Road-legal 'Ring master
Posted by Bill Thomas at 4:21PM on Thursday 01 February, 2007 10 Comments
You've probably been seen a few good YouTube vids - there's some fantastic stuff on offer. If you haven't watched Michael Vergers setting the production (ie road-legal) car record around the Nürburgring, then shame on you, check it out here
Turn up the volume. Right up. There are more details about the car and the run here.
I spoke to Vergers the other day and he told me a few things about this lap. Before I go on, I should say that I rate Michael as one of the best drivers in the world - you've probably never heard of him, but I can tell you it's hard to overstate how good this bloke is.
Things have never quite fallen into place for him in terms of getting to the very top, but it's not through lack of ability. I've seen him race, and ridden with him, and I can assure you he's a brilliant driver - put him in any racing car and he's quick, from a NASCAR to a Radical. He won the European Le Mans LMP2 championship last year in a Zytech.
Anyway, to his lap. It's a 6:55, on road-legal tyres, which Michael said meant that the car wasn't as well balanced as it should have been. I thought his biggest hairy moment came in Pflanzgarden I at 5:46 (on the vid timer).
He takes the jump (very fast) at 5:36, then nails it all the way through Pflanzgarten II to Schwalbenschwanz (6:01) at unbelievable speed. At 5:46 the car goes light and sideways, and it made me almost eat my tongue when I saw it.
But no, Michael reckoned that was insignificant - the biggest terror-moment came earlier. It happens at the left-right flick-flack after Kallenhard and before the miss-hit-miss double right-hander on the way down the hill to Wehrseifen. The timer moment is at 2:36. And the problem was understeer.
He thought he was going off there as the car bottomed out and the nose pushed wide, and he had to lift to avoid the kerb. When you look at it, you can see exactly what he means - it must have been terrifying to have to lift there. He was taken by surprise and that's not good on this track.
Other noteworthy moments? A bit of harmless squirrelyness and tyre squeal at Hocheichen at 00:54, good speed through Schwedenkreuz at 1:27, taking the Foxhole flat and bottoming out at massive speed at 1:51, and using all the kerbs at Brunnchen at 5:15. In fact, the whole Karussell-Pflanzgarten-Schwalbenschwanz section (4:21 to 6:01) is extremely Senior. Watch it a few times and try to imagine being in the car.
Michael also said that it got hairy on the straights, because softer dampers were fitted to absorb the Nürburgring's terrible bumps and the car's aero downforce was causing it to bottom out at high speed (hear the undertray scraping from 6:42 to 7:04 at full speed in top gear - and around a corner!).
But the real action is at 2:36, between the moment when the car bottoms out and when Michael gets back on the throttle again. During that quiet instant, with the lock on and the car nosing toward the scenery, Vergers is more afraid than at any other time in the lap, and so should you be.
The corner names aren't important - even Vergers admits that he doesn't know them all - but if you want to follow him round, the map's here
It's a wild ride. Thanks, Michael.
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10 Comments for "Road-legal 'Ring master"
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Wow! I've driven (and crashed) the Ring many times on GT4 but this is frighteningly fast.
That Radical is such a great car!! It's amazing how he handled it so well around the 'Ring. Fantastic footage!
Respect, absolute respect. The man is a legend and extremely talented. Still makes you want to have a go even more! When does the next ferry leave?
SENSATIONAL!!!
A wild ride and 11 seconds faster than a 70s Ferarri F1 on road tyres! And it's British!!
Simply incredible. Interesting to note the number of times Vergers checks his belts, and the fact that he appears to be wearing full-safety, er, jeans...
I'm not sure how different the modern Nurburgring is to the 1970s circuit, but Clay Regazoni posted the fastest ever Formula One race lap in the 1975 Grand Prix at 7 minutes 5 seconds. Michael's lap is ten seconds faster.
Vergers is a hero of mine. Back when I was a pup of a motoring journo, I met him at Le Mans. He drove me around the track in an XJR-15, beat me to Calais in a battered old Clio diesel (I was driving a Ford RS200) and talked humbly about the life of a racing driver. He gave me some highly dangerous fireworks that he smuggled out of Romanistan or wherever he was racing before we met. I've never had the balls to let them off.
Back then, he was one of the old-school nomadic racing drivers. He raced wherever there was a car and a track.
To some extent, he's the same today but he's finally getting the recognition his epic talent deserves.
Have a safe and successful 2007, Michael.
What an incredible lap, he's even got time to wave to the Merc SL driver.
Just watched the video and it was amazing!!! Now if only those tame F1 drivers drove the Nordschleife in today's F1 cars, but that'll never happen.
I've probably lapped the 'Ring a 1,000+ times (on Gran Turismo 4), but I've never been there in real life. Watching that lap makes me want to go even more. I thought it was tough doing it from the comfort of my own home, but watching that has given me a whole new respect for anyone who's ever driven the real thing, especially on road tyres!
Some say the Stig could do it in five minutes flat with a Fiesta.