Imagine if there was a lap-record attempt at the Nürburgring by Lamborghini without controversy? Can you? I can’t! The truth is that every single manufacturer pushes the limits when trying to set a fastest laptime of the Nordschleife, but it’s just the hapless Bolognese that seem to be caught more than the others.
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Yesterday night the Nürburgring offered the 2-hour “Performance Drives” session, which is a short session held directly after the industrie-pool session finishes. For this session the cars all started surrounded by thunderstorms, from the touristenfahrten carpark. Amazingly the weather held for nearly two hours, and the new Huracan STO sounds absolutely MAGNIFICENT… watch the video below to listen to it yourself!
Now, I have to admit, the massive cans of “BENZINE SPECIALE NR” might have a perfectly innocent explanation. Maybe Lamborghini don’t want to take chances with the Total Excellium (RON98 octane rating) available from the official trackside pumps. Maybe the Aral Ultimate (RON102) is too far away (Adenau and Barweiler). Maybe the ED Tankstelle’s Super Plus (RON98) pump has too many photographers. I don’t know. But… I have a feeling that the contents of those cans are significantly more than €1,60 per litre. I kinda want to put some in the Yaris and see what happens…
UPDATE: The labels suggest that this fuel is PANTA NR, a 102-Octane racing fuel; “Specifically developed to produce maximum power for aspirated engines”. You can read more here. Obviously when there have been millions of Euros invested to get to this point, the moment when you (hopefully) prove the product of your labours, you don’t want to take any chances. But some might argue that bringing your own race fuel to a production-car lap record attempt doesn’t look great. Especially where 90% of other manufacturers just fill up at the pumps…
Unfortunately for Lamborghini, one of their cars sustained some underbody damage in the I-pool session just before the private session, and when both cars were on track, the rain arrived. Whether the first car got a laptime or not, I don’t know yet. Technically , even a lap time set in Peformance Drives* doesn’t actually count as a lap record though.
For the lap record, there’s an official (and expensive) notarised session scheduled for Friday afternoon. I might or might not be planning an MTB lap just to coincide with that.
Interestingly, the cars were both running Bridgestone’s latest Potenza – whereas I was expecting the uiquitous Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2R, or even the new-kid-on-the-block, the Goodyear Eagle F1 Supercar 3R. More on that topic as it comes!
In other news:
Bugatti were noticeable by their absence from the timed session, despite bringing a variety of Chiron-based cars to the I-pool sessions this week. Their apparent willingness to parade the cars in front of supercar spotters all week, while not actually going balls-out on a fast lap makes me wonder if we’ll ever see a Bugatti Nürburgring laptime attempt.
AMG brought the GTR Black Series to the timed sessions, no doubt trying to shave a few seconds off their last attempt. Remember; that lap was set in some cold, dark and damp conditions, so it’s quite possible that they can give Lamborghini even more work today.
Audi also brought a few cars too. But… well… it’s Audi, right?
*At least the name Industrie Pool is accurate, if somewhat utilitarian. But Performance Drives? Just call it “Timed I-pool” please!
