The work of a spy photographer used to be impossible to understand. However, as more and more people came to the Nurburgring, we began to understand that it's a game of watching and waiting.
Every week or so, my Youtube subscription feed starts to show videos that have the word "erlkönig" in the title, which is a common German name for the prototype of a new car.
This is also an erlkönig video, but I haven't seen anything like it before. We knew that all the major automakers lease the track together to lessen the financial burden. None of them want reckless rookie drivers on the circuit while they are out with their expensive prototypes.
However, it's unusual to see everything together in one place. There are so many cars that we can't even identify all of them, even though we look at spy photos all day. Is that an E-Class wagon? Why is there a facelift for the C63 AMG sedan? These were just some of the questions that arose while checking out the 5-minute clip.
We mentioned the MINI Countryman in the title because there's something weird about that test prototype. That's probably the JCW prototype, but it's not going that fast. Neither is the Clubman one, which suggests they aren't getting 300 horsepower engines. This could mean the larger MINI models are going to receive the same 231 PS unit found in the regular hardtop or a slightly tuned version of around 250 PS.
All the footage was captured on the 15th of June, so the Porsche Panamera and Mercedes-AMG GT R are still wearing camouflage. You can see the Panamera letting the tail slide slightly while still going for a good racing line. Can it get away from the 911?
In any case, prototypes from Mercedes, Audis, Mercs, BMWs and even the Bugatti Chiron are getting along on the most complex circuit out there. In a way, the Nurburgring is like Switzerland for cars.
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
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