One the worlds most prestigious production car records was obliterated yesterday (28/9/05) by Michael Vergers in Radicals extraordinary SR8. In road legal trim and riding on Dunlop Direnza tyres he lapped the infamous 13-mile Nordschleife circuit in just 6 minutes 55 seconds, knocking a massive 20 seconds off the previous best!
Radical have held the record before when Phil Bennett scorched around the loop in a Radical SR3 Turbo back in 2003, but such is the importance of the record, it soon came under attack from Europes biggest manufacturers and engine tuners. However none have got close the magic seven minute barrier. Until now, that is.
A suitably delighted Michael Vergers exclaimed that he still felt there was more to come. We didnt have a great deal of time to set the car up for the run and due to the weather closing, in I only really had one crack at it, he said. Even on that lap I had to drive around the outside of a Mercedes coming onto the main straight, so theres plenty more to come. The car is awesome, carrying unbelievable speed through the high speed turns - if we had fitted slick tyres we could knocked more than 30 seconds off this time.
The Radical SR8 is powered by a 2.6-litre high-revving V8 engine, built in-house by Powertec, developing 360bhp. It generates enough downforce to be able to theoretically drive upside down and holds the outright lap record at Cadwell Park (the UKs mini-Nurburgring) and has been winning sportscar races around the world since the launch in January this year. For 2006, the SR8 will be the star of the all-new 'Great & British' Motorsport Festivals, visiting all the best UK circuits.
The Nordschleife is like no track on earth; 73 corners (many of them blind and all lined with unyielding Armco) mixed with massive elevation changes, bumps, jumps, compressions and flat out blasts as the 12.9 mile ribbon of tarmac winds its way up and down the forested Eifel valleys. It is the circuit described by Jackie Stewart as the ultimate driver challenge and nicknamed The Green Hell
View a low-res in-car video clip of the record-breaking lap here - please right-click the link and "save as..." (38mb file - due to the unprecedented number of requests for this file, downloads may be slow).
By way of comparison, Clay Regazoni posted the fastest ever Formula One race lap in the 1975 Grand Prix at 7 minutes 5 seconds, a £323,000 Porsche Carrera GT has lapped in 7 minutes 32 seconds and a Caterham R500 in 7 minutes 56 seconds.
Meow! (='.'=)
