A Porsche record that lasted 35 years
07/01/2018
On May 28, 1983, Stefan Bellof needed 6:11.13 minutes to lap the Nürburgring's Nordschleife, which had been shortened to 20.835 km due to construction work, in a Porsche 956. He clocked an average speed of 202.053 km/h in the sports prototype and put over five seconds between himself and second fastest Jochen Mass in the final training session. What a par force ride! By the way, the picture above was taken on another occasion.
The race showed just how dangerous this was. While leading the race, Bellof got a lift on a jump hill, went up vertically into the air and then crashed into the crash barriers. Miraculously, he remained uninjured. However, victory in the 1000 km race was lost to Mass/Ickx, also in a Porsche 956.
However, the track record remained unbroken for the next 35 years. Since then, nobody has circled the Nordschleife faster than Bellof in 1983 - until last week.
Timo Bernhard competed again in the optimized Porsche 919 Hybrid Evo and managed to lap the natural race track in an incredible 5:19.15 minutes, which corresponds to an average speed of 234.69 km/h. Almost unbelievable!
Of course, Timo Bernhard had a few advantages. The track was closed to him, his car optimized for the one fast lap regardless of the regulations, while Bellof had set his best time in normal training traffic and with a car that had to endure 1000 km (or the 24 Hours of Le Mans).
Both performances are almost unbelievable. Anyone who has ever driven a little faster on the Nürburgring knows how narrow the track is, how twisty and hilly, and how uneven the road surface is in certain places. Averaging over 200 km/h over the 20 km or so is no mean feat. But Bellof's performance should certainly be rated a little higher, as his risk was considerably higher and the technology much more primitive, i.e. with less downforce and less power. Porsche would therefore do well to celebrate the 919 record run, which can only have an unofficial character, as a tribute to Bellof's long-standing record.
The fact that the record was never broken is of course also due to the fact that the sports prototypes no longer raced on the Nordschleife after 1983, just like the Formula 1 cars after Lauda's accident in 1976.
