Porsche 919 Evo takes on the 'Ring

[Wretched]

5:19.546

This is big. Porsche has not only broken the Nürburgring all-time lap record, but smashed it into pieces.

Porsche already held the record, courtesy of Stefan Bellof’s scintillating 6m11.13s qualifying lap from a sports car race in 1983.

But its 919 Hybrid Evo has just taken 52 seconds out of Bellof’s 35-year-old lap time, setting a scarcely believable 5m19.546. Behind the wheel was Timo Bernhard, a Le Mans winner with Porsche and a multiple winner at the ‘Ring. He was a natural choice for such a committed record attempt.

“It’s probably the most challenging track on Earth,” said Timo afterwards. “We showed today you can drive a car like this here properly. It was not a walk in the park, certainly not. it was quite exciting but exhausting, too. I wanted to keep focused and treat it like qualifying or a race weekend. The speed of the car is so high, there’s no run off, no room for mistakes. We achieved what we wanted to achieve today.”

The Evo is Porsche’s retired Le Mans winner, freed of all World Endurance Championship restrictions. It’s turned up to around 1200bhp and has 50 per cent more downforce than the 2017 LMP1 car it’s based upon, and it deploys active aero and clever torque vectoring. Stuff Porsche would have loved to have fitted during its racing career if pesky rules hadn’t got in the way.

The Evo has past form, setting a lap record at Spa earlier in the year to establish itself as quicker than a Formula 1 car. While Porsche’s ‘919 Tribute’ tour intends to take in a few lap records, surely none are more iconic than the Nordschleife.

We’re used to seeing lap records tumble at the Nürburgring, but in specific, occasionally convoluted classes, as road cars battle for some extra marketing cachet. No one has publicly attempted to beat Bellof’s outright time until now. And it was all done within an hour or so of the track opening at 8am this morning.

“We’d love to have started earlier, but the track wouldn’t let us because of noise,” a team insider told us. Optimum conditions were an ambient temperature below 20degC, so it was a race against time as the ‘Ring bakes in the same heatwave affecting the UK.

Take a glimpse at the video above to see just how quick it was. And given it’s so short, you’ve probably got time to watch it twice before you have to get back to work. So once you’ve seen a lap through the windscreen, watch again but focused on the inset of Timo, and the sheer forces his body’s up against. Surely no one can go quicker?

https://www.topgear.com/car-news/fut...ord-shreds-919

[chrisandsharon]

Geezus CHRIST!!!!! Speechless. The noise when he came onto the straight! Still shakin my head in disbelief.

[paule11]

Like watching a video game

[zipping]

Outstanding

watched earlier you gotta love the "Green Hell" freakishly fast

The only negative is Stefan Bellof was a deadset talent and its a bit of a shame that he has lost the record after 35 years. Actually met him at the 84 Sandown WEC race.

Didn't know that car is faster than F1 @ Spa amazing

[383hq]

WOW !!
Can't help but feel the video game generation will never understand the real commitment and engineering behind that.
Actually, even I cannot understand it. Is Timo Human or alien ?

Amazing. Legend lap.

[In Focus]

Touched 368kph on the straight!

[GASWAGON]

Freaking hell thats fast.

Took 'nearly' a full minute off the record.

[Syndrome]

Why didn't Porsche race in the Le Mans 24 hour race last month? As can be seen they have a proven winner and it would have been the best way to celebrate their 70 birthday.

These LMP1-H cars are the most technically advanced racing cars even surpassing F1. Insanely fast machines.

[malazn mafia]

That’s beyond belief, a real big middle finger to the laws of physics in limiting man and machine: Makes F1 look like child’s play on go karts, and even gives the Isle of Man super bike races a run for their money, as one small mistake or mechanical failure in that hardcore lap would have sent him into eternity faster than he could blink

[Sioso]

Thanks for wrecking all future Ring videos I'll ever watch!!!!

[sly_ba]

Balls of steel...

[Bossxr8]

Looks like it was in fast forward. Amazing how quickly it piles on speed. It was on the limiter down the straight for what seemed like an eternity.

[Wretched]

Originally Posted by Syndrome

Why didn't Porsche race in the Le Mans 24 hour race last month? As can be seen they have a proven winner and it would have been the best way to celebrate their 70 birthday.

These LMP1-H cars are the most technically advanced racing cars even surpassing F1. Insanely fast machines.

They have won in each of the recent LeMans they competed in.
I think it was an overall decision by VAG due to the cost cutting inline with the dieselgate issues across the whole organisation.

Originally Posted by Bossxr8

Looks like it was in fast forward. Amazing how quickly it piles on speed. It was on the limiter down the straight for what seemed like an eternity.

Watch the video a second time but watch Timo's cockpit, the forces on him are extreme in addition to the track condition. On the straight he bouncing around like he's on a jumping castle. Pure class by Timo, concentration would have been tiring.

[Sioso]

Originally Posted by Wretched

5:19.546



https://www.topgear.com/car-news/fut...ord-shreds-919

There is a left hander that goes into a downhill tight right just after the 1 minute mark, the trackday guys in highly modified cars who know the track well go through that corner at 180km/h, when I watched the GT2 RS record run it went through the same corner at 215-220km/h, the 919 EVO went through it at 299km/h!!!!


Some footage from outside the car:

[phillyc]

Wow!!!