RSS_Auto_Poster
Well-known member
Written by Craig Jamieson
By now, you"re likely familiar with James Glickenhaus, from his beautiful Ferrari-derived P4/5 to his ambition to make the first real race car for the road". In fact, quite a lot of his ambition and results, for that matter are admirable. But we don"t have time to get into all of that when we"re staring at video evidence of what appears to be the world"s first hyperspace button. Or, to translate from hyperbole to English, a 6:33.20 lap of the Nurburgring Nordschleife in a car with his last name on the back. Yep, it"s your (seemingly daily) update on just how quickly one, if so inclined, can circumnavigate 12.9 miles" worth of racetrack in western Germany. In this case, It"s a few scant seconds more than six and a half minutes. And that"s pretty brisk. There are a series of rather large nota benes to discuss in relation to this hot lap, and the most immediate is that the SCG was on race slicks, which immediately robs it of any road car record. The second is that the Nurburgring 24 Hour runs on a combination of the Nordschleife and the Nurburgring GP circuit, so the 6:33.20 time was "extrapolated" from the full lap time.But before you dismiss it out of hand, we should point out that it was on slicks because it"s a race car, which was qualifying for the Nurburgring 24 Hour. We should also point out that the SCG was fitted with ballast and down on power, which is down to something called the Balance of Performance".Part of organising a top-tier race like the Nurburgring 24 Hour is trying to fit very distinct and disparate cars into a single competitive group, and the Balance of Performance is a way to do just that. As such, the SCG had a comparatively paltry 500bhp on tap from its 3.5-litre V6, and was carrying about 100kg of ballast (for a total weight approaching 1400kg), so that it could run in the SP-X class. So why, you might be wondering, is this so important? Well, in the past, Glickenhaus has said that, "with unrestricted road horsepower and no ballast, even on road-legal tyres we hope to kiss a 6:30 Nordschleife lap". And, considering that the unrestricted, V8-powered SCG003 should be good for about 800bhp and weigh 100kg less, the SCG"s production car" time could be in that ball park, embarrassing the newly aero-equipped Huracan Performante and even the mighty McLaren P1 LM in the process.
Date written: 12 Jun 2017
More of this article on the Top gear website
ID: 8107
By now, you"re likely familiar with James Glickenhaus, from his beautiful Ferrari-derived P4/5 to his ambition to make the first real race car for the road". In fact, quite a lot of his ambition and results, for that matter are admirable. But we don"t have time to get into all of that when we"re staring at video evidence of what appears to be the world"s first hyperspace button. Or, to translate from hyperbole to English, a 6:33.20 lap of the Nurburgring Nordschleife in a car with his last name on the back. Yep, it"s your (seemingly daily) update on just how quickly one, if so inclined, can circumnavigate 12.9 miles" worth of racetrack in western Germany. In this case, It"s a few scant seconds more than six and a half minutes. And that"s pretty brisk. There are a series of rather large nota benes to discuss in relation to this hot lap, and the most immediate is that the SCG was on race slicks, which immediately robs it of any road car record. The second is that the Nurburgring 24 Hour runs on a combination of the Nordschleife and the Nurburgring GP circuit, so the 6:33.20 time was "extrapolated" from the full lap time.But before you dismiss it out of hand, we should point out that it was on slicks because it"s a race car, which was qualifying for the Nurburgring 24 Hour. We should also point out that the SCG was fitted with ballast and down on power, which is down to something called the Balance of Performance".Part of organising a top-tier race like the Nurburgring 24 Hour is trying to fit very distinct and disparate cars into a single competitive group, and the Balance of Performance is a way to do just that. As such, the SCG had a comparatively paltry 500bhp on tap from its 3.5-litre V6, and was carrying about 100kg of ballast (for a total weight approaching 1400kg), so that it could run in the SP-X class. So why, you might be wondering, is this so important? Well, in the past, Glickenhaus has said that, "with unrestricted road horsepower and no ballast, even on road-legal tyres we hope to kiss a 6:30 Nordschleife lap". And, considering that the unrestricted, V8-powered SCG003 should be good for about 800bhp and weigh 100kg less, the SCG"s production car" time could be in that ball park, embarrassing the newly aero-equipped Huracan Performante and even the mighty McLaren P1 LM in the process.
Date written: 12 Jun 2017
More of this article on the Top gear website
ID: 8107
