After just a few weeks of being verboten, there appears to be a sliver of a chance for lap-record attempts to take place once again without speed limits at the famous Nürburgring. An unnamed industry insider tells Road & Track that Capricorn Nürburgring GmbH, which is the circuit's owner, intends to lift the new speed limit rules when automakers are on track testing. The motoring magazine claims that this info is coming from someone that it trusts.
According to Road & Track's source, an official announcement might be on the way of this rules revision. Of course, dropping the speed limits doesn't necessarily mean that Koenigsegg or anyone else can show up with a crate of GoPros for a sub-seven minute timed lap attempt to post on YouTube. It's also entirely possible that this change could simply open up manufacturer testing again, which happens regularly there.
The speed limits were initially instituted on the Nordschleife after a crash during a VLN race resulted in the death of a spectator. The governing body of the series responded by cutting power for GT3 cars and restricting speeds at several points around the circuit. Initially, this only applied to racers, but the rules were subsequently broadened to manufacturer testing, as well.
This move came out just as Koenigsegg was bringing its 1,341-horsepower One:1 to attempt a production-car lap record. The megacar was capable of going well in excess of what the regulations allowed. With them in place, it could never have beaten the Porsche 918 Spyder's 6:57 lap time, which was set when there were no speed limits in place.
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According to Road & Track's source, an official announcement might be on the way of this rules revision. Of course, dropping the speed limits doesn't necessarily mean that Koenigsegg or anyone else can show up with a crate of GoPros for a sub-seven minute timed lap attempt to post on YouTube. It's also entirely possible that this change could simply open up manufacturer testing again, which happens regularly there.
The speed limits were initially instituted on the Nordschleife after a crash during a VLN race resulted in the death of a spectator. The governing body of the series responded by cutting power for GT3 cars and restricting speeds at several points around the circuit. Initially, this only applied to racers, but the rules were subsequently broadened to manufacturer testing, as well.
This move came out just as Koenigsegg was bringing its 1,341-horsepower One:1 to attempt a production-car lap record. The megacar was capable of going well in excess of what the regulations allowed. With them in place, it could never have beaten the Porsche 918 Spyder's 6:57 lap time, which was set when there were no speed limits in place.
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