Zonda F laps Nurburgring in 7:24.65!

Some of you may know of this already, but haven't seen it posted anywhere other than the supercar forum.

EVO magazine have done a very neat piece on the event, named Battle Royale 2008.

The F came second to an MC12 which lapped just 0.36 sec faster, also beating a Ferrari Enzo, a Porsche Carrera GT and a 901bhp version of the CCX.

Not only that, the Zonda had a slight misfire so it may well have been fastest.

Marc Basseng, the man driving, said that the Zonda was his clear favourite. It really is an amazing piece of machinery.

http://www.exoticsonroad.com
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Let's hope they took some in-car video of the full lap!

 

Would be awesome to drive ANY of those cars!!!

 

sign me up for an mc12 then !

 

Yes, and one in particular...


... Like I did.

 

No Nissan GTR there? Hmm, wonder why? Cuz it would have beat them all!

 

You mean the GTR with a lap time of 7:29? Let's work with simple math: 7:29 (nissan's time) minus 7:24 (Zonda's time) = The Nissan is 5 seconds slower. So please go further into detail about how it would have the "them all"?

 

So, slower than a Viper?

 

You know how these Nissan fans are like.

 

Viper ACR is not baseline the acr is a stripped out version of the baseline model with added horses. You cant even compare these laptimes.

7:59 VIPER SRT-10 tested by MotorTrend 11/2005

The ACR placed 7th in handeling comparison.

http://www.motortrend.com/features/performance/112_0810_americas_best_handling_car_conclusion/index.html

If you want to compare a viper acr then you might as well be comparing it to a Porsche 962 Dauer street version.

The 956 race version has a time of 6:11.13, I would say a 6:35-45 is what a 962 would bring home.

The Offical Nürburgring king of the hill.
http://www.qv500.com/dauer962p1.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nordschleife_fastest_lap_times

 

So, tell us. How do you figure 7:29 is faster than 7:24?

 

About the lap times: I also highly doubt that somebody driving a privately owned Zonda F, MC12, Enzo or CCX will push it as hard as a company owned "disposable"-non limited production run Viper ACR. (Zonda F - 25 built as coupe) ....

 

ROTFL.


Maybe if Nissan boosted the car a little more, and did a couple other "minor" mods...

Sorry, but until someone other than Nissan does a 7:29 in a GTR, i really struggle to believe that it can acheive that time.

 

Oh dear God. Didn't you guys (seriously??) see the irony of the GT-R comment????

 

I was just thinking Zonda should do a press release telling Nissan to stuff it!

 

The only thing the GTR beats those cars at is price and gas mileage.

Yes its slower but is the ACR more sexy? hell no!.

 

I consider the Zonda F "automotive porn"

Hearing the titanium exhaust on a Clubsport in real life seriously gives me goosebumps.
Every tiny little detail has been thought about - it is a masterpiece that has been designed to the last (even hidden) corner.

 

The ACR does not have any added horsepower, and it really isn't "stripped" out unless you get the Hard Core package which most owners do not get, and the only real weight that is shed from that is the removal of the sound system and tire inflator. When it comes down to it, the Zonda F Clubsport has more horsepower and is far lighter and still did not post as quick a time. Both cars have adjustable aero and shocks, and face it, the Zonda is the superiorly designed car. But both are really a good comparison performance-wise and I would love to see them face off on the Ring. Also considering the fact that the Viper was driven by a driver who had no experience in the car and was facing a very strong head wind, you could probably expect faster times in the future. However, If it was a straight line on the Autobahn and a Zonda pulled up next to the ACR, it would blow the Viper out of the water.

 

Until this Viper has been deemed authentic I find it hard to believe, why you ask, because I don't see many viper acrs doing similar times if that was the case Vipers would be winning every race and that is not happening. It would be interesting to see independent tests if infact this Viper is pushing stock horsepower and not cheating. If a Zonda is faster and lighter has supperior chassis the laws of Physics would have to side with the Zonda. IMO

 

Once again, I highly doubt the driver of the Zonda F or the other cars in that test was pushing the cars as hard as the driver in the ACR - it's one thing to "throw away" an ACR, but another thing "throwing away" a privately owned 1mil$,1 out of 25 built, supercar.

 

First of all, you all probably know there is three different ways to measure lap times in old Nordschleife, when new Südschleife, F1 track is out of question, (fourth way is to measure both together).
A. Usually the long main straight is the tourist pit and therefore every man's time is usually so called BTG ("bridge to gate" or "between the gates" time) which is missing the 3,3km main straight and doing the influence for the entering speeds of the old short main stright approaching curves. With a car capable of appr. 270-280km/h top speeds or more (my Green Afterburner does 345km/h GPS speed in Autobahn, but in the Ring straight I can gain only 322km/h), the time difference compared to the complete lap time is your BTG time +25-35 secs.
B. the time the magazines (like in this EVO arcticle also) usually publish for the street car tests is from the old original pit lane exit gate to the old original pit lane entrance gate. Most of the car companies forget to tell which time they are measuring.
C. full lap times are taken in races and some very serious tests, (like Stefan Bellof time 1983), fromt he start line to the finishing line. Difference for the exit - entrance lap is 2-5 secs depending on couple of things.
Also in the Ring there are multiple influencing varabilities: the time of the day, temperature etc. makes a huge difference, compared to so called regular race tracks (like Spa Francorchamps near Ring etc.)
Therefore I would say you can basically measure times in comparison only during the same day during few hours if the weather and the temperature are not changing a lot.
This test was done during many days, sometimes in between rain and dry weather, most of the tests in the evening before the track closes. Therefore those timeas are not the best optimal possible times they could be, compared to some car companies, when they publish optimal weather and time of the day done results.
For me in that article most interesting comments are those personal opinions of Bassang out of different cars behaving rather than 1-5 sec. differencies.

I do have some own experience since 1990 in Nordschleife with many different cars and latest this summer with one of my street legal toys, but which is fortunately quite suitable to the Ring: Strosek 935 RUF Turbo (in pictures here, one of my 10 cars) usually regular clearly under 8 minutes full laps (to say: mag style times from exit to entrance they would be 7.50 or so, BTG times 7.25-7.30 or so).
My this here described sample of a car is not very special compared to those magnificent cars in that particular test, only old 1100kg car (tank full, without driver, me) with 600+ rwhp in it and purposely build for having fun in Ring with street tyres. But I have very good idea of the time differencies of here mentioned variables: temperature, time of the day and if some wet weather coming, makes differencies.
Like Bassang doing the real fast lap with the Koenigsegg after the one what was in the lap times (but wasn't as fast as the others), but the rain started and he slightly crashed the Koenigsegg and therefore he didn't do 3-5 sec faster lap like he was doing few curves before the finish line. I would like to know what would have been the Enzo time without the suspension electrical problem... Anyway I try to say all these cars in this test are very excellent, very potential lap time cars for capable drivers. Why not some Nissan also, but I don't see what it would do in such an amazing super car test to have something like such a hatch back?

I read that article with a great interest and seriousness: I have been dreaming of course some of those cars tested, but the order for me would be: Enzo, Koenigsegg, Zonda, Maser, CGT and then all the others.... I would need one even faster toy I now have... and most of the cars don't do it anymore for me after this Green
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Nice toy,

I would have to agree with the order you placed the cars, though it is interesting to note the CGT has easier time in tight areas over the Enzo as tested in other tracks. My order is Enzo, Mas, CGT, Zonda, Koenigsegg.

 

I can't seem to find the video I found last week?

 

There is a a couple of very good videos here http://www.supercarmovies.com/

There's one from on-board the Enzo, the other is the group of cars. Looks like they timed the full lap on this one. It's interesting how the Maserati was the fastest being heavier and less powerful than the Enzo or Zonda.

I guess, like you said petri, the times could vary. Especially with such a long lap. Shows how close the performance is with these machines.

 

Next episode this evening...