would secretly wish for a faster time, as the mighty Mac is around 16 seconds slower than the Dodge Viper ACR, 12 seconds slower than the Lexus LFA and 10 seconds slower than a Porsche 911 GT2 RS. At least it’s four seconds faster than a Ferrari 458 Italia.
UPDATE: Official video from McLaren Automotive has been added below, which confirms the Sport Auto lap time and includes a few words from their noted test driver Horst von Saurma.
[Source: Teamspeed]
In the build up to last weekend’s VLN 4 hour race at the Nürburgring Dr Ulrich Bez, Aston Martin CEO, and Akio Toyoda, Toyota President, shared a drive in each other’s cars. The machines in question were ‘Zig’ the Aston Martin V12 Zagato and the Gazoo Racing Lexus LFA.
Dr Bez explains, “When I learned that our teams will share one pit again, I renewed my invitation to Akio Toyoda to come and drive an Aston Martin race car whereupon I accepted with pleasure his invitation in return.
“We meet regularly as race drivers here at the Nürburgring since the 24 Hour Race 2008. A personal friendship has developed since then which we wish to emphasise with this change of cars. Other bosses of enterprises meet on a golf course, we in contrast share the passion for car races.”
Toyoda was scheduled to share the Zagato during the race proper as well. Although, before his stint, things didn’t quite go to plan. Check out the video from Aston Martin to see what happened.
[Source: VLN]
US motoring identity and drift king Tanner Foust was lucky enough to be sent over to the Nürburgring and handed the keys to a Ford Focus RS500 and told to go and enjoy the Nordschleife.
In standard form the RS500 sends 350hp to its front wheels, but Foust says this car has been boosted for even more power. It’s bordering on insane to be honest.
With ingredients like that we have to say we’re a little disappointed with Tanner’s output in this clip. We wanted moar power, moar speed and moar thrills!
Earlier footage showing the roadworks on the Nordschleife moments before the recent eight-car crash at the Ring has been removed. However, a reader has posted a link to a new video which shows the accident happened in different stages.
Filmed using a rearward facing camera inside a BMW E30 3 Series the clip starts outside the car park near the TF gates. As the car moves out on to the Nordschleife you can see a couple of the cars that will later be involved in the incident.
The car comes across the first signs of the crash scene about 10 minutes into the clip. You’ll see the car slowly move through the debris. Then, roughly 30 seconds later, you’ll see two cars hit the armco to the right of screen. We’re guessing one of those cars is the BMW Ring-Taxi.
It’s nasty stuff really. We’d generally not be so keen on showing footage of an accident of this nature, however we think it is worth using to highlight just how cautious one needs to be when lapping the track, especially on a public day.
There’s usually a lot of traffic and without the right attitude you can be bitten hard. Never mind when there’s insufficient warning of roadworks at one of the fastest sections of the circuit.
You can check out the video after the break. The accident aside, it’s quite interesting seeing the track from the rearward perspective too.
Ongoing track maintenance was one of the contributing factors believed to cause the recent eight-car pile up that happened at the Nürburgring. In this video, which was filmed moments before the accident happened, you can see how quickly the roadworks appeared on the uphill climb after Bergwerk.
This is a great illustration of the many blind crests featured around the Nordschleife and also how rapid the closing speeds can be.
Amazingly, these are aspects of the track that should be well known to management and, based on this footage, a lot more could have been done to give drivers more notice of the roadworks ahead.
EDIT: The video has been removed from YouTube.
If ever you needed a reminder that the Nürburgring can bite then this pic is it. According to a German Police report eight cars were involved in this accident which included a BMW Ring-Taxi and a hired Corvette.
The incident happened near the Bergwerk section of the track and the damage bill is reported to be north of €100,000 (approx AU$140,000). Thankfully nobody was killed, although one driver has been seriously injured and two others were kept in hospital overnight.
Accidents at the Ring do happen regularly and it is vital to have the right attitude if you plan to make the trip over to drive the track.
Don’t think you can get out there and rip it up right from the word go. Do research as much as you can about all aspects of driving during Touristenfahrten (TF) open days and make sure that safety and not lap times is your highest priority.
Following news earlier in the month that the Dodge Viper ACR lapped the Nürburgring Nordschleife in a staggering 7 minutes 12.13 seconds we bring you the documentary evidence. GT racer Dominik Farnbacher was at the wheel and posted the time on 14 September 2011.
The time is being claimed as a production car record; the merits of which can always be debated. For example, the Viper ACR is no longer in production. That said, the car used for this lap was believed to be in completely standard trim.
A brief statement from SRT is available after the break.
[Source: ViperHQ]
We’ve received unconfirmed reports saying the 2012 Nürburgring 24 hour race will be held over the weekend of 19–20 May. At this stage nothing has been confirmed on the official N24 website. As soon as we hear more we will let you know.
[Thanks to Marcel for the tip]
The new Porsche 911 Carrera S has reportedly posted a best lap time around the Nordschleife of 7 minutes 40 seconds. That makes the 991 model 13 seconds quicker than the 997 it replaces. It also means the new 911 Carrera S, with a 294kW 3.6 litre flat six, is as fast as the 997 911 GT3.
According to August Achleitner from Porsche the new time was set in a Carrera S fitted with a 7-speed PDK transmission and Porsche Dynamic Chassis Control. In regards to chasing the headline times set by the Nissan GT-R Achleitner says, “It is not so important for us.”
[Source: GoAuto]
