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’.