M25 Fastest Lap

[Chris71]

I have it on very good authority that a certain Norfolk-based sports car company took advantage of high speed late night runs around the M25 while developing the latr iterations of its wedge-shaped baby supercar.

[dxb335d]

how many miles long is it?

[jollygreen]

eharding said:

LittleBro said:

Markh said:

Rocket Pepper said:

Was gassing with a friend today and we somehow got around to mentioning the quickest lap of the M25. It seems like a distant memory and I couldn't remember any numbers of course. Just curious. People still don't try for it do they? Surely not?

could be wrong but somewhere at the back of my brain I thought it was done in 1hr 6mins, could just be bks though

Wasnt the weapon of choice a Saph Cosworth? Aaaah, those were the days....

Indeed. An enlightened government would take the spirit of the TT to heart, and designate 5 days a year when the motorway was closed for civil transport, and to be used purely for road racing - the first four days open to public participation - culminating with a 24 endurance race around the M25. Yes, it might be a bit of a pain in the arse for commuters, but said enlightened government would see to it all five days were bank holidays.

eharding for PM !!!!!!!!

[sa_20v]

Well, time to throw more fuel on the fire - I averaged 120mph over 190 miles as I went across Europe in May - emptying the tank as I tried to keep up with a mate in his Porsche C4S...

Wouldn't even attempt to break any records on the M25 today, you will get caught one way or another.

[jollygreen]

sa_20v said:

Well, time to throw more fuel on the fire - I averaged 120mph over 190 miles as I went across Europe in May - emptying the tank as I tried to keep up with a mate in his Porsche C4S...

Wouldn't even attempt to break any records on the M25 today, you will get caught one way or another.

Holy feck that's serious pace.

I can't imagine ever managing that kind of average speed. Years ago, in the middle of the night, i managed to set an average speed of about 0.90 leptons on a 330 mile drive with no stops. But it seemed to me that most of that time was spent at over 1.2 leptons. And I was driving like an a r s e.

Just shows that high average speeds are very hard to maintain!

To average 120mph I would expect you would need to try and keep the car WELL over 150 for as much of the time as possible

[hairykrishna]

Rocket Pepper said:

Well, I wasn't referring to your post in particular. But as you believe 135mph average is possible along French motorways, I'd love someone to tell me where these motorways are. Put it another way. 270 miles travelled in 2 hours. 405 miles in 3 hours. One would assume the French would have a few mountains to climb. A few rivers to cross. Maybe the slight possibility of the odd town, or even a city to go around.

But of course, these guys are driving gods. They do it in the dark whilst mysteriously all French people wouldn't dream of being out on the roads. Did I mention headlamps? Are we allowed to factor in fuel stops too?

I think 135mph average, in reality, means travelling somewhat quicker than 135mph to maintain an average of 135mph was my point. In any case, I say it's bks. No matter the car, you couldn't compare such with an F1 car lapping consistently same lap times. The track is laboratory like, where as the road, no matter the lack of traffic or time of day, is a long way from being a predictable smooth as silk 2 mile loop fit for F1 racing.

But I'll stand corrected when someone shows me the proof.

Obviously you have to travel faster than 135. That's why we were talking about a 150mph cruising speed. Why the hell would the motorway crossing rivers, going around a town affect the speed? An F1 track is a 'perfect' surface and a motorway would tear an F1 car to pieces. That is, again, irrelevant though. Every French motorway is I've driven on is perfectly adequate to do 150mph on in a good road car. I've done it and I'm no 'driving god'. As far as I can tell the only things that would stop it being possible are police stops and traffic.

Obviously we’re got going to reach a conclusion arguing. Anyone got a GT2 and a camcorder I can borrow? We should do a ‘pistonheads cannonball’; it’s the anniversary of the last real cannonball next year…

[will_968]

I think some of you are underestimating how hard these chaps try to go fast. They don't slow down for traffic. In this clip, whilst it's not a particularly fast bit, it shows some of the risks taken to keep their average speeds up:

http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=-7079467...

[simonrockman]

dxb335d said:

how many miles long is it?

112 miles

[dxb335d]

simonrockman said:

dxb335d said:

how many miles long is it?

112 miles

Cool, where did you get that info bud?

[simonrockman]

The Radio 4 programme I mentioned earlier in this thread

[shoestring7]

dcb said:

zagato said:

I recall the story some years ago claimed the GT2 had a custom larger fuel tank fitted

It is true that some Porsches, in LHD format only, have larger
fuel tanks fitted.

I think a 99 litre tank was mentioned to me once.

BTW, I did some more digging on the feasibility of the
claim of 135 mph average speeds for over a thousand miles
of public road across France and Spain.

It would appear that Michael Schumacher, in a F1 car, in a race
around a track, can average 142 mph over an entire race.

Nice to know that the claim, using a road car over the public
road, is within 7 mph of Schuey in F1.

;->

http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/motor-sports/ope...

In the early '70's, the Porsche 917's averaged 160mph during a race at Spa.

A circuit then made of roads.

SS7

[Rocket Pepper]

hairykrishna said:

Obviously you have to travel faster than 135

I believe that is the point I was making.

hairykrishna said:

Why the hell would the motorway crossing rivers, going around a town affect the speed?

Maybe because those things create bends, hills, slip roads, intersections. All which play a part in slowing a vehicle down. Though you seem to think there are French motorways that run for 150 miles, or twice or three times that distance, without offering anything so much as a curve that could not be taken at 150mph. Well, forget the odd one or two. French motorways, as fast as they are, are not capable of sustaing 135mph averages for any length of time like the ones claimed in this thread.

hairykrishna said:

An F1 track is a 'perfect' surface and a motorway would tear an F1 car to pieces. That is, again, irrelevant though.

The comparison offered by someone was pointing out the average speed of an F1 during a race was not that far ahead of a car travelling at very high average speed on a motorway. An F1 race is run where it is possible to drive the car as fast as is possible constantly and consistently for upto 2 hours. Please show me a motorway or road anywhere on the planet that can offer such uninterupted circumstances as those in an F1 race such could be possible it would allow a road car driven in the same manner as an F1 car on a track, to achieve an average speed of 135mph.

hairykrishna said:

Every French motorway is I've driven on is perfectly adequate to do 150mph on in a good road car. I've done it and I'm no 'driving god'.

No doubt that is so, but not for hour after hour after hour to achieve a 135mph average over several hundred miles, as suggested in this thread by some. And yes I believe you are no driving god

hairykrishna said:

As far as I can tell the only things that would stop it being possible are police stops and traffic.

Perhaps you don't understand how a steady 100mph curve becomes much more involving for driver and vehicle at 150mph?

hairykrishna said:

Obviously we’re got going to reach a conclusion arguing. Anyone got a GT2 and a camcorder I can borrow? We should do a ‘pistonheads cannonball’; it’s the anniversary of the last real cannonball next year…

No we're not going to argue GT2 or Veyron, 150mph is 1 mile in 25 seconds. Show me the person that can sustain such constant speed for an hour or three at night on a motorway, and I'll show you bionic vision!

Enjoy, and drive safe

[Rocket Pepper]

shoestring7 said:

In the early '70's, the Porsche 917's averaged 160mph during a race at Spa.

A circuit then made of roads.

A road made in to a race track, and the worlds fastest car at the time if memory serves. 230 odd mph?

Not remotely comparable to a French motorway at night.

[Murdock]

Hardly definitive proof, but indicative of the kind of averages possible. Whether anyone could sustain this for over eight hours is another matter.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=stor...

One of the drivers covered the 210 kilometre distance between the towns of Sagunto and Cambrils in 50 minutes, at an average speed of 252 kilometres an hour on a public highway.

[550Hep]

VERY long time since I posted but have been lurking..

My honeymoon with the good lady 3 years ago, landed in Calais at 1830 and was in Dijon @ a little before 2130 (did the old lost my toll ticket to prevent the fine!!) So the main bulk of 450km's at in 2.5hrs so my calcs make that a 110mph ish... And I can say I was driving at some rather huge speeds (topped it out at least twice!) and one stop for fuel in the 4200GT any more than that would have been insane....IMO.... I will probably get flamed for this anyway!!!

So an average of 135mph would be in my experience which is not massive I admit damn hard to achieve...

My twopenneth anyway..

Oh and hello all once again!!!

[identti]

Murdock said:

Hardly definitive proof, but indicative of the kind of averages possible. Whether anyone could sustain this for over eight hours is another matter.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=stor...

One of the drivers covered the 210 kilometre distance between the towns of Sagunto and Cambrils in 50 minutes, at an average speed of 252 kilometres an hour on a public highway.

One of those drivers was definitely Lonman, and I believe he spent the night/a few nights in jail, plus was banned from driving in Spain.

Another of the drivers was Kim Schmitz.

[phillsam]

Hi
I read with interest about the m25 laps
I was part of a group of bikers in the 80's who thought they could challenge the cars round.
The fastest a bike did it in the late 80's was just under the hour.
The bikes could have gone faster but it being 120 miles round you had to thinks about petrol consumption as a bike only held about 4 gallons.
To do it in these sort of times you had to have you wits about you.
At the time we used to call the cops race marshals. This was done from south Mims to south Mims
Phil

john_r said:

jammy_basturd said:

Exactly.

1. A friend of mine, a traffic cop in South London, confirmed to me that the cameras are only on when the gantry signs are lit up. They also kindly informed me when the M20 variable speed limit cameras went live.
2. Another 'friend' of mine, who often drives my cars should have received several tickets in the past few years.


This is just heresay, but I'm sure I've read that the type approval for those camera systems only allows them to be on when the gantry signs are on. Just like the average speed cameras on motorways type approval only allows them to monitor one lane at a time, so you can switch lanes between pairs of cameras...

As I said, my friend project managed the communications links for the new digital cameras that are now active all the time. So I think you're friend the 'traffic cop' is either very misinformed, or wants you to get caught?.

Motor Lawyers Blog:
http://www.blog.motorlawyers.co.uk/2008/02/07/m25-...

What Car:
http://www.whatcar.co.uk/news-article.aspx?NA=2308...

MSN:
http://cars.uk.msn.com/News/car_news_article.aspx?...

I could go on with another 100 or so links, but you get the idea!

[cookr]

Hi Guys, well to answer your question or even possible have a go at setting the fastest lap around the M25 motorway. You can find all the information you need at http://m25racers.ath.cx

[Dan_1981]

cookr said:

Hi Guys, well to answer your question or even possible have a go at setting the fastest lap around the M25 motorway. You can find all the information you need at http://m25racers.ath.cx

Phew. I was wandering about that

[Chris_w666]

Hmm, not a website I would want to be associated with.

Police may not be able to prosecute, but get involved in a high speed smash, or any smash on the M25 and surrounding roads, and then see how quickly your membership is used against you.