The Porsche 919 Is At The 'Ring And May Be Gunning For Bellof's Lap

Porsche has been testing its 919 Evo at the Nordschleife, so is the outright record about to be smashed?

05 Jun 2018

Well, @Timo_Bernhard loves that track @nuerburgring #Nordschleife.

Perhaps he comes again 🤔😬😀#919tribute Evo pic.twitter.com/Ve7o5Xzfwi
— Porsche LMP1 Team (@Porsche_Team) June 4, 2018

We couldn’t help but be a little disappointed when the Porsche 919 Evo’s trip to the Nurburgring turned out to be nothing more than a photocall with the legendary 956 C. Sure, the pictures were awesome, but we all want to see this monster go around the Nordschleife at full chat, don’t we?

However, the former LMP1 racing car - now free from the shackles of WEC regulations to annihilate track records worldwide - is back at the Green Hell, and as you can see from the footage below, it’s going rather a lot quicker.

Porsche 919 Hybrid Evo Hatzenbach 😍😎😍
Posted by Ring Allstars on Monday, June 4, 2018

This surely means that Porsche wants to have a pop at the outright Nurburgring lap record, a 6:11.13 set by the late Stefan Bellof in a 956 C way back in 1983. Yep, a Group C car from 35 years ago with just over 600bhp. The 919 Evo on the other hand makes over 1200bhp - nearly 250 more than it did in LMP1 spec, and its new aero package gives a 53 per cent increase in downforce.

With that in mind, we can see the 919 eclipsing the Bellof lap, and also dipping well below the six minute mark.

Just imagine how the onboard footage will look!

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

Porsche is going to beat its Nordschleife record. 100%
Koenigsegg: hold my Vodka

Koenigsegg seem to drink that vodka and disappear after they crash

I bet Koenigsegg will need to use the Regera or the One:1 heavily modified to a terrifying degree to make breaking Porsches 919 Hybrid Evo’s time….I feel they may have to call in a man without fear, or concept of failure….THE STIG!

Koenigsegg Regera Extra Bonkers edition racecar. WHOS WITH ME

Just as an aside, even though a Toyota Corolla isn’t meant for any kind of fun, at all, I’d love to see what time it could post at the ‘Ring.

Someone did a lap ina Ford Transit in just over 10 minutes. With the right driver a lot is possible

Under 6 minutes should be no problem. A BMW F1 car from 2007(?) drove the Nordschliefe for a press event. It never did a full hot-lap because it slowed down for photos and stuff, but it you strung its fastest sectors together, it would have done a 5:15. The 2017 F1 cars are considerably faster than the cars from that era, and the 919 Evo is quicker than the 2017 cars around Spa. The question is how hard the driver is willing to push.

The main reason the record still stands is because people are too scared of pushing these bonkers cars to the limits. It’s hard to find someone who will.