Quote:
Originally Posted by Black Knight
Did not know theirs was a speed limit . If that's the case their needs to be a new track for all new cars to run their fastest lap for comparison
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It was just on one or two sections, fast cars have a tendency to go airborne there and there was a fatal accident recently. The speed limit (which I think were well over 100 mph) would have complicated any attempt to set some sort of 'official' time. And I use 'official' in quotes because there is no governing body determining what is allowed & what isn't, other than the court of public opinion (which usually decides in favour of their particular brand & against all others). Anyways, the speed limit is supposed to be lifted next year after they make some adjustements to the track. I think they're mostly just repaving it to remove bumps (which can cause a car to lose control) but there are probably some minor tweaks as well to improve the safety of the track.
Anyway, the purpose of manufacturers going to the Nurburgring isn't to comparison test against each other. Its to sort out the suspension on their cars because there simply isn't a better place on the planet to do so. The 'Ring has such a diverse combination of loading conditions that they can simply get more data there in a week than they could in a month of going to other tracks. Once their work is done, some (like GM) will have a bit of fun and do a hot lap with a video camera to record it. But, and I can't stress this enough, that is only
after they get their work done & not the reason for going there in the first place.
If you want comparable laps from different manufacturers, read Car & Drivers annual lightning lap comparison test. Its about as fair a comparison as anyone is going to get between a couple dozen different showroom stock cars on a race track. The Nurburgring times are almost meaningless, especially when trying to compare between different manufacturers. GM times to GM times are kinda OK, but even then its different drivers on different days (often different years) and hard to say how much driver skill & track conditions affect things.
All that said ... I'm curious to see what the 2016 SS will do at the Nurburgring. I'm guessing a 7:50ish time
