[richidoo]

This past weekend, Timo Bernhard, driving a modified Porsche 919 Hybrid Evo (LeMans race car) smashed the previous track record of 6:11, set by Stefan Bellof in 1983 in a Porsche 956 by almost a full minute, with a time of 5 minutes and 19 seconds.

Yes, that's 5:19 around the Ring, in a car, driven by a human being.


5:19


When you watch the video you will understand the magnitude of this accomplishment, especially if you're older and remember when you liked to "drive fast." There's no way I could drive like this now. My son drives F1 on iracing and has thousands of laps on 'Ring simulator, he says it is a superhuman accomplishment, not only of the driver, but the whole team, engineers, designers and constructors.

I wonder, has the driver become the limiting factor in the ultimate performance of a car, like he has in an aircraft? In a plane the pilots physical body fails before the airframe reaches it's breaking point. in a car the mind is the limiting factor, the ability to focus at speed for extended period.

The car hits a peak speed of 368kph at the beginning of the back straight. That's 229mph.

The real scary thing is the acceleration of the car. With 400HP electric motor and 600HP hybrid turbo engine, the available torque ALWAYS exceeds the available grip at any cornering speed. If it weren't for traction control preventing the drive wheels from slipping the car would not be drivable. It is 4 wheel drive. Notice how fast it accelerates from 200 to 300kph, just a couple seconds. And 100-200kph in less than a second.

Porsche quit the LeMans racing series last year so this was a final swan-song for this car.

[mgalusha]

Wow!

[TomS]

I've watched a few "thrilling" 'ring laps on Youtube, but that is just madness 

[Steidl Guitars]

Awesome.

[FullRangeMan]

These out-of-race tests have little connection with reality, it serve more for marketing in the press, the car is always weight relieved, under the rule min weight.

Modern F1 dont race on the 22Km fulltrack but on 2006 they made an calc for F1:
According to F1 Racing magazine of June 2006, BMW engineers had estimated that a BMW-Sauber F1.06 could lap in under 5:15.8[230] which equals to an average of 237 km/h (147 mph).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nordschleife_lap_times_(racing)

[ArthurDent]

Not your Grandma's Porsche. And I couldn't even see the slot in the track.    Yes, that was one heck of a ride, and accomplishment by all involved.

[Photon46]

I've wasted more time than I care to admit watching YouTube "hot laps at the ring," that one is insane. As you state, the acceleration of the car from 2-300 kph is unbelievable.

[SoCalWJS]

These out-of-race tests have little connection with reality, it serve more for marketing in the press, the car is always weight relieved, under the rule min weight.

Modern F1 dont race on the 22Km fulltrack but on 2006 they made an calc for F1:
According to F1 Racing magazine of June 2006, BMW engineers had estimated that a BMW-Sauber F1.06 could lap in under 5:15.8[230] which equals to an average of 237 km/h (147 mph).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nordschleife_lap_times_(racing)

I first read of this accomplishment on ESPN's F1 site this morning.

http://www.espn.co.uk/f1/story/_/id/23944393/porsche-beats-35-year-old-nurburgring-lap-record

From the article:
The 919 Hybrid Evo is a modified version of Porsche's most recent Le Mans prototype, which won the Le Mans 24-Hour race in 2015, 2016 and 2017. The same car beat Lewis Hamilton's qualifying lap record at Spa-Francorchamps earlier this year by 0.783s.

The article is vague on details, but many have said in the past that F1 is no longer the fastest motor sport due to it's inherent limitations (open cockpit & wheels,  along with no traction control, 2 WD, etc).

Mind you, I am a huge F1 fan, but that lap of the Nurburgring is just insane

[FullRangeMan]

If they beat Hamilton qualifying lap record at Spa on a race its really a fast car, usually on test conditions the car is weight relieved in ballast weight and gas.

Now some details appear in a local site, they are informing in children language to excite teens:
The 2017 car of the brand (Porsche) for the WEC (World Endurance) was updated as if no regulation existed. The result is a rocket that is breaking historic circuit records.

Porsche decided to retire from the Endurance World Championship (WEC) in late 2017, but not without style. To celebrate the brand's three-year title before the farewell, the engineers took the prototype and upgraded it as if there was no regulation. Conclusion: a machine to break records. The first of them was at the Spa-Francorchamps track, when the 919 EVO Tribute destroyed Lewis Hamilton's pole record of 2017 (1m42s553) by scoring 1m41s770.

Now, Porsche has decided to go further. It took 919 to the famous and scary Nordschleife circuit, known as "Green Inferno" and which, with its 20.8 km, was the scene of the accident of Niki Lauda and several others, with many fatalities. At the wheel, German Timo Bernhard pulverized the 35-year track record (6m11s13), made by Stefan Bellof - in the 1000km of Nurburgring in 1983 - in almost a minute (5m19s546). Check out the full back video below.

It is worth mentioning that the engine has monstrous 1160hp of power from its V4 turbo engine and energy recovery systems. The 919 also has 50% more aerodynamic pressure, which includes a mobile wing system (DRS) equal to that used in F1.