With more and more candidates to the sub-7 Nurburgring club, somebody who hasn't visited the infamous German track yet might imagine that blitzing the Green Hell in, say, under eight minutes is easily manageable. However, hitting such a mark is worthy of applause and requires quite a few assets, as the BMW M2 Competition example we have here demonstrates.
It goes without saying that one must be skilled in the art of linking the steering wheel to the pedals when attempting such a feat. Then there's the fact that one needs to spend plenty of laps before pushing a car to the limit on the collection of novice traps that are the Ring's bends.
And since timing one's lap is forbidden during tourist sessions (think: safety reasons), such shenanigans are best left for private events.
As for the said example, this involves a 7:12 lap for the Bridge To Gantry course, which skips the Nordschleife's main straight, a section that is included in the official lap times of various machines.
This lap was achieved by Alex Hardt, an aficioando who has racked up plenty of Nordschleife miles. As for his tool, we're looking at an M2 Competition that has been prepped for the Ring.
As we discussed in the past, the standard speco f the M2 Comp means the understeer safety net can get in the way while lapping the Nurburgring.
However, the machine we have here packs mods such as a KW Competition 3-Way adjustable suspension, while running on Michelin semi-slicks, among others.
The German sportscar, which tips the scales at 1,560 kg, has been pushed to around 520 ponies.
Oh, and here's the driver describes the experience: "With 37 degrees C air temperature it was the hottest day I've ever spent in a racecar on the Nordschleife. Hard conditions not only for the BMW M2 Competition, which performed quite well without any failures the whole day, but also for me as the driver. Nevertheless, we managed to put down a 7:12 min BTG with a bit of traffic. Looking forward to the next laps..."
In his quest to bring you the most impressive automotive creations, Andrei relies on learning as a superpower. There's quite a bit of room in the garage that is this aficionado's heart, so factory-condition classics and widebody contraptions with turbos poking through the hood can peacefully coexist. Full profile
Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?
Google News