Nürburgring Lap Times: These Are The Fastest Cars In 2021

Over the last 20 years Nürburgring lap times have become as important a marketing tool for automakers as a neck-snapping 0-60 mph figure or continent crushing top speed.

Nürburgring Nordshleife laptimes, that is. The Nordschleife is the original 1930s toll road that became too dangerous for the F1 crowd, who decamped to the modern Nürburgring GP circuit next door in 1984.

But the old circuit lives on. It still hosts the annual Nürburgring 24 Hour race (whose course blends the old and new tracks), it’s still open to tourist traffic and crazy taxi rides, and it’s where the car industry comes to test and develop its latest cars.

Take A Look: Nurburgring Live Webcams And 360º Panorama 2021

Beyond the outright production car record, carmakers often claim class records for EVs, SUVs and front-wheel drive cars, but that information isn’t always easy to find in one place so we’ve created this post as a one-stop place to view ‘Ring times. We’ll revisit and update it as and when a new champ appears.

Why Are There Two And Sometimes Three Different Lap Times?

A quick note about the lap times. You’ll find three different types of figures floating around on the web. Bridge-to-Gantry times are usually set on public Touristenfahrten days, because Joe Shmoe have-a-go heroes aren’t allowed to run complete laps.

The other, more credible kind of lap time, the 20.6 km (12.8 miles) record published by most manufacturers from the 1990s onwards and Germany’s Sport Auto magazine, isn’t technically a complete lap either, because it starts at the end of, and finishes at the start of, the old pit straight.

But starting in 2019, the company behind the Nürburgring added a true 20.832 km (12.94 miles) lap record, which caused some confusion because cars claiming new records wrongly appear at first glance to be slower than the cars they’re supposed to have beaten. We’ve published both, where available, to minimize mix-ups, and clicking on a hyperlink in any of the tables will take you to the original Carscoops story (usually with video) of each car’s original record. We’ve used the most credible official sources we can find for the numbers, but let us know if you think we’ve made any mistakes.

Production Cars

When Porsche’s 918 Spyder hypercar broke the 7-minute barrier in 2013 it almost seemed like alchemy. But just eight years later Porsche has taken almost 20 seconds out of that time with a far less expensive machine, albeit one fitted with a Manthey-Racing performance kit available through your Porsche dealer. Slightly more tenuous are the two times set by Radical in 2005 and 2009 using a thinly disguised racing car that was just about legal in the UK, but not legal most anywhere else.

Rank
Vehicle
20.6km
20.8km

1.
2019 Porsche 911 GT2 RS Manthey-Racing
6:38.84
6:43.30

2.
2020 Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series
6:43.62
6:48.05

3.
2018 Lamborghini Aventador SVJ
6:44.97
N.A.

4.
2017 Porsche 911 GT2 RS
6:47.25
N.A.

5.
2009 Radical SR8 LM
6:48.28
N.A.

6.
2017 Lamborghini Huracan Performante
6:52.01
N.A.

7.
2005 Radical SR8
6:55.00
N.A.

8.
2021 Porsche 911 GT3
6:55.10
N.A.

9.
2018 Porsche 911 GT3 RS
6:56.40
N.A.

10.
2013 Porsche 918 Spyder
6:57.00
N.A.

 

Overall Lap Record

The late Stefan Bellof’s staggering 6:11.13 lap set in a Porsche 956 endurance racer during qualifying for the 1983 Nurburgring 1000 Km race was so outrageously rapid, it remained unbroken for 35 years. But in 2018 Porsche used its spiritual successor, the hybrid-powered 919, to go almost a minute faster. Hovering just above the 6-minute mark is VW’s ID.R electric racer, while the Manthey-kitted 911 GT2 RS that tops the production car table comes in fifth in this overall list, an outstanding achievement for a fully street-legal car you can order from any Porsche dealer.

Rank
Vehicle
20.6km
20.8km

1.
Porsche 919 Evo Le Mans
N.A.
5:19.55

2.
Volkswagen ID.R
N.A.
6:05.34

3.
Porsche 956
N.A.
6:11.13

4.
March Engineering 832-BMW
N.A.
6:28.03

5.
Porsche 911 GT2 RS Manthey (OEM-spec)
6:38.84
6:43.30

6.
Porsche 911 GT2 RS Manthey (aftermarket-spec)
6:40.33
6:44.75

7.
NIO EP9
N.A.
6:45.90

8.
Pagani Zonda R
N.A.
6.47.50

9.
McLaren P1 XP1 LM
6:43.22
N.A.

10.
2020 Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series
6:43.62
6:48.05

 

Sedans

Jaguar’s hardcore XE-based Project 8 went off sale almost two years ago but it’s still the car to beat. There was some grumbling that its 300-unit run and the deletion of the back seats for the timed lap should void its inclusion in the record books, but you can’t argue with the colossal 5-second gap to the number two Mercedes-AMG GT63 S. BMW hasn’t released an official time for the M5 CS, but Sport Auto magazine’s efforts prove that Munich’s most powerful production sedan ever has some catching up to do.

Rank
Vehicle
20.6km
20.8km

1.
2019 Jaguar XE SV Project 8
7:18.36
7:23.16

2.
2021 Mercedes-AMG GT 63 S 4Matic+
7:23.01
7:27.80

3.
2020 Porsche Panamera Turbo S
7:25.04
7:29.81

4.
2018 Mercedes-AMG GT 63 S 4Matic+
7:25.41
7:30.11

5.
2022 BMW M5 CS
7:29.57
N.A.

 

SUV & Crossovers

If the idea of timing an SUV around a race track sounds absurd, you obviously haven’t driven the latest crop of super-SUVs. Despite their height and weight penalties, these high-rise muscle machines are almost as quick as the fastest sedans and can even shame a few sports cars. It’s interesting to note that while crowing about its supercar’s achievements at the ‘Ring, Lambo hasn’t revealed how quickly its Urus completes a lap. But given its Porsche Cayenne Turbo GT and Audi RS Q8 sister cars dominate the leaderboard, you might presume it’s not slow.

Rank
Vehicle
20.6km
20.8km

1.
2021 Porsche Cayenne Turbo GT
7:33.95
7:38.93

2.
2020 Audi RS Q8
N.A.
7:42.25

3.
2019 AMG GLC 63 S 4Matic+
7:49.37
7:54.40

4.
2018 Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio
7:51.70
N.A.

5.
2016 Porsche Cayenne Turbo
7:59.70
N.A.

 

FWD Cars

Renault’s hot hatches have been at, or near, the top of the front-wheel drive record table for over a decade, and the Megane has been trading places with Honda’s Civic Type R for five of those years. Volkswagen’s also-two-seater Mk7 Golf GTI Clubsport R briefly held the record in 2016, but the company claims it’s not planning a track-ready version of the Mk8 GTI.

Rank
Vehicle
20.6km
20.8km

1.
2019 Renault Megane RS Trophy-R
7:40.10
7:45.39

2.
2018 Honda Civic Type R
7:43.80
N.A.

3.
2016 VW Golf GTI Clubsport S
7:47.19
N.A.

4.
2016 Honda Civic Type R
7:50.63
N.A.

5.
2014 Renault Megane RS 275 Trophy-R
7:54.36
N.A.

 

Compact Cars

When the Nürburgring 1927 GmbH &Co. KG established the concept of a full lap record a couple of years ago, it also established a class for compact cars. Most of the speediest compacts sold in Europe (where Nürburgring records are more relevant for marketing purposes) are front-wheel drive hot hatches, so they also appear on our FWD list. But Audi’s new all-wheel drive RS 3 Quattro sedan is quickest of all.

Rank
Vehicle
20.6km
20.8km

1.
2022 Audi RS 3
N.A.
7:40.75

2.
2019 Renault Megane RS Trophy-R
7:40.10
7:45.39

3.
2017 Honda Civic Type R
7:43.80
N.A.

4.
2016 VW Golf GTI Clubsport S
7:47.19
N.A.

5.
2021 Mercedes-AMG A45 S
 7:48.80
N.A.

 

Electric Cars

The league table for electric cars is pretty short right now, and includes just one current road car in the top five. But with new EVs being released almost every week, and electric supercars like the Rimac Nevera and Lotus Evija ready to take a shot at a record, you can bet it’ll soon fill up. Just a couple of weeks ago, Tesla set a new record for production EVs with the Model S Plaid. It beat Porsche’s Taycan time, but that was recorded in a regular Turbo, and the Turbo S has an additional 80 hp. It’ll be interesting to see how (and when) Porsche responds.

Rank
Vehicle
20.6km
20.8km

1.
Volkswagen ID.R
N.A.
6:05.34

2.
NIO EP9
N.A.
6:45.90

3.
Tesla Model S Plaid
7:30.91
7:35.58

4.
Porsche Taycan Turbo
7:42.34
N.A.

5.
Toyota TMG EV P002
N.A.
7:22.33

6.
Mercedes SLS AMG Electric Drive
N.A.
7:56.23

Article Source and Credit carscoops.com https://www.carscoops.com/2021/09/nurburgring-lap-times-these-are-the-fastest-cars-of-2021/ Buy Tickets for every event – Sports, Concerts, Festivals and more buytickets.com