RE: AMG GT R at the Nurburgring: Time for Coffee

RE: AMG GT R at the Nurburgring: Time for Coffee

Sunday 11th December 2016

AMG GT R at the Nurburgring: Time for Coffee?

Sportauto's superstar is at it again, and the AMG is 10 seconds faster than a 488...



Christian Gebhardt is a name you should know by now; he's sportauto's test driver, responsible for such lunacy as the 7:42 Cayman GT4 'ring lap and going round Hockenheim in a 3-Eleven quicker than a Porsche 918.


Here he is again, making a car lap the Nordschleife faster than you ever thought possible. This time it's the AMG GT R, a car described by its makers as the 'Beast of the Green Hell' no less. And, well, it certainly lives up to the name! It laps in 7min 10.92sec, a ludicrous time for something with a kerbweight on the chubby side of 1,500kg, less than 600hp and two-wheel drive. For some context, the Ferrari 488 GTB with the same driver did 7:21.63. Wow. That sort of time puts the GT R up with some very serious cars indeed, including the NISMO version of its Nissan namesake (7min 8.68sec), and beyond even the Nurburgring package Lexus LFA, which did a 7:14 a few years back. March of progress, eh?

As always, Gebhardt's driving makes for an absorbing watch. He's fantastically quick through the Foxhole/Adenauer Forest complex, and fairly scythes through the section leading up to Brunnchen. Keep a look out for that nine-stage traction control dial flashing as well...

Watch the video here.

[Thanks to BridgeToGantry on Twitter for making us aware of the vid!]

Author
Discussion

GregK2

Original Poster:

1,651 posts

145 months

Thursday 8th December 2016
quotequote all
Insanely good time.

big_rob_sydney

3,394 posts

193 months

Thursday 8th December 2016
quotequote all
Great lap.

What was the car that came past at 2:50 ish? That seemed to be nowhere in sight at the end, so its lap must have been a monster.

323ti

128 posts

120 months

Thursday 8th December 2016
quotequote all
It doesn't even look like hard work for him. That time is just bonkers, especially when it all looks so relatively subdued.
This boy is a bit like Ronnie O'Sullivan. Only without the silly tweets.

Just keep it out of the armco, Christian you nutter.

Think it was an Aston that passed just before Breidscheid. VLN car?

Dave Hedgehog

14,541 posts

203 months

Thursday 8th December 2016
quotequote all
bonkers quick

i deeply dislike the design thou

Chris Stott

13,184 posts

196 months

Thursday 8th December 2016
quotequote all
big_rob_sydney said:
Great lap.

What was the car that came past at 2:50 ish? That seemed to be nowhere in sight at the end, so its lap must have been a monster.
Looks like one of the SLS race cars... maybe a GT3.

TerryThomas

1,228 posts

90 months

Thursday 8th December 2016
quotequote all
Then seconds faster than a 488? That's immense!

DBRacingGod

609 posts

191 months

Thursday 8th December 2016
quotequote all
Merc Haribo GT3, apparently on slicks.

matrignano

4,345 posts

209 months

Thursday 8th December 2016
quotequote all
I don't get it. How can it be 10sec faster than the Ferrari???
It's 80bhp down on the 488 GTB, probably about 100kgs heavier, the drag coefficient can't be much better either given the great big wing (not so good for the many fast sections of the 'Ring).

Tassab

7 posts

95 months

Thursday 8th December 2016
quotequote all
Amazingly well composed lap. Congrats to Christian and the car, keep it on.

mikearwas

1,112 posts

158 months

Thursday 8th December 2016
quotequote all
matrignano said:
I don't get it. How can it be 10sec faster than the Ferrari???
It's 80bhp down on the 488 GTB, probably about 100kgs heavier, the drag coefficient can't be much better either given the great big wing (not so good for the many fast sections of the 'Ring).
I also have no idea how that's possible. The 488 matched a 675LT around Anglesea. Some of the time could be confidence with that particular car but thats only going to be a small chunk.

GiveItSomeWellie

3,006 posts

195 months

Thursday 8th December 2016
quotequote all
Wow, great lap.

kambites

67,461 posts

220 months

Thursday 8th December 2016
quotequote all
It does seem an astonishing time given the car's modest (compared to the mentioned competition) specs.

RacerMike

4,192 posts

210 months

Thursday 8th December 2016
quotequote all
Astonishing lap! 7min 11s is insane, and the way it stays with the GT3 car for so long is just ludicrous.

I suspect there are a few factors at play for this time. Weight is not such a huge issue at the 'Ring. Key to a good time is power, a compliant setup and tyres. I'm sure there's some jiggery pokery going on (like the tyre warmers on the Cup2s!), but it does look supremely stable at high speed with very, very good vertical control of the body and incredibly high lat acc.

If I was being cynical I'd probably guess the wick is turned up a bit and the tyres are a particularly good batch....

kambites

67,461 posts

220 months

Thursday 8th December 2016
quotequote all
It wasn't Mercedes doing the lap, so things like tyre warmers seem unlikely. Whether press cars are artificially tweaked beyond normal customer cars is probably one of those questions which will never get adequately answered.

Oddball RS

1,757 posts

217 months

Thursday 8th December 2016
quotequote all
kambites said:
It wasn't Mercedes doing the lap, so things like tyre warmers seem unlikely. Whether press cars are artificially tweaked beyond normal customer cars is probably one of those questions which will never get adequately answered.
You could see then on the car in the video?

kambites

67,461 posts

220 months

Thursday 8th December 2016
quotequote all
Oddball RS said:
kambites said:
It wasn't Mercedes doing the lap, so things like tyre warmers seem unlikely. Whether press cars are artificially tweaked beyond normal customer cars is probably one of those questions which will never get adequately answered.
You could see then on the car in the video?
Sorry I meant it's unlikely that it was done differently between the Ferrari time quoted and the Merc because the runs were done by the same people. I have no idea what preparation they do (I can't watch the video at work) but I don't think it really matters as long as its consistent.

Slightly off-topic, but I'd always assumed they did a warm-up lap for these things to find the limits and get everything up to temperature?

Edited by kambites on Thursday 8th December 13:50

TartanPaint

2,981 posts

138 months

Thursday 8th December 2016
quotequote all
You can almost feel the pyschological tow from the GT3 car. Brilliant lap!


RacerMike

4,192 posts

210 months

Thursday 8th December 2016
quotequote all
kambites said:
Slightly off-topic, but I'd always assumed they did a warm-up lap for these things to find the limits and get everything up to temperature?
They sometimes start at the Tourist Pits, but doing a full lap would likely take too much out of the car and also take forever. It usually has to be fitted into the end of Industry Pool, so at best, they have about an hour to do the lap (but usually there's a 10min pause before they do the 'final lap' of the day).

Video shows tyre warmers, and ultimately, the car is provided by the manufacturer, so it's impossible for Sport Auto to actually verify if the car is 100% standard. Even if it's not running more power than it should, it's still pretty much a car you can't buy. Any lap time car like this (or indeed press car), will be nominalised. It'll have all the suspension in it's 'ideal' tolerance banding and more than likely be running at the very least, a 'good' engine. Tyres are also probably a very specific batch and may even be shaved to reduce the chance of them overheating.

kambites

67,461 posts

220 months

Thursday 8th December 2016
quotequote all
Of course, but there's no reason to believe that this isn't comparable to all of the other lap times done by sport-auto, which still begs the question of why it's so much faster than the Ferrari.

323ti

128 posts

120 months

Thursday 8th December 2016
quotequote all
RacerMike said:
Weight is not such a huge issue at the 'Ring.
Come on. Ever tried taking a mountainbike up the trail along Kesselchen? Every ounce counts as a stone.

Bit of a mystery to me, this laptime. Same tyres, same driver.. 10 seconds out of a 488??
Perhaps Christian got lucky with some totty the night before this one.