New 911 Turbo Laps Nurburgring Quicker

The Porsche 911 has always been a great performer that offered similar performance to high-end exotics, but at a lower price. The current 911 range, and specifically the 911 Turbo, is no different. Latest and greatest? You bet.

Proof is in the performance pudding with the latest lap time numbers for the 911 Turbo. Autocar is reporting that the new 911 Turbo laps the Nurburgring race track in 7 minutes, 39 seconds, a full 10 seconds quicker than the previous car.

That still puts it behind the rival Nissan GT-R, which recently beat it's own time, coming in at 7 minutes 27.56 seconds. Porsche seems intent on beating the GT-R's lap time, so it might work to make future models like the Turbo S or 911 GT3 RS catch up to the GT-R.

Responsible for these increased lap times in the 911 Turbo is a 55 pound drop in weight and what Porsche calls “first entirely new engine in the 35-year-history of the Turbo."

Previously, a 3.6-liter unit was used; this time the  Turbo eschews that for the 3.8-liter direct injected engine that does duty in the Carrera S. The new engine develops 20 more horsepower, bringing the total to 500!

The 911 Turbo is also able to be combined (for the first time) with Porsche’s seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox. To boot, the 911 Turbo reduces C02 emissions by 18 percent and ups fuel economy from 20.8 mpg to a startling 24.8 mpg, avoiding the U.S gas guzzler tax.

For a performance car like this, that is simply amazing! It'll be interesting to see if the 911 catches up to the GT-R's time.