The Porsche 919 Hybrid Evo has been spotted chasing another lap record, this time on the fearsome Nurburgring Nordschleife.
Videos posted by fans on social media show Porsche has run its upgraded ex-LMP1 car, which has already beaten F1’s track record for Spa-Francorchamps, around the 20-plus kilometre circuit.
Porsche set the lap record on the original lap record when the World Endurance Championship last visited the track 35 years ago. Stefan Bellof lapped the track in 6’11.13 at the wheel of a Porsche 956.
Porsche recently used the two cars for demonstration laps at the track (pictured).
https://www.instagram.com/p/BjnS74nHqCP/
Pictures: Porsche 919 Hybrid Evo and Porsche 956 at Nurburgring Nordschleife
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Mark in Florida
5th June 2018, 0:46
Dang that thing is moving, Porsche there is no substitute. Maybe Formula 1 should use cell phone cameras it would make the cars at least seem faster. The world feed is consistently bad race to race it gives no impression of speed at all. Indy does a good job overall with their camera angles.
DavidDesu
5th June 2018, 2:14
Yeah it’s weird but I think the reason is simply because the camera people and their equipment are just too good and too honed into following the cars so perfectly that their effortlessness rubs off on how the cars look as they go round the track. Also the sound is too professionally mixed with everything kept within set broadcast limitations, so you never hear the ferocity of the cars properly. The highs are dulled and it all sounds rather flat. It would be interesting to see the race covered using more amateur tech (but still high quality, like a decent DSLR 4K camera) but used handheld by perhaps more ordinary people. Gives us full lap coverage like that and the sport would immediately feel far more exciting, it probably a little incoherent to follow. I’d love them to experiment.
Damon (@damon)
5th June 2018, 10:04
What helps letting the speed show thorugh are elevation changes and the sorroundings! Most F1 tracks are painfuly flat and cars drive through open and empty spaces giving you no reference as to their speed.
You sure can see speed at the Nordschleife, At Brands Hatch at Monza straight in the forrest etc.
Hey, best example – RALLYING. They are doing 180km/h and it looks like the craziest speed ever.
Nico
5th June 2018, 14:01
Majority of F1 camera angles are just set-up to show off track sponsors first then the cars…
Usually something like – static camera showing sponsors on trackside signs, car comes into view, camera follows car for a while then settles on the next set of trackside signs, and repeat.
More static cams that don’t follow the cars would help with the sense of speed.
mfreire
5th June 2018, 2:06
Wow. Would like to see a full lap…
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
5th June 2018, 2:15
flipping heck that’s fast!
Osella-AlfaRomeo (@osella-alfaromeo)
5th June 2018, 6:09
Sad marketing show. That car was developed for Le Mans and that’s were it should be, this week.
GeeMac (@geemac)
5th June 2018, 8:44
Well, that car is a development of a car which was developed for Le Mans…but your point stands nonetheless.
Ex F1 fan
5th June 2018, 13:54
The really sad marketing show is Le Mans itself now. Constant interference with the rules, whinging from privateers that they can’t compete, limited chassis builders and no development without using your joker in LMP2, half the teams running have no prayer of even being close at the end but somehow we are supposed to bow to the ACO and their cash grab of adding more and more cars every year?
Good for Porsche for telling the FIA/ACO to stuff it and leaving. They built an insane car to do exactly what the ACO wanted, faster with less fuel than ever before. And the response was we need more teams so we’re slowing you down to let the non-hybrid cars compete.
ajpennypacker (@ajpennypacker)
5th June 2018, 16:55
@osella-alfaromeo @geemac Why the hell did they leave WEC again? Are they even participating in any serious racing category anymore?
anon
5th June 2018, 22:47
@ajpennypacker, to be more accurate, Porsche has withdrawn from the LMP1 category in the WEC – they still have a works GTE Pro entry in the WEC (and, with regards to their wider activities, they are also fielding a works GT team in the IMSA’s SportsCar Championship in the US).
As for why they left, ultimately that is a decision that is being motivated by the wider challenges the VW Group has faced. Costs have rocketed – with the heavy spending between the Audi and Porsche entries being the main cause of the imbalance (Toyota have always operated on a much smaller budget, which is part of the reason why they’re still around) – whilst the public profile of the WEC is pretty small, to the point where the publicity benefits to the VW Group just weren’t worth the cost of competing.
The “dieselgate” affair, and the increasing crackdown on diesel vehicles, made the situation worse – whereas once the VW Group wanted to trumpet their achievements with diesel hybrids, Audi’s LMP1 programme was suddenly completely out of sync with the new image that the VW Group wants to project, which is shifting towards electrification.
That is why they shifted Audi into Formula E, and Porsche is now following as the VW Group wants Porsche to act as a halo brand for their electrification efforts: it also fits nicely with Porsche’s long term plans to launch electric cars such as the Mission E. Porsche are moving aggressively in that direction as they are already hitting a few problems with tightening emissions standards – they’re currently temporarily restricting the sales of some of their cars across Europe because they are struggling to meet the new Euro 6 emissions regulations. https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-volkswagen-emissions-porsche/porsche-denies-has-halted-sale-of-new-vehicles-in-europe-idUKKCN1IX4KA
Mick
5th June 2018, 18:19
Haha your just buthurt.
Stephen Crowsen (@drycrust)
5th June 2018, 8:30
After the season has ended, and assuming no one’s going to object if a “non-standard” F1 car (i.e. one that hasn’t been checked by the scrutineers) does a bit of testing, then maybe, we’ll see an “F1” car on this track too.
Gabriel (@rethla)
5th June 2018, 11:02
It has already been done but they didnt complete any timed laps.
Ex F1 fan
5th June 2018, 13:57
Does an F1 car have the clearance or adjust-ability to run on the Nordschliefe? Seems like the few demo runs I’ve seen the teams have said they had to raise the car to maximum height and couldn’t do Karusell having to run outside line through the corner. But that was years ago and honestly haven’t kept up with that stuff lately
socksolid (@socksolid)
5th June 2018, 14:36
I don’t think that kind of thing is allowed by f1 regulations. If it was you could have stroll driving a special williams which exceeds one rule by 1 millimeter which makes it “non-standard”. Essentially doing free testing. I think wec has similar rules but porsche is not racing anymore so they can do whatever they want.
F1 does allow old cars to be used but I think the newest car that can be used for testing is a 2014 car or 2015 car. I don’t remember if the limit was 3 or 2 years before old cars could be used for testing and track driving in non-championship events. And all the hybrids before 2017 were pretty slow so would require extensive modifications just to reach 2017-18 lap times.
Gabriel (@rethla)
6th June 2018, 2:24
@socksolid
I dont think they would require extensive modifications to do one lap faster than the lap record or this Porsche.
Free use of DRS and enginemapping should be enough to get sub 5:30 without breaking a sweat behind the wheel.
Diogo Silva
5th June 2018, 17:17
Let’s see if they disclose the time and the full lap onboard (that would be massive, judging by this Pflanzgarten video)