Nürburgring lap times

The Nürburgring (Nordschleife) in Germany, with its remaining convert|20.8|km|mi|1|abbr=on|lk=on long old section dating from 1927, is used by various motoring media outlets and vehicle manufacturers for testing. Manufacturers publish times for promotional purposes while automotive media outlets usually publish times for comparison and reporting purposes.

Timing by media

The German magazine "sport auto" publishes its "Supertest" of cars, in which the lap time (usually driven by editor-in-chief Horst von Saurma) at the Nordschleife is the most discussed result. The magazine also runs a challenge for the fastest lap time driven with a car that is road legal (TÜV) and registered in Germany. The road legality rule also applies for the tires.

British motorcycle magazine Performance Bikes Magazine began testing their bikes in a regular feature at the Nordschleife in March 2007 and finished in December 2007. Bikes were tested by Dale Lomas and a character named only as The Baron. As with sport auto, all machines tested are road-legal (albeit in the UK) and shod with road-legal Bridgestone BT002 Pro Race tires. To date there are 28 lap times published in the regular feature. As motorcycles are forbidden to participate in industry pool sessions and after-hours test sessions, Performance Bikes were forced to test during quiet mid-week tourist sessions, where speed limits apply in some sections. This means their lap times are measured from bridge to gantry (see below) and are approximately 22 seconds shorter than a full convert|20.832|km|mi|3|abbr=on Nordschleife lap.

Track lengths and timing

Not all of the following lap times are comparable. A full lap of the Nordschleife, bypassing the modern GP track, is convert|20.832|km|mi|3|abbr=on long. Most laps are completed convert|200|m|ft|0| shorter for safety reasons. Full uninterrupted flying laps can only be done in closed sessions and race events like Castrol-Haugg-Cup.

During the industry testing sessions in which sport auto records its "Supertest", the track can not be traveled at full speed past "Tribüne 13" (T13, grandstand 13) in order to allow safe access from the old exit/entrance there. Thus, sport auto Supertests cover only about convert|20.6|km|mi|1|abbr=on, which in average yields a 7 s shorter lap time compared to a full lap.

There are 5 sections on the convert|20600|m|ft|abbr=on long Supertest-Nordschleife:
*The first is convert|3850|m|mi|1|abbr=on|lk=on
*The second is convert|4235|m|mi|1|abbr=on
*The third is convert|4825|m|mi|1|abbr=on
*The fourth is convert|4846|m|mi|1|abbr=on
*The fifth is convert|2844|m|mi|1|abbr=on
*The total is convert|20600|m|mi|3|abbr=on

Some lap times are even claimed to have been done during tourist driving sessions. Because it is forbidden to race on tourist days as it is very dangerous to drive fast among the general traffic one should not try to measure the lap time on a tourist day. As the full main straight cannot be driven at speed due to the modern exit/entrance there, these laps are usually timed "bridge to gantry", which is only convert|19.1|km|mi|1|abbr=on and thus about 30 seconds shorter.Additionally, there are two speed limits (one in Breitscheid, and one on "Doettinger Hoehe") on tourist days, which also impacts the lap time.

Lap times

Production vehicles

Racing

References

External links

* [http://www.fastestlaps.com Road legal sports car lap times and comparison]
* [http://20832.com/?rubrik=rekorde&lang=eng Database with lap times of racing events and magazine tests]
* [http://www.castrol-haugg-cup.com/tabelle.php?inhalt=statistik3 Castrol-Haugg-Cup lap records of various classes recorded on Nordschleife 1990 - 2006]
* [http://www.nordschleife.no/ One of the oldest/largest lists of Nordschleife lap times, with track length and average lap speed]
* [http://www.bridgetogantry.com Lap times achieved in public sessions]