What’s even more mind boggling than that headline is that he had a passenger, and he wasn’t even trying that hard.
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In fact, he slows down several times (for reasons as yet unknown) and even has time to high-five the lucky guy on the terror-seat!
You’ll just have to pick up your jaw from off of that floor and check out the video further down the page. It’s worth it.
UPDATED: The video is now available on both on YouTube and Facebook. Previously it was only on Augusto’s official fan page and the Nürburgring official Facebook page.
Augusto was driving a specially prepared version of his DTM machine with a passenger seat and “was adjusted for the specific conditions of the Nordschleife”
This was all in aid of a Shell Helix oil promotion, in case you’re wondering. Pretty amazing prize, I think you’ll agree.
If you’ve watched the video, you’ll no doubt have some of your own thoughts on the fast and slow sections of the track. But don’t forget that Farfus isn’t just a superstar DTM driver, he won the N24 back in 2010 in the epic V8-powered M3 GT2 machine. Even in 2015 he took N24 pole in the Marc VDS Z4.
Laptime
What laptime could a modern DTM car do on the Nordschleife? They’re 1110kg with a driver, remember, and 480hp with the air restrictors in place. That’s pretty light and it enjoys epic levels of 2016 tyre and suspension development.
But could it beat the 6m11.13s set by Bellof back in 1983? The Porsche 956 had proper downforce, and anything from 700 to 900 horsepower in qualifying trim.
Well this 6m15s was probably more like 6m35s to 6m40s full Nordschleife. But I count around 10-15 seconds lost for various slowdowns, and an average 75kg passenger is going to cost at least 7.5 seconds too. So, erm, yes, I think it’s “on”.
But it would only be a real RACING lap record if they raced DTM on the Nordschleife. Do it.
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EXTRA PHOTOG STUFF
Of course something as juicy as a BMW DTM car lapping the Nordschleife didn’t escape my attention, and I posted a couple of “happy snaps” on instagram to celebrate the occasion…
But instagram is really just masking the fact that I waited several hours on track and only actually saw the car ONE time… and that one pass, I totally fluffed the photos…
It’s a tricky place to take photos on a short lens, because it’s a very fast pan with a short reaction time. In hindsight, I should have gone for something easier.
