I was looking through lap times of different production cars, and there are some wildly out of place cars doing ring laptimes, some cars are faster than they seem they should be, while others are slower than they should be. Which got me thinking how some cars truly get tested in showroom condition, and others get the “marketing” treatment to produce a laptime a showroom car would never touch, solely to sell more cars. Then I found this article that talks exactly about just that.
https://www.thedrive.com/porsche/11012/nurburgring-times-dont-matter
There’s a YT’r I watch who does speed tests of 20mph - 70mph as that’s the legal limit on UK roads, only does it on a dual carriageway with cars already doing high speeds upto 60mph.
That’s realistic in everyday driving as who’s going to really do 0-60 in normal situations?
I think the Nurburgring has a reputation and the times are more of a fun idea, I personally wouldn’t take it seriously to measure cars, as too many variables, I always wanted to take my own personal car to the track to see how fast I could get round, then actually place the time in the ring sticker people put on cars, as usually its ‘NeverBeen’ just to say me and car has been there.
Why is the track famous anyway?
Notoriety from historic accidents. It was here where Nikki Lauda caught fire and Stefan Bellof lost his life after setting a record that held 35 years. Then there is in somewhat recent history the benefit of double exposure. I think there was a time when Formula One was held at the GP and DTM at the Nordschleife.(Not at the same time ofc)
And current factors like, I think there are only 2 other tracks in germany where you can just drive to and “race”. Everywhere you have to pay like 800€ for a track day. So everyone flocks to the ring. Which helps towards international fame.
And just plain old chance. Like why is Silverstone britains goto track and not Brands Hatch? Why is Daytona famous? Assuming every other being also just an oval.