7 Seriously Fast Cars The New Porsche Panamera Turbo Just Beat Around The Nurburgring
Seven minutes, and 38 seconds. That’s how fast the new Porsche Panamera Turbo - a luxury-festooned car which probably weighs the best part of two tonnes - lapped the Nurburgring Nordschleife. As with any new willy waving ‘Ring time, as soon as we heard it, we were thinking of other laps to put the porky Porsche’s lap in context. And it turns out the Panamera Turbo has claimed some impressive scalps.
Now, there are a couple of caveats to bear in mind before we go any further. Firstly, not all of these lap times are full-on manufacturer efforts, as is the case with the Porsche. Many are from magazines like Sport Auto, and while experienced drivers are used, they simply don’t have the budget and resources of manufacturers who will happily spend some time at the ‘Ring with a massive team of people sending a car round again and again.
The second caveat is tyres: some of these laps aren’t quite as recent as others, so if a few of the cars were to run again on modern, more advanced rubber, they might well clock faster times. Even bearing that in mind though, the Panamera’s time is an impressive one. Let’s take a look at a few of the cars it’s ‘beaten’…
Lamborghini Murcielago SV - 7min 42sec
Yep, a four-wheel drive, V12 Italian supercar from not that long ago is slower than a big four-door saloon. Exciting times…
Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 - 7min 41.27sec
Mercedes SLS AMG - 7min 40sec
Porsche 911 GT3 (997) - 7min 40sec
One of the most important ‘scalps’ on the list is another Porsche: the previous-generation GT3, a car intended for the track, not wafting around in comfort.
Porsche 911 Turbo (997) - 7min 39sec
The Panamera pipping the 997 Turbo is arguably even more impressive than the GT3, since this was a proper manufacturer-backed effort. And don’t forget, we’re talking about a 473bhp supercar that’s significantly lighter than the Panamera. And speaking of lighter supercars…
Ferrari F430 Scuderia - 7min 39sec
Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio - 7min 39sec
This is arguably the most important time here that the Panamera beat, as by besting the lighter, not far off as powerful Alfa Giulia Quadrifoglio, the Porsche can be given the unofficial title of ‘fastest luxury saloon at the Nurburgring’.
Growing up on a diet of World Rally Championship highlights and lengthy Gran Turismo 2 sessions, a life in cars was as good as inevitable for Matt.
Comments
Guys I’m surprised that no one still hasn’t said that this article is useless , the ring’s speed limits have been lifted recently and they changed it in the last years for safety reasons , it’s expected to be around 12 sec faster now .
Alfa said that after the lift they wanted to do a new record and expected at least 8 sec less for just the speed limit removal alone.
Car makers are going to love this because they can brag about a “24 sec faster car” and disinformed car lover will believe it.
Checking the comments here, but no one really care about fake lights. It makes me feel this car got weight reduction before this lap. Or these fake lights are some kind forced by rules of nurburgring?
It was a development car, this was probably clocked before the official release.
Its just one second away from Guilia! :O
Tires? They make all the difference.
Are you serious? It’s F430 or 430 Scuderia. Not F430 Scuderia :’)
The BMW M4 GTS is still faster, thank god! These indicators removals really make a great difference
Keep in mind that the M4 GTS’s lap time was set when the ‘Ring still had speed limits. It might have gone 10+ seconds faster without them. BMW should have another go.
I really hate when you compare a car from so lomg the lambo i am talking about launched in 2005 i mean its 11 years plus the mentioned fact of the tires i am sure porsche has stickeir tires i dont say porsche isnt good but comparing cars old from a decade is kinda well stupid
I agree
The times that are conducted by Sport Auto are practically worthless for comparision with a manufacturer’s time. Horst von Saurma is an old man now. The times are taken in three laps: 2 practice laps and one timed lap, while the manufacturers usually spend months on the track to find the perfect setup and shed off the last few tenths.
I was actually more surprised by how quick the new alfa as holy balls !!
that is really impressive