NOBODY LIKES being beaten. Especially Porsche, by the looks of it. Recently Porsche went as far as to chop its own outright record at the infamous ‘Green Hell’ with a scarcely believable 5min and 19.546sec lap around the 20.832km circuit. With the firm’s 919 Hybrid now finished with racing, after winning three-straight Le Mans 24 Hour races and World Endurance Championships, Porsche had a little task for it to complete before letting it kick up its feet on a beach in retirement. 6 Engineers were instructed to ‘derestrict’ the 919 Hybrid and see how fast it could tackle some of the world’s most famous tracks. Spa Francorchamps was its first victim. It tore around the 7.004km track in 1min and 41.770sec, eclipsing the qualifying lap Lewis Hamilton set at the 2017 Grand Prix in his Mercedes-AMG F1 car by 0.783sec. That was in April. It set the scorching Nurburgring lap on the morning of June 29 in cool, sunny conditions. Known as the 919 Hybrid Evo, the car’s seen its weight, power and downforce upgraded to levels beyond the realm of LMP1. All equipment unnecessary for a handful of qualifying laps was ditched, including air-conditioning, windscreen wipers, certain sensors and electronic devices, lights and pneumatic jacks. This dropped its dry weight by 39kg to 849kg. Aerodynamics was the next area of focus. The floor and vanes were tuned for maximum attack, while a new diffuser was installed to balance the massive rear wing. With two drag reduction systems, downforce is up 53 per cent and efficiency by 66 per cent. 6 Power was tweaked by way of its turbo 2.0-litre V4 and hybrid systems. The former spinning 530kW (162kW extra) through the rear axle and the latter contributing another 324kW (29kW), which is deployed via the front-axle electric motor. All up, that’s 854kW at its disposal. If all these dizzying statistics are starting to make the 919 Hybrid Evo’s achievement seem less surprising, the gap to Porsche’s fastest production road car around The ’Ring (though no longer outright, thanks to Lambo) restores the achievement’s rightful lustre. Of course, the car in question is Porsche’s own 911 GT2 RS, which swiped the crown (from Lambo… funny that) with a 6min 47.25sec lap, 87.754 seconds slower. Check out the speed differences below. 6 919 evo Corner GT2 RS Difference 98km/h Point 1 81km/h +17km/h 157km/h 2 (Hatzenbach) 109km/h +48km/h 303km/h Point 3 239km/h +64km/h 273km/h 4 (Flugplatz) 198km/h +75km/h 318km/h Point 5 255km/h +63km/h 151km/h Point 6 97km/h +54km/h 329km/h Point 7 257km/h +72km/h 121km/h Point 8 90km/h +31km/h 150km/h Point 9 109km/h +41km/h 87km/h Point 10 71km/h +16km/h 306km/h Point 11 235km/h +71km/h 315km/h Point 12 250km/h +65km/h 257km/h Point 13 183km/h +74km/h 272km/h Point 14 201km/h +71km/h 91km/h 15 (Karussell) 89km/h +2km/h 169km/h Point 16 117km/h +52km/h 175km/h Point 17 123km/h +52km/h 259km/h Point 18 199km/h +60km/h 308km/h Point 19 231km/h +77km/h 117km/h Point 20 106km/h +11km/h 345km/h 21 (Döttinger Höhe) 259km/h +86km/h 352km/h Point 22 310km/h +42km/h 369km/h Top Speed 313km/h +56km/h 234km/h Average Speed 184km/h +50km/h 5:19.55 Lap Time 6:47.25 +1:27.70 The last outright record stood at 6min 11.13sec at the hands of Stefan Bellof in 1983. The German native piloted Porsche’s 956 during that year’s World Sportscar Championship race. The next quickest lap that day was 6:27.36. 6 'Ring Tamers 6<doc-sep>Porsche 911 GT2 RS Rating: To get me in the mood for CarFest North, taking place today at Bolesworth Castle in Tattenhall, just outside Chester, those lovely people at Porsche, God bless ’em, sent me the most rawsome, awesome, ridiculously amazing car I have driven since I began writing this column over a hundred years ago. The new 911 GT2 RS is a vision to look at, a dream to drive, heaven to smell and irresistible to the touch – in short, it’s the best version of everything it could possibly be. Its physical form reminds me of the outlandish but mystically alluring Maserati MC12. Mind you, the MC12 always reminded me of a stretched Porsche GT in the first place, far more than anything to do with the Ferrari Enzo with which it shares its platform and engine. AIR FORCE WON: The wide front spoiler lip provides the biggest contribution to downforce at the front, but it’s the fixed wing at the rear that really sticks the car to the road. In total, the GT RS can produce an enormous 450kg of downforce at 211mph POWER TRIP: The GT2 RS is the most powerful 911 ever made, with a 3.8-litre flat six turbo engine producing 700hp at 7,000rpm. Under hard acceleration it will hit 60mph in 2.8 seconds, 124mph in 8.3 seconds and 186mph in just 22.1 seconds The side scoops, the louvred wheel arches, the twin engine cover bulges, the lowered roof with its Zagato-style matching pods, the way the nose drops down to sniff the road – all classic MC12. All absolutely stunning. Even my usually unimpressed wife couldn’t resist enthusing about this automotive sensation. ‘Now that really is something,’ she texted me after it arrived at home while I was still at work. Such unsolicited, spontaneous praise is rare indeed, believe me. Everything has to be 100 per cent spot-on for a car to be considered quite so wonderful. Take its Miami Blue colour, for example, perfect in the sunshine and which somehow hypnotises the observer into thinking the car is lighter than it actually is (it’s surprisingly heavy for a stripped-down GT race/road car, weighing in at a substantial 1,470kg). The Hockney swimming pool blue also works a treat up against the various carbon-fibre frames and trim panels. Such unbridled ambition could have turned out lurid and loathsome, but has instead conspired to create a celebration of audacious pizzazz. Practicality, on the other hand, is unashamedly secondary. For whatever one might deem necessary for a GT2 RS road trip, there is a small cubby hole underneath the bonnet, but that’s about it, apart from the additional (and very clever – but still extremely teeny) extending door cards and impressively engineered telescopic cup-holders. The latter extend out from deep within a narrow cavity where the glove box would be if this car had one – which it doesn’t. Ha! So what we have here is a very pretty little thing with a fantastic paint job, but one that is otherwise a deafening echo chamber of race-pedigree authentic austerity. That is, stripped down to within an inch of its life in the name of maximising the power-to-weight ratio to replicate a genuine GT Series race car – a Ferrari F40 for 2018, if you like. Well you see, here’s the thing – nothing could be further from the truth. Creaking in and out of the genuine GT bucket seats may not be the easiest task for us over-50s currently carrying a little more around the waistline than we’d like to admit to. But as for the rest of the cockpit interior and equipment, everything is reassuringly standard 911, save for the odd quirk like the strap door handles, which only add to the whole GT vibe anyway, without compromising comfort or convenience for the sake of the purists. I remember Charlie Watts, he of The Rolling Stones, telling me once that although he doesn’t have the first clue how to drive, he bought a 1937 Lagonda Rapide to have in his garage just to look at and sit in. Well, Charlie, if you’re reading this and you fancy a second car, the GT2 RS could be the next set of wheels for you – we could look at them and sit in them together, without ever turning a wheel. That said, this is what happened when I did fire up the more modern of those two beauties. The 3.8-litre flat six engine exploded into life, waking up the whole of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Surrey in the process (please note, this thunderous cacophony is what the engine sounds like BEFORE Sport mode is selected and/or the exhaust amplification system is turned on). It’s both ridiculous but brilliant at the same time. After which comes the interesting part, the calm before the storm, if you will. The bit where you know you’re sitting in a rocket ship but you’re not quite sure what type of rocket ship because you’ve yet to put your foot down. I love this pre-transition period, as you can tell a lot from the way a supercar pootles out of the gate with regards to its DNA. Some cars are born rasping, rabid in their impatience to be let off the leash. To the extent one barely dare touch the accelerator for fear of suddenly becoming acquainted with a random brick wall half a mile down the road. GOING THE EXTRA MILE: The base price is £207,506 but with a few options, the price soon creeps up. The Miami Blue paint costs £2,525, leather interior £2,147 and the Weissach package (which reduces weight by fitting magnesium wheels, a titanium roll cage and more carbon) a hefty £21,042 The only thing GT2 RS owners will need to be wary of is the love/hate reaction from their fellow road-users. Vehicles like this tend to polarise opinion Not so with this tacit titan, however, as even at 20-30mph you can sense the undertones of what is a beautifully balanced and graduated monster bit of kit. The moment when the first signs of that ‘I never want to give this car back’ manic grin begins to tighten the corners of the mouth. Then it’s breathe. Wait. Wait. Wait! Whoosh – and bye-bye world. Bye-bye Brexit, bye-bye Trump, bye-bye all the useless leaden nonsense of a world gone crazy via the ecstasy of 700 horses at 7,000rpm, red-lining in every gear, in manual or auto, normal or sport (it really doesn’t matter). This is an absolute weapon, but more crafted longbow than AK-47. The linear acceleration curve from this rear-engined work of unadulterated and absolute genius is pure artistry, eminently smooth yet brutal and raw at the same time. If you happen to own a lesser 911 and get the chance to have a go in one of these, my sincere advice is, please don’t. Unless you can afford one and there is one left to buy (there isn’t – and it’ll cost you twice as much secondhand), you will be miserable for the rest of yor life. And this is before you even contemplate a high-speed corner, a cheeky chicane-style mini-roundabout or the first of a million track days. Porsche’s lightweight suspension set-up is flawless. Firm, of course, but nowhere near as uncomfortably so as one might expect. But here’s the important bit – Porsche has still managed to make the car feel more real than the vast majority of the usual rich blokes’ faux road-legal race cars seem to have become. There is an overriding authenticity about the whole GT 2 RS experience. Like the fact the engineers have still been able to ‘deck’ the car to the road. Like the fact that they’ve still managed to fill the wheel arches with massive 20in wheels (21in at the rear) and yellow-calipered carbon brakes without having to employ one of those silly, driver-activated, adjustable suspension systems that a) is a pain in the neck and b) makes you look and feel really stupid. Obviously, being rear-wheel drive and sitting on a combined rear footprint of 650mm of rubber while laying down 700hp means there is always going to be the potential for some squeaky-bum moments. Therefore (especially with traction control and stability control turned off) straight-line braking is pretty much mandatory when it comes to the fundamental issue of preservation of life. Talking of which, those huge brake discs are fantastic but ceramic, which means they need to be warm before any serious (or emergency) braking is even contemplated. I’ve been caught out by this in the past and had to throw my trousers away as a result. If the new 2018 Bentley Continental GT from a few weeks back is the best all-round luxury production car ever made, this GT2 RS is the best modern driver’s car ever made. It is simply spectacular, overwhelming the opposition of luxury supercars (including Porsche’s very own 911 Turbo S that I found weirdly unexciting a few years back in this very column) because it simply feels more connected. In all aspects of performance, poise, power and prowess, the feedback to the pilot is so much more physical than any of its rivals. It reminds me a lot of the McLaren F1 (see panel), where every manual input elicits an immediate response, as instant as tapping on a window or flicking a fly off the back of your hand, there is no suggestion of a virtual brain getting in the way and digitally depriving you of all that visceral, old-school, analogue wonder. For example, every time I loosened my grip on the wheel, the contours of the road immediately took over the driving (to know one’s daily commute via the sinews of one’s fingertips is almost mystical.) This is a car that talks to the driver, a car that purrs with contentment one minute while screaming with adrenaline the next. The only thing GT2 RS owners will need to be wary of is the love/hate reaction from their fellow road-users. Vehicles like this tend to polarise opinion. They even cause people who wouldn’t usually look at a car twice to gesture what they think. One particularly conflicted individual made a point of pulling up next to me and beeping her horn while simultaneously scrunching up her face before sticking her fingers down her throat and pretending to vomit. She then promptly returned to smoking her stinking cigarette with all the windows up. Heigh-ho!<doc-sep>
Lamborghini still hasn’t shown us completely what the new Aventador SVJ looks like, but the entire automotive world now knows just how capable this hypercar is on a track. 6 minutes, 44.97 seconds – that’s how long it took the Lambo to cover 12.9 miles of twists, hills, blind corners, and blistering straights that make the Nürburgring Nordschleife. The time beats the former record-holder – the Porsche 911 GT2 RS – by 2.33 seconds. It also topped the all-electric Nio EP9’s time of 6:45.9, but the McLaren P1 LM is still technically faster at 6:43.2. The times of both those cars, however, are controversial in that each will have an extremely limited production run. But enough about that – you’re here to check out this Porsche-versus-Lamborghini rivalry. The record runs from both cars are backed up by good in-car video, but we wanted to see a direct, side-by-side comparison. Enter our video guru James Bradbury, who mapped out starting points for both of these clips down to the millisecond, creating this awesome Motor1.com video feature. And are we ever glad he did, because this viewpoint offers up some curious insight into the strengths and weaknesses of each car that wouldn’t be seen otherwise. Be forewarned – having your map of Nürburgring corners will help you navigate the following paragraph. Gallery: Lamborghini Aventador SVJ Teaser 6 Photos Surprisingly, the Porsche jumps out to an early lead. There’s nearly a second between the two cars at Flugplatz, but the Lamborghini slowly creeps back through the more technical sections of the Nordschiefe. At Kesselchen the Lambo's lead is a full 3.5 seconds, but the 911 GT2 RS cuts that back to just two seconds at Brünnchen. We’d expect the Porsche to run better in the bends with the big Lamborghini assaulting the higher-speed sections, but this direct comparison suggests the opposite is true. That theory is further supported by the 911 GT2 RS cutting a 3.5-second deficit at Kliens Karussel to the finishing gap of 2.33 seconds – on a stretch of track that's predominately straight. Lamborghini has been making a big deal about handling and downforce in its recent teasers. Granted this analysis is a total armchair effort, but the video comparison suggests that yes, the Aventador SVJ can definitely bite at the asphalt. In fact, it might bite so hard with improved aero bits that top speed could suffer. In the end, it still adds up to one thing: Lamborghini has properly renewed its rivalry with Porsche.