AMG beats Alfa's SUV Nurburgring lap record

Friday, 23 November 2018

Nurburgring lap times have been a source of bragging rights in the supercar would forever now, not to mention as well as for sporty sedans, hot hatches and other cars with sporting pretensions.

But now it would seem to be the turn of the SUV to nail an impressively low lap time of the North Loop of the legendary track.

Alfa Romeo have been proudly trumpeting the Stelvio Quadrifoglio's 7 minute 51.7 second lap time that handily eclipsed the Porsche Cayenne Turbo S's previous record time by more than 8 seconds, but recently Mercedes-AMG shaved a further two seconds off that with the mighty GLC 63 S, dropping it to 7 minutes and 49.4 seconds.

The Mercedes-AMG GLC 63 S is faster around the Nurburgring than a Lamborghini Gallardo from a decade back. That is all you need to know.

The Alfa is powered by the Italian company's spectacular twin turbo 2.9-litre V6 version of the Ferrari F154 modular engine that also powers the Giulia Quadrifoglio and produces 375kW of power and 600Nm of torque. By way of comparison, the Giulia rips around the Nurburgring in 7 minutes and 32 seconds.

**READ MORE

The Ferrari-engined (well, sort of) Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio is the previous Nurburgring lap record holder for SUVs.

* Alfa Romeo Stelvio sets new SUV benchmark around Nurburgring

* Why the Mercedes-AMG GLC 63 S is our Top Performance/Luxury SUV of 2018

It ain't pretty and has a silly name, but the Lamborghini Urus could well wipe the smile off AMGs face.

* It's no bull: new Lamborghini Urus is a Super-SUV**

The AMG, on the other hand, packs a version of the German company's brutal 4.0-litre twin-turbo that also produces 375kW of power, but a heftier 700Nm of torque.

While it is easy to say that both are slower than the Honda Civic Type R (7:43.8) as though that is some kind of insult, it is worth remembering that both are also faster than some very serious cars from the last decade, including the 2014 F10 BMW M5 (7:54.0), the 2014 Aston Martin V12 Vantage S (7:52.1) and the 2008 Lamborghini Gallardo LP 560-4 (7:51.8), as well as some proper legends from not all that far back, including the mighty 2004 Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren (7:52.0), the 2005 Ferrari F430 (7:55.0) and the 1997 Lamborghini Diablo SV (8:09.2).

For the GLC's record-setting run, AMG says that the company's development engineer, Markus Hofbauer, was at the wheel and that he bettered the previous record time 'by a competitor' at his first attempt. Which is rather smug, even though it is correct.

Although Mercedes-AMG shouldn't be too smug because, while Lamborghini has said publicly that it isn't all that interested in SUV Nurburgring lap times, the 478kW/850Nm Urus is said to have cut some pretty impressive lap times there during testing. Although no official figures have ever been released, the Italian company has made noises about the idea of an official run, but nothing has ever come of it.

Perhaps AMG's latest efforts could inspire them, after all, Lamborghini does hold the current production car record there with the Aventador LP770-4 SVJ's shattering 6 minutes and 44.97 seconds lap, so chucking the Urus around there for an official run could suddenly seem more appealing to them. May as well have the complete set, after all.