In motoring, there’s a benchmark many companies strive for – the lap time around the Nürburgring Nordschleife in Germany. This 20km road circuit has a mix of everything and the title of fastest production car lap is much coveted.
Of course, it’s irrelevant in the real world, and probably in the motorsport world too – but, in the pissing contest that is “my car goes faster than yours” it’s a common ground.
In September 2013 Porsche sent their 918 Spyder around in a staggering 6 minutes 57 seconds, but Lamborghini have smashed that. Not by a little, by a lot. Five seconds.
Late last year the team behind the new Lamborghini Huracán Performante put test driver Marco Mapelli behind the wheel, and this was the result:
This is not the kind of thing he had all day to do. The track is open to all comers most of the time, but at 5pm on this day, the track was closed, officials checked the track, and a fifteen minute window was open for the single lap to be set.
He did it in 6:52:01. Your move Porsche.
CEO Stefano Domenicali was a happy man, “This was an incredible and emotional moment,” he said, “Together with Maurizio Reggiani we agreed during the car’s development that with the technical and performance prowess of the Huracán Performante, not only was a sub seven-minute lap at the Nordschleife possible, but the lap record too. We wanted to achieve the Nürburgring victory in advance of the Performante’s launch, which was a challenge in terms of weather and availability of the Nordschleife. Not only did we take the lap record, we took it by some seconds!
“To make this happen is something that every one of the R&D team who worked on this car can share in: it will forever be a defining moment in their careers,” he said “I am so proud of everything achieved by Lamborghini people that day and extremely privileged to have witnessed it.”
The Performante edition of the Huracan has new innovations in aero and engineering to give it the edge – the car will be revealed at the Geneva Motor Show next week.
