I know many people have been very interested in how fast the ZR1 would be at the Ring… Most car enthusiasts are quite familiar with the Nürburgring. Built in the 1920′s near Cologne, Germany, “the Ring” is considered to be the toughest and most challenging race track in the world. Over the last two weeks, we have been doing our final tuning and testing there before we start ZR1 production cars. This morning (Friday June 27), General Motors development engineer Jim Mero drove the Corvette ZR1 around the Nürburgring in a time of 7:26.4. Jim commented after the lap that conditions were good except for a strong headwind down the main straight and that the lap was solid, but he felt there were a few places he could have gone faster. The car was bone stock with the exception of the communications and safety equipment. The tires were production Michelin Pilot Sport 2′s. These tires have been developed specifically for the ZR1 and will have impressive wet traction and wear (tread wear rating = 220), in addition to excellent dry road holding. Chassis alignment and vehicle height were set to factory specs. Likewise, the engine calibrations were absolutely stock, emissions compliant and the car ran on pump (not racing) fuel. The vehicle was exactly like the cars that will be built in Bowling Green, Kentucky and sold around the world later this summer. Despite posting one of the fastest times ever run by a production car, Nürburgring lap times were not an over-riding priority in …

It seems most of the kit is concentrated on the front and rear bumpers where the black and white camouflage is pasted. Since BMW is not producing a high-performance Z4 M for the current model the kit is just about as close as fans will get to that halo car. Unfortunately even accompanying engine upgrades are not expected, although the new 326hp, 450Nm M Sport power pack for the 135i and 335i cannot be discounted.

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Nurburgring Nordschleife – BMW M5 Ringtaxi vs Porsche 911 GT3.mpg

Just a video of my driving the BMW M3 GTR Race car around the ‘Ring, in a quick 6:14. All driving aids are switched off, and wearing racing soft tires. Not as smooth as I’d have liked, as I psyched myself out because I knew I was recording it. I have also done a 6.04, see it here on YT as well. Shame about the picture quality…what did you do to it Youtube? Details: Win this car on the Schwarzwald Liga A endurance. Race in GT Mode, Free Driving, NOT Arcade Mode (there is a difference). Use first person view, with the head up display showing the dials, so we can see your accel, braking and weight-shift telemetry for verification purposes. Post the whole lap. At least 2 wheels must remain on track for the whole lap. Its been upgraded to stage 4 turbo, giving it 725BHP, though it is degrading slowly because I’ve driven it a lot. Speed is in km/h. I use manual transmission settings, with the Logitech G25 wheel, and using the stick rather than the paddles for sequential shift gear changing, just the the real life version. Not much change to the setup has been made, because the car is already very well balanced, as I said …its one of the better handling cars in the whole game. Basically I increased the brake balance to 8 on the front, 6 on the back, maxed the downforce, added racing soft tyres, NOS, and as mentioned, switched all driving aids off. To make the video for Youtube, I used Ulead Video Studio 7 to capture the video to my PC from my handycam. I recorded Gran …