Porsche's 'Ring Lap Record Annihilation Proves Hybrid Has Won

Although the technology has been around in various forms for decades, winning hearts, minds and races, the total destruction of the Nurburgring lap record is arguably hybrid's most potent display to date
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It’s no secret that the automotive world is changing. Depending on who you talk to, the story is of grudging compliance or wide-eyed eco-ferver, with a hundred stops in between, but the industry-wide consensus is that electrification is unavoidable in the long term.

To those less willing to throw their arms wide and welcome this paradigm shift, hybrids have been, at best, no better than a petrol-powered equivalent and, at worst, a fundamental betrayal of the freedoms the car originally stood for. Slow, undesirable and uninspiring are the accusations from the ‘no thanks’ camp.

Until recently the lap record for the world’s most famous ex-grand prix circuit was held by a petrol car; a certain Porsche 956 C driven to within an inch of its life by the supremely, wildly talented Stefan Bellof. It was a record that had stood for so long that many people had begun to doubt that anyone would even try to beat it.

Only Porsche itself has had the guts – and the finances – to have a go at besting its own benchmark. The 919 Evo, a product of top-level motorsport but with no rules to restrict its performance, had been devouring lap times all over the place as part of a post-WEC hangover that turned performance records into the equivalent of the cold pizza at the back of the fridge.

The 919 Evo and the stunning 956 C whose record stood for 35 years
The 919 Evo and the stunning 956 C whose record stood for 35 years

With WEC dominated and all Porsche’s team goals achieved, the question was what came next. Stuttgart’s world-beating hybrid drivetrain couldn’t be allowed to fade into the background, so an anonymous PR genius at Porsche decided that the programme needed to go a little more… social.

There are plenty of car enthusiasts out there who never really followed the WEC during Porsche’s winning streak from 2015-2017, but who know all about the famous Green Hell, the legend of Bellof and about his 956 C. What better way to reach them; to post the new Porsche brand values in front of all the Internet-connected world, than to set a time so ridiculous that its creation would become an instant milestone in a million memories?

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The attempt on the ‘Ring record may have been inevitable after such impressive displays at the likes of Spa-Francorchamps, where it beat Lewis Hamilton’s track record. But the manner in which it was executed was brutal. It dragged Bellof’s 35-year-old record outside and shot it. Make no mistake, Porsche has made a very deliberate statement about its technology and about where it sees the future.

With such a barbaric destruction of a legendary lap record Porsche has finally killed the independent combustion engine. Already, its engineers are working on ways to electrify every one of its model lines in ways that boost performance, add value and ace the tougher new emissions tests in Europe. Hybrid is no longer that drab, restrictive, sluggish weapon of the anti-fun police. It’s a beast that can turn a turbocharged four-cylinder race car into the fastest thing around any major circuit in the world.

A whole new audience will now start to see petrol power as archaic; big V8s and V12s as unnecessary and backwards-thinking. Hybrid is now the king, whether it’s boxing to Queensberry rules in approved motorsport, or bare-knuckle brawling in the streets outside official competition.

From now on, kids who are feeding their new-found hunger for poster cars, looking at the fastest cars around the most dangerous circuit in the world, won’t see a legendary petrol car. They’ll see a legendary hybrid. The game has changed: hybrids will be even more desirable to future car buyers. Maybe it won’t feel like it to everyone yet, but the future has just taken a big step closer.

Comments

Anonymous

Could the next record breaking car be electric?

06/30/2018 - 12:35 |
2 | 2
Anonymous

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

The record for a road car before the Huracan Performante was the NIO EP9, a Chinese electric hypercar

06/30/2018 - 13:00 |
6 | 4
TheMindGarage

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

Possibly. If you only need to be able to last the out lap, a hot lap and an extremely slow in lap, the battery doesn’t have to be all that big. Perhaps even a battery-supercapacitor combo (supercapacitors are less energy dense but better at providing big power for short bursts).

06/30/2018 - 16:35 |
3 | 0
Nishant Dash

To be extremely honest, it’s largely contributed to modern aero advancements and tire tech. Also the new Nordschleife surface is much smoother and this helps. Hybrid tech no doubt played a huge role due to instant power but I’m sure non hybrid engines still make enough power and are responsive enough. True electric will have a huge advantage but tbh Hybrid≈Non Hybrid in terms of power.
And what a time to be alive 😍😂

06/30/2018 - 12:41 |
22 | 20
Fayyaz Ahmed(#JDM Squad)(#Stancenation)

The end of the automotive world.I’ve never been so dipressed(sigh)

06/30/2018 - 12:46 |
3 | 15

Dude… Just no. Imo it’s great that tech has come so far 😍 true we’ll miss the raw older cars, but then we can always drive em! I’m a self professed classic 911 fanboy lol! But this is damn impressive

06/30/2018 - 12:47 |
6 | 9

Yep hybrids are soooo boring /s

06/30/2018 - 12:55 |
14 | 1
Uzair Patel

Try an F1 car at the ring. Would be interesting to see if they are in comparison or not.

06/30/2018 - 13:08 |
8 | 2

Imagine an F1 car equivalent of the 919, built without rules

06/30/2018 - 13:11 |
5 | 1

It would be amazing to see the German Grand Prix return to the Nordschleife.

06/30/2018 - 13:18 |
2 | 1
🎺🎺thank mr skeltal

In reply to by Uzair Patel

A modern F1 car wouldn’t be able to lap the ring even once, the track is way too bumpy. The car would bottom out in the first corner and lose its front wing in the third.

06/30/2018 - 15:36 |
10 | 1

It would be an easy win for the F1, as it’s quicker 60-200mph and higher grip.

07/02/2018 - 00:55 |
0 | 0
Jakob

The thing about the Nürburgring is that it has a combination of very bendy sections (with elevation gain) and very fast sections, unlike most other race tracks. I’d say that being hybrid helped it on this track - the electric motor allowed it to accelerate quickly from the corners, whereas the combustion engine provided enough power on the straights. Having 440 bhp on tap whenever necessary without any delay whatsoever makes a huge difference. Watch the onboard video; the way this car accelerates out of the corners is absolutely incredible, not even F1 cars accelerate with such a brutal force.

06/30/2018 - 13:08 |
18 | 1
Anonymous

In reply to by Jakob

Yes, but in a street car a hybrid system like that (with an electric motor almost as powerful as the ICE and a relatively tiny battery) would be pretty annoying. Imagine driving an M3 with a 300 hp ICE and a 200 hp electric motor: Would be great for the 15-20 secs you have the Hybrid boost, after that you would essentially be driving a hot hatch since you usually dont do enough heavy braking in everyday driving to keep the battery charge up. The only way around this is putting a bigger battery in so you can use the additional power for a longer time period, that makes the car alot heavier though. Its also stupid to suggest that a laptime like this would only be possible with a Hybrid, if you put a powerfull high reving formula engine in there it would probably be just as fast, oh well :)

06/30/2018 - 16:29 |
6 | 1
Anonymous

Leaked footage of Timo getting out the car afterwards

06/30/2018 - 13:10 |
92 | 0
Robert Gracie

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

I definitely think Timo had his mind mashed in the corners…….

06/30/2018 - 14:09 |
10 | 0
Anonymous

I think that the title is a bit wrong, because you really can’t know if hybrids are really faster unless you put an equal or very similar car around the same track with a maxed out combustion engine…

06/30/2018 - 14:39 |
11 | 1
Jevil

Oh god

06/30/2018 - 14:45 |
0 | 0
—Joseph—

That was coughs kinda fast

06/30/2018 - 15:22 |
0 | 0
Anonymous

The 919 didn’t beat the record because it was a hybrid. It beat the record in spite of it. A bigger, more powerful engine instead of a little 4 cylinder and hybrid batteries would save weight and make the same power and torque.

The 919 was made for endurance racing, where fuel economy plays a part in how many laps the car can complete, which is why it’s a hybrid, and not purely ICE.

06/30/2018 - 16:01 |
9 | 0
TheMindGarage

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

Agreed. Take an F1 V10 and re-engineer it to take some boost and you’d probably have 2,000 hp. In fact I reckon you could even build an electric car (albeit with only enough battery capacity for a slow out lap, one hot lap and a limp-mode in lap) which would beat it.

06/30/2018 - 16:34 |
8 | 0

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