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Captured: Pagani Zonda R Setting Unofficial 6:47 'Ring Record

 
7 2,035 views Jun 30, 2010
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Pagani Zonda R spied on the 'Ring setting new 6:47 lap time

HI-RES GALLERY: Pagani Zonda R spied on the 'Ring setting new 6:47 lap time

Nissan's GT-R and Porsche's 911 GT2 put on an infamous duel for 'Ring supremacy, with the final claim from Nissan of a 7:26.7 lap time coming within a hair of the Corvette ZR1's 7:26.4, later shaved to 7:22.4, both of which scorched the Pagani Zonda F's 7:27.8. But then the next round of barely-production supercars took to the track, and the Ferrari 599 GTO moved things to the next level: sub 7-minutes. Now Pagani has claimed another victory, pushing the time to a scant 6:47.

For those keeping score, both the 599 GTO and Zonda R have run the 'Ring faster than Niki Lauda's 1975 Ferrari 312T F1 car. And the Zonda is just 36 seconds behind Stefan Bellof's all-time record of 6:11 in a Porsche 956. Slight variations in the overall length of the circuit run make these times not quite completely comparable, but nevertheless stand as benchmarks for the sheer speed and capability of today's limited-production supercars.

The Zonda R's claimed 6:47 also tops the Radical SR8 LM production lap record set last year, and the Zonda R, though indescribably atypical for a "production" car, is still far more roadworthy and conventional than the Radical.

The best part? Mark Basseng, who drove the Pagani to the new fast time, thinks there's still another eight seconds left in the car.

[evo]





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Comments (7)

  1. By SuperSkyline89 Posted: 6/30/2010 11:08am PDT

    Holy crap that's fast!
    Everyone got so excited when the 599XX did a 6:58, Pagani totally slaughtered that time!
     
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  2. fb_100000985937298 avatar Billy Govender Posted: 6/30/2010 3:34pm PDT

    It seems the Italians have more than arrived at the Ring with such acheivements as the times set by Ferrari and Pagani.
     
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  3. By efpr Posted: 6/30/2010 8:51pm PDT

    And tell me again which car sells for $85,000 at your local Nissan dealership?
     
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  4. By fizzy Posted: 7/1/2010 7:35am PDT

    should be another 8 sec left in the car i did a 6min 34 sec with the same car at the ring on my ps3 :)
     
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  5. By SuperSkyline89 Posted: 7/1/2010 9:32am PDT

    @fizzy
    Easy to say when you've never driven the real thing at all, let alone on the most legendary track on the planet. Forza and Gran Turismo don't come close to real life. There aren't wind conditions or ambient air and track temperatures. They only include the major bumps and dips and leave out tons of subtle ones that only someone in the cockpit would feel. Those track features would make you shit your pants at 150 mph. And the most important one, your preservation instinct which stops a real race driver from charging into a corner as fast as you can on your game console. There's no reset button or rewind feature like Forza now has, you take a turn too fast and you stuff a million dollar car and kill yourself. Jeremy Clarkson tried to match his Honda NSX game time on Laguna Seca with the real car and couldn't do it because he didn't want to die. It's easy to make claims based on video games, most are total BS, yours is one of them.
     
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  6. By SuperSkyline89 Posted: 7/1/2010 9:43am PDT

    One more thing I forgot to mention. Cars in games are driven under ideal consitions. Throttle response, brake performance, weight transfer, aerodynamics, handling dynamics; it's all perfect. Real cars are nothing like this, every car that rolls off an assembly line is different. Every time CARandDRIVER tests different samples of the same car they get different performance figures, even the same exact sample changes over their 40,000 mile long term tests. Engines get broken in, suspensions settle, tires lose their slick outer rubber and grip better. Cars are constantly changing, something no video game can replicate.
     
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  7. By tf109b Posted: 7/1/2010 4:40pm PDT

    Chill out SuperSkyline. Video games might not be the real thing, but they're much closer to it than you think. I'm assuming he's talking about NFS Shift when he says he set that time on PS3. Why, because GT5 is not out yet, GT5Prologue doesn't have the 'ring, and Forza 3 isn't available on the PS3. NFS Shift isn't a very easy game to get right. Sure with a few tunes you can run your car pretty fast, but the Zonda here is the same car thats in the game. Another 8 seconds could equal a 6:39. With Racing tires I don't think it's an unfeasible time. Sure the 'ring is a big track, but have you driven it? Regardless of how cars differ, it's an amazing time, and the game is pretty close.
     
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