The German magazine "Sport Auto" peformed their "Supertest" on the SL65 AMG Black Series recently. They are one of a few magazines in the world which independently test cars on the Nordschliefe circuit using the same driver (Horst von Saurma) all the time, making the comparison in laptimes more reasonable than using times claimed from manufacturers.

The SL65 Black Series' laptime was 7.51 minutes, making it the king of the all Mercedes cars ever tested by Sport Auto on the "Ring". In reality, the SLR may be faster if it was tested with R-compounds. The Nurburgring is a very long track, where power and handling both matter.

Although it is the fastest Mercedes tested by Sport Auto on the "Ring", the SL65 BS is noticeably behind many other premier performance cars.

The fastest MB's tested by Sport Auto on the Nurburgring:
SL65 Black Series (Dunlop Sportmaxx GT) - 7.51
SLR McLaren (Michelin Pilot Sport PS2) - 7.52
CLK DTM AMG (Dunlop SP Super Sport Race) - 7.54
CLK63 Black Series (Pirelli P Zero Corsa)- 8.05


Some other very high performance cars tested by Sport Auto:
997 GT2 (unknown tires -likely R compounds) - 7.33
F430 Scuderia (unknown tires, likely R compounds) - 7.39
997 GT3 Mk2 (unknown tires - likely R compounds) - 7.40
Gallardo Superleggera (Pirelli P Zero Corsa) - 7.46
599 GTB Fiorano (unknow tires, likely R compounds) - 7.47
Murcielago LP640 (unknown tires, likely R compounds) - 7.47
Ford GT (Goodyear Eagle F1 Supercar) - 7.52


More affordable sports cars tested by Sport Auto that perform really well:
E46 M3 CSL (unknown tires, likely R compounds) -7.47
Corvette Z06 (Goodyear Eagle F1 Supercar) - 7.49
997 C2S Mk2 with PDK (Michelin Pilot Sport Cup) - 7.50
Audi R8 (unknown tires, likely R compounds) - 8.04
E92 M3 (Michelin Pilot Sport Cup) - 8.05

 

IIRC, NBR was repaved some 12-18mos ago, so many of today's times are a few secs faster than ones achieved pre-repaving

Many of track tires subtract 5-10secs on NBR but tire tech is rapidly advancing, so many track tires are far more daily-useable than ever before

IIRC, the ?'03 SL55 achieved an 8:06 NBR; given that SL63/65 ABC, tires, brakes, etc have advanced considerably in intervening 6-7 yrs, wouldn't be surprised if SL63 030 has ~8 min NBR

Hoch KK ring is a tighter, more technical track...IIRC, SportAuto got 1.12,2 for 65Blk; 1.12,0 for 599 (non-HGTE); and 1.10,0 for 997GT2

Given that 65Blk weighs ~4200lbs, 599 ~4000lbs and 997GT2 ~3200lbs, the track times are remarkably close

Besides, many cars with spectacular NBR times fail miserably in precision/stability/safety on real-world, sometimes bumpy, damp mtn twisties w/on-coming cars, blind corners, etc...and w/amateur, affluent drivers/owners who tend to have different risk tolerances than pro drivers or journalists

 

how the hell is the old m3 csl soo freaking fast around the ring????

please some one tell me that does not seem really strange for a car with only 340hp?

 

Maybe this was the old M3 that they used to get that time . . .

Click HERE

JDB

 

Good lord...that is nice.

 

If you like that, how about this video with Hans Stuck?

Click HERE

JDB

 

Nice videos Dennis !

 

e46 M3´s were always very fast on the track. Thats the same as with the r35 gtr. It also got only 485hp and run ~7:30 on the ring, a lot of other more powerful SUPERCARS run slower, so how to explain this. I think its all about the engineering

 

Hi Dave,

I know there are a few people out there who can really appreciate those videos . . .

JDB