What is the Nurburgring and where is it? Nurburgring Information
You might have heard about the Nurburgring but aren't too sure what it is. Most of us that have heard of the Nurburgring know that it's used a lot of times in determining which cars hold the fastest lap times there. The Nurburgring has coming a staple in automotive performance and is used as a benchmark to determine which cars have true all out performance of power, handling and braking, all the components that make up a true sports car.
The Nurburgring is a 13 mile race track in Germany that has been used from manufactures testing their cars, trying to break Nurburgring lap times of competitors, to enthusiasts bringing their own cars, or renting a car there, to test their limits of what a car can do on an ultimate race track. The Nurburgring has 73 turns that test your brakes, suspension and power, and has been described as one of the most demanding race tracks in the world. Nurburgring construction started in 1925 and was opened in 1927 and to this day is available to the public.
The Nurburgring used to be host to the German Grand Prix until 1976 when a crash ended it's use for this purpose. Today, it's still used by most of the manufactures to do testing of their sports cars, and in the event that the manufacture doesn't test their cars here, you can bet a lot of magazines and enthusiasts push cars to the limit here for them.
Being 13 miles long, the Nurburgring is a long race track, and the good thing is that you can bring a passanger along with you for the ride. There are many hotels and places to stay and eat near the track so many enthusiasts make a vacation out of a trip to the race track. If you fly out there to visit the famous Nurburgring, there are a few places that allow you to rent a car of your choice that you can beat up on the track. My suggestion would be to go there for the fun and experience of being on a famous race track instead of trying to break the world record. It is a very fast and dangerous track and many people have lost their lives on it.
Many people ask how the Nurburgring got it's name. It's pretty simple actually. The motorsports complex is built around a German village called Nurburg. Since it rings it, they called it the Nurburgring.
There are such races as the Nurburgring 24 which is 24 hours of straight Nurburgring racing that tests the limits of man and machine. It's very exciting but not for the faint of heart.
If you want to go and check this out for yourself, but aren't too confident in your driving abilities (it's ok to be a newbie), a BMW dealer offers what they call a "Ring Taxi" service where you can ride in a BMW M3 as a passanger with a professional race car driver. This will allow you to experience the Nurburgring much faster than you might by yourself.
Many manufactures claim to be the fastest, but the true test is to go out there and get an official lap time. Manufactures go back and forth, but as of the writing of this post, the fastest currently is the Dodge Viper SRT10 ACR. You can see a video of the record breaking run here:
The video is of a Dodge Viper SRT10 ACR running the lap in 7 minutes and 12 seconds. Usually manufactures give full disclosure as to what kind of tires they run, and also if the car is a production unit or a full race unit.
Hopefully this answers many of our readers questions on the Nurburgring and gives an idea of what this famous race track is all about.
Too Fast For the Street: Corvette vs Turbo Viper
1500 horsepower Corvette vs 1200 horsepower Dodge Viper... on the street? Without regard to human life, these two land rockets have two races and catch it on video. I mean c'mon... the Corvette even has a chute! These are serious street machines, and I'm surprised these guys decided to see which car was faster with a friendly street race. Check out the video:
In the first race, you can see the Corvette lay down two solid strips of rubber as the car tries to gain traction. It doesn't say, but I suspect this car is twin turbo. The Viper is twin turbo for sure, and has no shortness of speed, but can't quite outrun the Corvette. I really need to get myself a Corvette!
Model Maureen Chen drifts in Lancer Evolution X with Dai Yoshihara
In this video, Maureen Chen, a popular model, rides shotgun in a Lancer Evolution X driven by drifter Dai Yoshihara. When Dai asks Maureen what she drives, she says it's a BMW E92 (at first almost calling it a Mitsubishi) which she says she drives very slow. Check out the video:
Dai says he's having a hard time drifting the EVO X, which is no surprise, as it looks to be pretty stock, and with the AWD system in that car, it's not so easy to break it loose. I think they should have chosen something modified and rear wheel drive to give her a good "shocker".
Maureen says things like "OMG, it's fun, I like it", but her facial expressions show otherwise.
2013 Hyundai Genesis Coupe Parts and Performance
Hyundai has been on a roll lately, and their 2013 Genesis is no exception. For 2013, the Hyundai Genesis features a redesign to keep up on top of the latest style, especially with the soon to be released Scion FR-S challening the car for top spot. The new 3.8 liter V6 will create a reported 333 horsepower and 291 ft lbs of torque, a bit above the old numbers. The 6 speed manual doesn't look to be changed, but they could offer the 8 speed auto found in the big brother Genesis sedan.
Our favorite is the 2 liter turbo 4, which currently make a modest 210 horsepower. Rumor is that the 2013 Genesis will have the 2.0T from the Sonata which will give the coupe 274 horsepower, which is a great power plant to start your round of modifcations. We like the turbo 4 because it's easy to modify and make more power, even though it has a 59 horsepower handicap over the V6. This can be easily fixed by getting a boost controller, full exhaust system, and an intake system. Since the car comes with forced induction from the factory, the engine is already forged and ready to take more. The next steps would be a bigger turbo, fuel system, and engine management.
With a good looking coupe on the way with good power potential, we can see the 2013 Genesis become a strong contender in drifting. A good set of coilovers and race tires, and you have a combination for a fun racer. We applaud Hyundai for bringing a RWD turbo coupe to the market for the masses!
Hella Street Racing – Caught on Video – These guys are bosses!
Naturally, we don't condone street racing. One of our customers sent us this YouTube video today of two guys who saw a street race happening around Palo Alto, CA on 101 south and recorded it. The street race was between two Mustang Cobra's and what's funny to us are the comments from these guys.
They say things like:
"So they're gonna slow traffic hella?"
"Dude dude dude OMG hella"
"They are street racing in traffic, what bosses!"
"That's hella funny... OMG dude that's so sick"
See the video for yourself:
We thought their comments and choice of words were funny, and thought we'd share with you. We've seen thousands of street racing videos, but this one is definitely the funniest and most unique.
Enjoy!
Z06 Corvette Crash at the Drag Strip Staging Lanes
This guy is having a bad day. After his burnout he lost control of his car, and his Corvette Z06 ended up crashing in the staging lanes. It's amazing to me that this doesn't happen more often especially with high power rear wheel drive cars like the Z06.
Poor guy, doesn't look like he had a fun trip to the drag strip!
2012 Nissan GT-R Nurburgring Lap Time
Wow. The 2012 Nissan GT-R has beat the 2011 Nissan GT-R by 2 seconds at Nurburgring in Germany. The total time was 7 minutes and 24 seconds (7:24:22). We have the video for you below.
The 2012 Nissan GT-R has the same 3.8L V6 Twin Turbo but has been slightly tweaked to produce more power and torque in addition to some revised suspension settings.