Chasing laptimes is a disease. An infection that regular Nürburgring visitors know about all too well. Fellow ring-resident, instructor (destructor) and VLN regular Gabriele has the illness. Reality and common-sense has left the building, and he’s taken his life in his own hands to bring you this lap.
Stickers, Ts, Hoodies...
And I salute him!
The video below isn’t just a fully-committed lap worthy of these pages, it’s also a rather hilarious insight into the disparity between the real world, and YouTube Comments Land.
Enjoy!
I’ll be the first to say it, the boy’s got skills (9m08s around the VLN course in an M235i Cup car, for those that know what that means). I could only bring my own NA MX-5 only down to 8m43s with the much revvier and superior 115hp motor and some hilarious Nangkangs nearly 10 years ago. Unfortunately that video got taken down in the great Google Video cull, so you’ll have to take my word for it. You know, when I say that I’m slower in a more powerful car…
Anyway. One of the points that Gab makes in the video and its description is that the RingBanana is the fastest car for €3000. That bit I can completely argue with… as my old E36 328i project got down to 8m20s with the lightest of modifications and far less than €3k.
But then, Diminishing Returns happened and the next 16 seconds swallowed more thousands of €€€s than I care to admit in public. And that’s something that Gabriele touches on too. Sure, he could take the Ring Banana sub-8. But the 200hp and killer chassis he needs won’t come for free. Again a parallel with my own experiences, but my own MX-5 turbo swallowed some serious amounts of cash (over a couple of thousand) and countless hours of my own time and my friends’.
But it’s possible:
So yes, it’s dumb and stupid to chase laptimes. You take your life in your own hands and have ZERO common-sense.
But I understand, and I think the other BTG readers do too.
Right time, right place. That’s not 1pm on a Sunday TF session, if you’re wondering.
