Dunlop are celebrating a new lap record at the Nürburgring, after being chosen by Radical Sportscars to provide the grip for their attempt at setting a new benchmark for Roadgoing production cars.
Radical Sportscars has smashed the Nürburgring production car lap record, with driver Michael Vergers posting a committed 6m48s lap time. The road-legal SR8LM smashed the previous record, also held by Radical since 2005, by an incredible eight seconds. All this, less than 24 hours after the car was driven from England to Germany for the record by Vergers and Roger Green, from UK automotive magazine ‘Evo’.
The latest Dunlop Direzza DZ03G road-legal tyres were used to drive from the UK to Germany – and the same set of tyres was then used for the record!
The Nurburgring Nordschleife in Germany’s Eifel Mountains is renowned as the toughest test of man and machine in the driving world. In 1976 it was deemed too dangerous for Formula One – but it established a new role as being the definitive place for high performance car manufacturers to test their cars, and tyres, to the limit.
When launching new supercars, car manufacturers wear a Nordschleife lap record as a badge of honour. More relevant than maximum speed or acceleration times, a ‘Ring lap time tells the story of how fast a car is in an environment with every type of corner, crest, and camber to challenge its dynamic capabilities. As production cars and tyre technology gets faster and more effective, they are getting ever closer to the outright lap-record for racing cars, set by Stefan Bellof in a Porsche 956 in 1985 in 6m 11s on slick tyres in 1983.
Radical co-founder Mick Hyde said: “I’m obviously delighted, the record has been a real team effort. Dunlop have supplied us with brilliant, hard-wearing trackday tyres, indeed we’ve only used one set to both drive to the ‘Ring, and set the record. We’ve proved that the SR8LM is not only the world’s best trackday car, but it’s also practical enough to drive to and from the circuit. It is a genuine production sportscar, with genuine performance credentials, as we’ve shown today.”
The Dunlops chosen by Radical were 225/45R16 Direzza DZ03G front tyres and 255/40R17 Direzza DZ03G H1 on the rear. The test programme was engineered by Paul Bryant, Matthew Rees and Michael Butler from Dunlop Motorsport.
Some major car manufacturers may claim the Radical is merely a ‘racing car with number plates and a tax disc’ and highlight Nissan’s recent 7m27s lap with their GT-R as truly representative of the ultimate lap for a car with a ‘roof and four seats’, but Dunlop are comfortable with this debate: both the Nissan GT-R and indeed Bellof’s 956 record-breaker were shod with Dunlop tyres as well !
About Dunlop
Dunlop is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of high and ultra high performance tyres with an impressive track record of motor sport successes. Dunlop’s extensive racing experience has led to innovative technologies for tyres designed for everyday motoring. Always looking to maximize driving pleasure, Dunlop offers all types of motorists the performance and durability of the latest tyre technologies, including tyres with RunOnFlat technology, which is fitted to award winning vehicles such as the Mini, BMW One, Three, Five Series and X5.
Many of the world’s leading vehicle manufacturers, including Alfa Romeo, AMG, Audi, Bentley, BMW, Jaguar, Lexus, Mercedes-Benz and Porsche, fit Dunlop as standard.
For more information on Dunlop, visit www.dunlopdriversclub.co.uk