Seven minutes is the new eight minutes when it comes to Nürburgring Nordschleife->ke999 lap times, and with a time of 6:59.73, the Lamborghini Aventador LP 750-4 Superveloce just barely gets its Italian loafers into the door of the extremely exclusive sub-seven minute club. Impressively, the time was a massive 25-second improvement over the base Aventador,->ke3624 which speaks volumes about the Superveloce’s aggressive aero add-ons, weight savings and sticky Pirelli P Zero Corsas.
Obviously, Lamborghini->ke44 had some cameras handy to document the occasion. DTM and GT3 class racer and Pirelli test driver Marco Mapelli was responsible for the blindingly quick lap, and I definitely encourage you to watch this in-car footage of him hustling the V-12-powered Lambo around the ‘Ring. I can’t think of a stronger word than “brave” without getting vulgar, but this Mapelli guy is a seriously impressive driver.
Why it matters
That said — and we’re not accusing Lamborghini of any shenanigans — production-car lap-time claims around the ‘Ring can be somewhat dubious. Because there is no official governing body at the Nürburgring to monitor lap times for production cars, manufacturers are left to time their own laps, which presents an obvious conflict of interest. Likewise, other factors including tire selection, weight and engine tweaks are completely self-governed.
Then, there’s the question of what constitutes a “road car” and a “production car.” Track-day car builder Radical->ke3734 claims its 6:48 lap of the Nordschleife is the fastest ever for a road car, but its cars are only road-legal in England, not in Germany where the Nürburgring is obviously located. That’s why Porsche->ke1 felt completely justified in claiming the 918 Spyder’s->ke3629 time of 6:57 was the real record, and going by Porsche’s reasoning, that makes the Superveloce the new second-fastest car around the ‘Ring.
But, anyway you cut it, anything below eight minutes is still extremely quick and anything below seven minutes is pure lunacy.