One thing that gave me a real appreciation of the achievement of the bellof lap was Forza 3. I can do a slightly faster time in the 956. but only 1 out of 4 laps. The other 3 I crash, in what would probably be a fatal crash in real life.

Still, a 956 around the ring would be my dream drive.

 

not at all

it just gives a bit of perspective

same as Bellof's time puts the Radical's in perspective (flying lap or not)

I'm only really interested in the ultimate time

but I appreciate some people put some store by other times

 

Here's his profile...

http://www.driverdb.com/drivers/1394/

I've heard of him before but only really in a Radical context as one of my customers previous had one and raced in the Radical Championship. Been in an SR3 on a track, cornering is pretty eye watering but wouldn't like to get a corner wrong, expecially at the Ring..

 

When are we going to get an F1 car going round there for a publicity stunt?

 

We did. Nick Heidfeld put one around about a year or so ago.

 

F1
On 28 April 2007, Nick Heidfeld drove a BMW Sauber F1.06 Formula One car around the Nordschleife, on a BMW publicity day in combination with a VLN 4h endurance race.[74] For safety reasons, BMW announced that the car was slowed with hard demonstration tires, maximum ride height, and 275 km/h top speed limited by the transmission. Heidfeld drove three laps on the combined Nordschleife and short GP-track, as used in VLN races, with a track length of 24.433 km (so comparison with older records is difficult).

The official lap time released by BMW Sauber was declared to be 8:34 (thus ca. 30 seconds slower than the fastest Porsche 996 turbo in VLN). The German press duly reported this lap time, yet criticized BMW. In each lap, Heidfeld slowed down once to pose for a slow video truck, at Schwedenkreuz on the first lap 1, Kesselchen in lap 2, and Döttinger Höhe in the last lap. The two time spans in between the three passes of Heidfeld were clocked by some fans around the track, first Wehrseifen to Wehrseifen in about 7:28, then 7:22 from Klostertal to Klostertal, which is over 50 seconds quicker than the fastest current Porsche 997 GT3 RSR in VLN. This translates to an average of about 200 km/h (120 mph), similar to Bellof's record, but considering the slow GP section, Heidfeld probably was faster on the Nordschleife, close to 6 minutes. Fans who respect the official record of the late Stefan Bellof settle for an "estimated 6:12".

Road & Track magazine reported Heidfeld's lap was a 5:57 or 5:58 (for the Nordschleife only), breaking the track's six-minute barrier for the first time in history.[75] However, their times were done by measuring the speed in some corners, and then calculating a lap time, and not timing a full lap. Heidfeld has since expressed his desire to repeat the experience with less restriction.

According to formula one F1 Racing magazine of June 2006, BMW engineers had estimated that a BMW-Sauber F1.06 could lap in under 5:15.8[76] which equals to an average of 237 km/h (147 mph).