Friday 9th September 2016

Alfa Giulia sets 7:32 Nurburgring lap

The ballsiest Nordschleife onboard vid since the Aventador SV? Quite possibly

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Say what you will about the relevance of Nurburgring lap records, but the competition does sure as hell make for some spectacular videos. Having been usurped as fastest saloon around the Nordschleife by Porsche (with the new Panamera Turbo), Alfa has returned with the Giulia Quadrifoglio to reclaim its glory.

The result is this incredible video and a 7:32 lap. Which is absurd, quite frankly. The driver Fabio Francia - note the casual jeans and t-shirt combo - is fantastically committed everywhere, right up to nearly crashing on the approach to Adenauer Forst. See the run from Bergwerk through Kesselchen and Klostertal too from 3:20 onwards; it looks like it's in fast-forward!

For the basis of comparison, we'll have to assume that this is a standard 510hp Giulia Quadrifoglio. As you'll see, it has the automatic instead of the manual gearbox and we'll guess it's in Race mode going off some of the oversteer angles. The video features a Pirelli logo too, so guess away now at which trick compound of Trofeo it may actually be using!

However, this is still a staggering time for a four-door saloon. Ignore a regular M3; this is just four seconds off a GTS. Though you could argue the BMW looks rather more suited to the track thrashing. Whatever you're driving at your next tourist lap though, keep a look out for a very rapid Alfa saloon...

Watch the lap record here.
 

[zeDuffMan]

Certainly a ballsy lap. It's annoying me that the rev counter can't keep up though.

[matpilch]

the guy is a lunatic :O
proper racing driver

[Krikkit]

I wonder if the moment he nearly lost it was down to a wheel sensor failure? The TPMS warning popped up on the dash a couple of seconds before it went all wobbly.

Incredible driving though, certainly nothing left in reserve there!

zeDuffMan said:

Certainly a ballsy lap. It's annoying me that the rev counter can't keep up though.

It's the auto box, so I'd imagine it'll be a slightly ponderous change rather than the rev counter.

[Uncle John]

That guy must just have been let out of the asylum!

Car is mental also.....

[philmots]

Krikkit said:

It's the auto box, so I'd imagine it'll be a slightly ponderous change rather than the rev counter.

Have you heard it change gear rather than watch the counter, there's nothing ponderous about how that changes gear!

[ahenners]

Awesome car and a great lap. Driver is flat out!

[Turquoise]

Lovely! Really like this car.

That video by itself should account for a few sales.

[SturdyHSV]

Massive balls of steel. Brilliant drive

[Mike1990]

He's got some big balls alright!

Love that Alfa.

[hornetrider]

What a pair he has.

[daveco]

Out of a matter of interest do these lap time records carry independent observers, engineers etc, to check the car is stock, that it has road tyres rather than race tyres etc?

I remember Evo had a 147 Alfa press car that was putting out huge hp compared to its official figures.

[Krikkit]

philmots said:

Krikkit said:

It's the auto box, so I'd imagine it'll be a slightly ponderous change rather than the rev counter.

Have you heard it change gear rather than watch the counter, there's nothing ponderous about how that changes gear!

Must admit I haven't - cheeky watching at work sans headphones!

[LayZ]

Wow. This might be a classic to rival Stefan Roser in the Yellowbird. If only we had a sock view on this one too!

[mikearwas]

I have serious doubts as to whether that car is stock. The acceleration it's pulling looks consistent with a car running well over 600bhp.

[DeltaEvo2]

With a"cleaner" lap he would have made an even better time...nutjob...

[Gandahar]

He screws up a bit at 6:45 and then shakes his head. Which is brilliant and shows the commitment.

It's like a good golfer who only remembers his bad shot, whilst we remember our one good.

Lovely looking car to boot.

[Dandanfings]

That does not have only 500bhp!
Anyway this just makes the GTi clubsports time of 7m 49s even more impressive with almost half the power!

[epom]

What a fab example of driving. This is why we all love Ring Laps, lunatics like him.

[trixyD]

Guy has some stones I'll give him that, very impressive drive.

[big_rob_sydney]

Loved it.

Out of all the craziness there, the thing that really had me scratching my head was, how on earth a car that can do that, can return 8.2l/100 km. I mean, its almost a balls-to-the-wall racecar, and yet, you could probably run it quite happily in traffic.

Superb. Just superb.