Nürburgring Nordschleife Lap Record Smashed - 28th September 2005

One the world’s most prestigious production car records was obliterated yesterday (28/9/05) by Michael Vergers in Radical’s extraordinary SR8. In road legal trim and riding on Dunlop Direnza tyres he lapped the infamous 13-mile Nordschleife circuit in just 6 minutes 55 seconds, knocking a massive 20 seconds off the previous best!

Radical have held the record before when Phil Bennett scorched around the loop in a Radical SR3 Turbo back in 2003, but such is the importance of the record, it soon came under attack from Europe’s biggest manufacturers and engine tuners. However none have got close the magic seven minute barrier. Until now, that is.

A suitably delighted Michael Vergers exclaimed that he still felt there was more to come. “We didn’t have a great deal of time to set the car up for the run and due to the weather closing, in I only really had one crack at it,” he said. “Even on that lap I had to drive around the outside of a Mercedes coming onto the main straight, so there’s plenty more to come. The car is awesome, carrying unbelievable speed through the high speed turns - if we had fitted slick tyres we could knocked more than 30 seconds off this time.”

The Radical SR8 is powered by a 2.6-litre high-revving V8 engine, built in-house by Powertec, developing 360bhp. It generates enough downforce to be able to theoretically drive upside down and holds the outright lap record at Cadwell Park (the UK’s mini-Nurburgring) and has been winning sportscar races around the world since the launch in January this year. For 2006, the SR8 will be the star of the all-new 'Great & British' Motorsport Festivals, visiting all the best UK circuits.

The Nordschleife is like no track on earth; 73 corners (many of them blind and all lined with unyielding Armco) mixed with massive elevation changes, bumps, jumps, compressions and flat out blasts as the 12.9 mile ribbon of tarmac winds its way up and down the forested Eifel valleys. It is the circuit described by Jackie Stewart as ‘the ultimate driver challenge’ and nicknamed ‘The Green Hell’

By way of comparison, Clay Regazoni posted the fastest ever Formula One race lap in the 1975 Grand Prix at 7 minutes 5 seconds, a £323,000 Porsche Carrera GT has lapped in 7 minutes 32 seconds and a Caterham R500 in 7 minutes 56 seconds.

The on-board footage of this amazing lap can be downloaded from www.radicalsportscars.com where more information can be found on the SR8 and the rest of the Radical range.

Circuit stats
Length: 20.8km
Corners: 33 left-handers, 40 right-handers
Steepest climb: 17%
Steepest drop: 11%
Highest point: 620m above sea level (start/finish straight)
Lowest point: 320m asl (Breidscheid)

Race lap records over the years
1927 Christian Werner 15:51.6
1932 Tazio Nuvolari 10:49.4
1936 Bernd Rosemeyer 9:56.6
1958 Stirling Moss 9:09.2
1969 Jacky Ickx 7:43.8
1975 Clay Regazzoni 7:06.4