Modern racecars may look and perform like nothing from the past century, being faster and stronger than ever, but some track records just don’t go easily. Take German racing pilot Stefan Bellof, who concluded the world’s most dangerous circuit – Nürburgring’s Nordschleife – in unbelievable 6 minutes 11.13 seconds some 35 years ago. Apparently, Porsche wants to finally challenge and beat this and many other famous records.
The company first came across this idea in 2017, when its endurance racing team entered a tournament to emerge victorious. The joy over the victory quickly made room for the ambition to achieve the same on other famous racetracks all around the world.
The Porsche team started off by building a new racing vehicle based on the latest Porsche 919 Hybrid Evo. They supercharged the engine of the car by 300 hp / 225 kW to a total of 1,200 hp / 900 kW, reduced its weight and designed a new aerodynamic body kit.
The refreshed vehicle is currently going through its final testing phases. Timo Bernhard, winner of the 24 Hours Le Mans, attempted a training run on the Nordschleife a few days ago, completing it in 6 minutes 20 seconds. Porsche blamed the result on poor weather conditions. Its experts said a Porsche 919 Hybrid Evo could do the lap in 5:09 while it is extremely hot outdoors, or in 4:51 when it is relatively cool.
The training will doubtlessly continue, and the engineers may still make further modifications to the vehicle whenever they see fit. Once the company sets a new record at Nürburgring, it will proceed to the Laguna Seca and Goodwood tracks.
Photo: motor1.com