List of Nürburgring Nordschleife lap times

The Nordschleife

The Nürburgring (Nordschleife) in Germany, with its remaining 20.8 km (12.9 mi) long old section dating from 1927, is used by various motoring media outlets and vehicle manufacturers for testing. Manufacturers publish times for promotional purposes while automotive media outlets usually publish times for comparison and reporting purposes. According to Car and Driver, Nürburgring Nordschleife "record-chasing runs are a universally accepted, objective measure of a car’s performance, and shaving seconds gives automakers reasons to grab some headlines." Compared to the current version, the original Nürburgring track was longer and split into three configurations. The entire track, the Gesamtstrecke (see map above) was 28.3 kilometres in length, composed of the Nordschleife (22.8 km), the Südschleife (7.7 km), and the Betonschleife – the latter a short 2 kilometer warm-up loop around the pit area. The lengths of the two segments, when considered separately, add up to more than the whole, since each circuit effectively shared the Betonschleife.

Timing entities

Apart from races and timing events under the rules of their respective sanctioning bodies, there are no official rules that govern the measurement and certification of lap time on the Nordschleife. For the announcement of production car lap times, submission of an official announcement, accompanied by an on-board video with telemetry, and a mention of the tires used have become customary.

Timing by media

The German magazine sport auto publishes its "Supertest" of cars, in which the lap time (usually driven by editor-in-chief Horst von Saurma) at the Nordschleife is the most discussed result. The magazine also runs a challenge for the fastest lap time driven with a car that is road legal (TÜV) and registered in Germany. The road legality rule also applies for the tires.

British motorcycle magazine Performance Bikes Magazine began testing their bikes in a regular feature at the Nordschleife in March 2007 and finished in December 2007. Bikes were tested by Dale Lomas and a character named only as The Baron. As with sport auto, all machines tested are road-legal (MOT) and shod with road-legal Bridgestone BT002 Pro Race tyres. To date there are 28 lap times published in the regular feature. As motorcycles are forbidden to participate in industry pool sessions and after-hours test sessions, Performance Bikes were forced to test during quiet mid-week tourist sessions, where speed limits apply in some sections. This means their lap times are measured from bridge to gantry (see below) and are approximately 22 seconds shorter than a full 20.832 km (12.944 mi) Nordschleife lap.

Nordschleife runs are conducted or observed by various other media outlets, such as British Evo Magazine or Germany's Auto Bild.

Timing by manufacturers

Manufacturers, especially those of supercars, conduct their own timing runs and publish these for varying purposes. Manufacturers also lend support to private entities or media outlets.

Timing by private drivers

Some lap times are even claimed to have been done during tourist driving sessions. It is forbidden to race on tourist days. Additionally, there are two speed limits (one in Breidscheid, and one on "Döttinger Höhe") on tourist days.

Controversies

Nordschleife runs are not without sometimes prominent critics. The TV Series Top Gear used the Nordschleife for their challenges, often involving Sabine Schmitz. Top Gear's James May, however, was very critical of the influence of Nordschleife lap timing, saying that it "corrupts performance when it is used by car makers to develop new models. Testing prototype cars on a circuit is nothing new, obviously: it's probably been going on since someone drove a horseless carriage onto a disused donkey derby track. But the 'Ring, through being communal and open to all, encourages a pointless scrabble for comparative lap times that isn't helping you or me." According to Popular Science, "beating the 'ring, and making a YouTube video to prove it, is about the best marketing move a sports car company can make, even one that plans to roll only a double-digits'-worth of cars out of its production facility."

Automakers have their own views and definitions. According to Porsche, the Porsche 918 Spyder did set a "Nurburgring record for a street-legal automobile", while the car landed on place 3 on this list. This "record" was widely reported by the media. The 918 set the time using a non-standard fixed roof with no upholstery and no roof light. It was allegedly fitted for safety reasons. Two months later, Nissan claimed, which was also widely reported in the media, a ring record for its Nissan GT-R as "world's fastest volume production car." The Nissan GT-R was fourth place on this list at the time.

Track lengths and timing

There are varying lap lengths. Therefore, not all of the lap times are comparable.

Full lap

A full lap of the Nordschleife, bypassing the modern GP track, is 20.832 km (12.944 mi) long. Most laps are completed 200 metres (656 ft) shorter for safety reasons. Full uninterrupted flying laps can only be done in closed sessions and race events like Castrol-Haugg-Cup.

Bridge to gantry

During tourist driving sessions, the full main straight cannot be driven at speed due to the exit/entrance. These laps are usually timed "bridge to gantry", which is only 19.1 km (11.9 mi). The lap goes from the "bridge" to the "gantry" (currently carrying Audi sponsorship.)

Production, street-legal vehicles

A production vehicle is defined as "one that is put into mass production, as a model produced in large numbers and offered for sale to the public." VCA, the United Kingdom's national approval authority for new road vehicles defines a production vehicle as "a vehicle of a make, model and type mass produced by the vehicle manufacturer." The Nürburgring is a public (toll-) road, and regulations of Germany and the EU apply. For the purpose of this list, a car is “street legal” if it comes with a manufacturer-provided certificate of conformity that allows the car to be registered in any country of the EU for road use. For the purpose of this list, existence of this certificate (either European Community Whole Vehicle Type Approval (ECWVTA) or European Community Small Series Type Approval (ECSSTA)) is understood as a demonstration of intent for some kind of mass production.

For new entries, this list requires an official manufacturer’s press release for manufacturer-conducted tests. If the test has been conducted by an independent publication, an article in that publication is required. New entries require an original, uncut on-board video, showing the lap and the timing from start to finish. A statement that OEM tires have been used is required.

Competition

General Note: International motorsport sanctioning bodies used the 20.832 km Nordschleife variant in 1983 only.

F1 testing

During the unofficial practice for the 1974 F1 Grand Prix, Niki Lauda drove a lap of 6:58,2 in his Ferrari 312B3. This is the alltime-fastest lap on the classic Nürburgring before the rebuild, even faster than his 1975 qualifying time (6:58,6).

On 28 April 2007, Nick Heidfeld drove a BMW Sauber F1.06 Formula One car around the Nordschleife, on a BMW publicity day in combination with a VLN 4h endurance race. For safety reasons, BMW announced that the car was slowed with hard demonstration tires, maximum ride height, and 275 km/h top speed limited by the transmission. Heidfeld drove three laps on the combined Nordschleife and short GP-track, as used in VLN races, with a track length of 24.433 km (so comparison with older records is difficult).

The official lap time released by BMW Sauber was declared to be 8:34 (thus ca. 30 seconds slower than the fastest Porsche 996 turbo in VLN). The German press duly reported this lap time, yet criticized BMW. In each lap, Heidfeld slowed down once to pose for a slow video truck, at Schwedenkreuz on the first lap 1, Kesselchen in lap 2, and Döttinger Höhe in the last lap. The two time spans in between the three passes of Heidfeld were clocked by some fans around the track, first Wehrseifen to Wehrseifen in about 7:28, then 7:22 from Klostertal to Klostertal, which is over 50 seconds quicker than the fastest current Porsche 997 GT3 RSR in VLN. This translates to an average of about 200 km/h (120 mph), similar to Bellof's record, but considering the slow GP section, Heidfeld probably was faster on the Nordschleife, close to 6 minutes. Fans who respect the official record of the late Stefan Bellof settle for an "estimated 6:12".

Road & Track magazine reported Heidfeld's lap was a 5:57 or 5:58 (for the Nordschleife only), breaking the track's six-minute barrier for the first time in history. However, their times were done by measuring the speed in some corners, and then calculating a lap time, and not timing a full lap. Heidfeld has since expressed his desire to repeat the experience with less restriction.

According to formula one F1 Racing magazine of June 2006, BMW engineers had estimated that a BMW-Sauber F1.06 could lap in under 5:15.8 which equals to an average of 237 km/h (147 mph).