Skip to main content

Watch the Porsche 919 Lap the Nurburgring in 5 Minutes and 19 Seconds

Porsche has broken the all-time lap record at the Nurburgring Nordschleife, with driver Timo Bernhard lapping the 12.9-mile circuit in a ridiculous 5:19.55 in the Porsche 919 Evo.

The 919 Evo, for those who don’t know, is Porsche’s heavily modified LMP1 car. The German automaker was forced to pull out of the FIA WEC, the series in which it once raced the car, but figured that it still may as well take the hybrid Le Mans prototype, modify it, and try to break some all-time lap records. First, it smashed Lewis Hamilton’s Formula 1 record at Spa and now it’s broken the all-time record at the Nurburgring – a time of 6:11.13 set by Stefan Bellof in a Porsche 956 in 1983.

“This is a great moment for me and for the entire team – the 919 programme’s icing on the cake,” Bernhard said after climbing from the 1,200 hp 919 Evo. “The Evo was perfectly prepared and I have done my best on this lap. Thanks to the aerodynamic downforce, at sections I never imagined you can stay on full throttle. I’m pretty familiar with the Nordschleife. But today I got to learn it in a new way.”

No longer under the thumb of the FIA rule makers, Porsche was allowed to fully uncork its hybrid LMP1 car in an attempt to break records. The hybrid V4 powertrain was boosted to 1,160 hp, the vehicle was lightened and the aerodynamics were modified to make over 50 percent more downforce than before. Crucially, an active rear wing was also fitted, which allows Bernhard to open up the wing for more speed on the straights and close it back up for the twisty sections of track. Another important modification was the tires, which are a specially developed set of extra-sticky slicks provided by Porsche’s tire partner Michelin.

In the onboard video of the lap, the 919 Evo teleports from apex to apex, leaping out corners with unbelievable speed and barely slowing down for the Nordschleife’s high-speed bends. It’s just about the craziest onboard video you’ll ever watch, so be sure not to miss it embedded above.

a version of this article first appeared on AutoGuide

The post Watch the Porsche 919 Lap the Nurburgring in 5 Minutes and 19 Seconds appeared first on VWVortex.



from VWVortex https://ift.tt/2IGa0J0
via IFTTT
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2018 Lamborghini Aventador S Roadster Review

“Supercars just don’t excite me anymore.” These words, spoken to me over a month ago by another journalist, friend, and (so-called) enthusiast were echoing in my head for far too long, but they’ve finally been drowned out. Drowned out by the wail of a naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12 engine mounted in the middle of the new Lamborghini Aventador S Roadster. My friend’s point is that back in the good old days, there was a crop of supercars that captured the imagination with amazing style, sounds, performance, and more. Today, it seems like everything is capable of supercar performance, with large luxury sedans outdoing some of the best and most dedicated teams of car nuts, while former pillars of automotive excellence are suddenly pumping out family-friendly SUVs. Beyond that, another league of supercars, dubbed hypercars have cropped up with hybrid gas-electric powertrains that make magical things happen quickly, but at the cost of the acoustic drama, visual flair, and engag...
Post a Comment
Read more

Project SportWagen: Going Stage 2 with APR

    When we last left you, the humble little SportWagen was fresh from the development process with our friends at AWE Tuning, sporting a new downpipe, exhaust and intake, allowing things to breathe a bit easier.  The car sounded great, but there was no getting around the fact that our wagon was still quite, well, slow.   While we realize that nothing we do to the Golf SportWagen at this point will make it a race car, we still felt compelled to do something .  To put it bluntly, we had a fever, and the only cure was more power. Flash forward a few hours, and we found ourselves at Waterfest, staring down APR’s palatial spread and the numerous tuned vehicles surrounding it.  Earlier in the year, APR had hinted to us that their 1.8 TSI files would be quite impressive, and based on what they were able to do with the 2.0 TSI found in the new GTI and our time in their Golf R, we knew it’d be worth the wait.  So with this in mind, we lined our G...
Post a Comment
Read more

The 10 Most Expensive VWs at Barrett-Jackson

Barrett-Jackson just wrapped up its 46th annual Scottsdale auction, which set all kinds of records, including the sale of Kindig-It Design’s 1965 21-Window Deluxe Bus for $302,500 (pictured above and below). Not only did that bus set an auction record, it was the highest priced Volkswagen in Scottsdale that week. While it outdid the next closest VW by quite a margin, it wasn’t the only high priced VW at the show. Here, are the highest priced VWs from the auction: 1. $302,500: 1965 Type II 21-Window Deluxe Bus  Featured on Velocity Channel’s Bitchin’ Rides, this microbus was completely restored by Kindig-it Design and repainted in Mercedes Black and Bentley Magnolia White. With a 1915cc 120 hp flat four out back and a 4-speed transmission, this bus sits on 17″ wheels. 2. $143,000: 1967 21-Window Deluxe Bus Not sure if you noticed a theme here, but we have another 21-window bus in black and white, but this time the colors are flipped and it has a 2,027 cc engine. Comes with a ...
Post a Comment
Read more