Tiny, minimalist, fast, and beautiful: the Alfa Romeo 4C is just about the perfect truly modern interpretation of the supercar--at least for some. It has officially logged a Nürburgring Nordschleife lap time of 8 minutes, 4 seconds.

Shown in these photos confirming the lap time still wearing a few hints of pre-production camouflage, the Alfa 4C's combination of 240 horsepower and roughly 2,100-pound weight helped it achieve the fastest lap time ever set by a car with less than 250 horsepower, according to Alfa Romeo. Super-sticky Pirelli P Zero Trofeo tires also helped the little car reach its lap time.

By way of comparison, the 500-horsepower Chevy Camaro Z/28 outruns the Porsche 911 Carrera S and Audi R8 V10 around the 'Ring--and the Z/28 only outruns the pint-sized Alfa Romeo 4C by about 27 seconds. And the 4C will actually cost a bit less than the similarly stripped-down Camaro.

Horst von Saurma drove the fast lap on September 12, 2013. In addition to the quick lap time, Alfa says the 4C will run to 62 mph in just 4.5 seconds, pull lateral acceleration of over 1.1 g, brake at up to 1.2 g, and carry on to a top speed of 160 mph.

The 4C's turbocharged 1.75-liter four-cylinder engine is certainly fiece, but the even more affordable Mercedes-Benz CLA45 AMG's 355-horsepower 2.0-liter turbo four is the current record holder for most powerful production forced-induction four-bangers. On the other hand, the heavier, front-biased all-wheel-drive CLA45 AMG isn't likely to be as quick around the 'Ring.

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