Recently Ferrari amazed everyone by announcing that their 599XX had broken the lap record for the Nurburgring. Then Pagani announce they’ve smashed the previous Italians just a few weeks later….
Of course we’re not talking about the production car record, which both Ferrari and Pagani fail to mention. This is the ‘production-based car’ lap record. What that means is that neither of these cars is actually road legal, more a road car based track-only race car.
The 599XX is the latest development vehicle from Ferrari’s Customer Development Program. Basically you buy the car for around €1,250,000 and never actually take it home. It’s kept by Ferrari, and brought out for races, testing and track days. You become part of the ferrari development team - quite an attractive proposition for those with the means. It has 730bhp, and when it attacked the ‘Ring in April it stunned many onlookers by setting a lap time of 6 minutes 58 seconds, a stunning acheivement. The video of the lap is shown below:
However, as Ferrari sat back and grinned smugly, there were many people busy in another Italian garage; that of supercar builder Horatio Pagani - builder of the legendary Zonda. Their track-only Zonda R is not as elitist as the Ferrari programme, but for your €1,500,000 you get 740bhp, and the closest thing to a group-C race car you can buy. An orgy of wings, carbon fibre and titanium, the Zonda R takes everything good about the Zonda F road car, and turns it up to 11. The result?
They turn up and smash Ferrari’s lap time by 11 seconds, with a stunning new record of 6 minutes 47 seconds. Check out the amazing lap below:
The thing is, this has caused quite a few rumbles in the automotive world, as there is some confusion over these manufacturers claiming to have the ‘Nurburgring Lap Record’, especially by British car makers Radical.
Their SR8LM car, even though it looks more like a race car than these two, was driven to the circuit, did a lap time of 6 mins 48 seconds, and then drove home, proving that it is totally road legal. So in reality it holds the Production Car lap record, but these cars are stealing their thunder. The Radical SR8LM has a 460bhp 2.6-litre V8, and weighs a little under 650kg.
What do you think? Should the two Italians be allowed to hold the record?
Leave a comment below and start the arguement!
yes, they should.
Well its unfair to take it away from Radical as it was driven by Michale Vergas to the track. from the uk like a normal car…
nodoubt both Paganini and Ferrari turned up with a full support crew…!!!
Good God that was unbelievable. I couldn’t think of anything more enjoyable…
The ferrari was good but the pagani was brillant!
the thing is could you drive either of these the same distance as the radical do a fast lap then drive back again all without the support of a factory crew?
id like to find out.
id like to see a bugatti super sport try it, also a ultima the 700 bhp version that would be good and all would have to drive a minium of 300 miles to the track do a few laps and drive back again without the aid of factory support.
also would love to see a few of the group cars do it again just for old times sake
sorry that should have been the group c cars
Both cars are more or less racecars so
if you can drive the car to and from the racetrack that’s the old mean machine
style.
Wonderfull!
Both cars were fantastic! The Pagani was truly astonishing! It broke the record with about 11 seconds. But i wonder who and witch car will break the record next time…..
Well done to both cars .. but the true winner is the radical .. as its a true all rounder !!
These arent real cars. The Nissan GTR is a real car.
I agree with the Radical being the true winner as it drove there itself, broke the record and drove home……and of course it’s British !
Agreed, the GTR is AWESOME!!! Best way to spend £60k
How bout someone drives a Zonda Cinque, which is completely street legal, to the Nurburgring track, set the record, and drive it home. Argument settled. Zonda Cinque = Zonda R, yet street legal.
[...] sale on the night was the Pagani Zonda R which broke the Nurburgring record which we reported here. It sold for less than expected at £812,000 which is a bargain compared to the £1.4m asked for a [...]