When you think of a fast car, what do you think of? A Porsche 911 RSR race car? A Porsche 919 LMP hybrid race car? Maybe you start thinking that the car is lightweight and small. Maybe it has a big aerodynamic wing for downforce. How about a showroom stock Porsche Panamera?
Yes, Porsche has done it again!
On July 24th, 2020, Porsche took a pre-production Panamera Turbo S, with a newly improved setup of its electromechanical roll stabilizers system, to the the long, treacherous Nurburgring Nordschliefe track with its 73 turns, (33 left, 40 right) and an altitude change of 300 m (984 feet). The Panamera Turbo S has improved dynamics and has increased grip with the new Michelin UHP (ultra high performance Pilot Sport Cup 2) tires.
There are many records set at Nurburgring and the Porsche 2021 Panamera broke its own record that was set back in 2016 by some 13 seconds. In 2016 they used a shortened track, only 20.6 km or 1/2 miles shorter.
This new Porsche Panamera passed that 20.6 km course in about the same time as a 2014 911 GT3 (991).
You might ask what was done to this Porsche Panamera to perform this test. Yes, they made changes, but these changes are now standard on the Porsche Panamera: an improved chassis and powertrain. For safety, they added a race seat and a roll cage for driver Lars Kern who also drove that last fastest lap in the Panamera.
The event was certified by an independent timer and the record was set for a production car in the “Executive car” category.
Another Porsche record set at the Nurburing was broken in August, beating the last lap record by over 50% faster. Now you’re thinking, what can beat a Porsche at the Nurburgring by that much?
Well, it was in the Tractor Class. Yes “Tractor class”.
In 2014, Porsche sent Walter Rohrl out on the Nurburgring on a Porsche Junior Tractor with all of 14 hp, weighing 2,575 lbs. He did the lap in 1 hour, 5 minutes and 56 seconds. Old school racing – No Helmet!
The record was broken by the Claas Xerion 5000 VC, with a 12.8 liter, 500 hp six cylinder engine, having 1,918 foot pounds of torque, weighing in at 38,470 pounds.
On August 28th, the Claas tractor was driven by race driver Christian Menzel, at a top speed of 31 mph, setting the new record at a blistering 24 minutes, 50.57 seconds.
Maybe next year, after this COVID-19 clears up, we should get a tractor and try to get back the ‘Tractor Class” record! Where is that “Pink Pig” tractor?
After the Porsche ‘tractor record’ was broken, Porsche set another new record at the Nurburgring – never done before!
Porsche set the fastest lap for towing a trailer around the Nurburgring with a Panamera ST towing a Moetefindt Trailer with a Porsche Junior Tractor in it. The set-up weighed a total of 1.5 tons and did the lap in a blistering, well not that fast, 12 minutes, 6 seconds. I think that works out to be an average of 63.9 mph.
