This weekend (20th-23rd Sept.) I took the XKR 75 to Germany for some fast autobahn runs and a few laps of the Nürburgring Nordschleife. It took us most of Friday to get from London to the Essen area, ready for a fast morning blast up the A31, a relatively new autobahn with smooth surface, gentle curves and light traffic. It only has two lanes each way, but low traffic density means you are much more likely to have the fast lane to yourself.

'Bahnstorming:

We set out at 7AM on Saturday, balancing increasing light against increasing traffic. Fast 'bahn driving requires patience - you have to wait until you get some space with no speed limits (many areas are limited to 130 kmh or even less), no roadworks and no people carriers trundling past trucks at a sedate 140 kph. We eventually hit the sweet spot, and began the run. As the car reached 280 kmh (174 mph) I expected it to hit the speed limiter - but it didn't. It just kept on going. We eventually peaked at 296 kmh (184 mph) measured by GPS, and were able to hold a steady 293 (182) as long as traffic would allow. My guess is: the limiter is actually set at 300/186 like the XKR-S, and that translates to about 293/182 in real terms, since the car will always be slightly optimistic on speed measurement. A video of the speed run is on You Tube:


I had the car in Dynamic Mode, to stiffen the suspension and make sure that we didn't get thrown by any undulations - things that you'd hardly notice at 100 mph become big wallows at 180. It was very stable; I didn't feel we were at any risk of loss of control. I used both Drive & Sport transmission modes, which didn't seem to make a lot of difference - in fact, the fastest speed happened to be while we were in D.

Nordschleife:

On Sunday, we got to the Nordschleife at about 10 - and it was already closed because someone had thrown their Golf into the barriers. When it opened about half-an-hour later, we went out and did three familiarisation laps; no attempt to go too quickly, just trying to match the mental image of the trickiest spots with the reality. Big thumbs up to my navigator Terv, who, despite being a non-driver, knows the circuit pretty well from countless video game simulations and could remind me of the lefts and rights.

One thing that using simulators or watching video of other people's laps will not prepare you for: the elevation changes. There are a lot of crests where the track just drops away from you, sometimes into a hidden corner. In other places, it's very steep uphill, which suits more-powerful cars. Another thing is the bumpiness of some sections; the Karrusel and Schwalbenschwanz hairpins are made of jointed concrete, and you hear about those, but there are other bits like the braking area for the sharp Aremberg double-right that are not very smooth.

And the huge variety of vehicles of different performance and driver skills, all out at the same time, is chaotic - you find yourself going off-line into a corner to pass a slower car (all passes must be on the left), and thus compromising your entry and exit. Meanwhile, there's a fast mover behind pushing you to pull right and get out of the way. And bikes are a menace - they're not well suited to the constant twists & braking, so they're (relatively) slow. But bike riders are not used to being slower than the surrounding traffic, so they're not so good at looking at their mirrors and indicating right to say "Please pass".

After a break to allow the car and ourselves to cool off, we went out for another three laps, pushing things harder. I think I did my best lap during tis session, because I managed to get a lot of clear track and could take my own line, despite the fact that there was fine misty drizzle - it didn't seem to affect the handling appreciably. We didn't time the laps, because I didn't want to push myself harder than I should. Then the track was closed again after a bike rider put himself into the armco. When it reopened, there was a huge queue, and though we got on reasonably quickly, there were a lot of cars and bikes. We did video the 8th lap:


Not a great one - a trip onto the cobbles at Hocheichen (1:45), having to slow & go offline to let an Aston pass coming into Flugplatz (1:58), a scary slide at Schwedenkreuz (2:33), having to slow for crashes at Hohe Acht (7:03), Pflanzgarten (8:20) and Pflanzgarten again (8:44), then having to slow for traffic rather than belting under the gantry to end the lap. Bridge-to-gantry time was 10:15; without the crashes, I think I would have been sub-10. Unfortunately, we were out of gas (used an entire tank of 98 in 8 laps) and out of time, so I couldn't do a final lap.

The car was just great throughout. I ran it in Sport+Dynamic, with DSC on for the first 3 laps and Trac DSC for the rest. It brakes, turns and accelerates better than any car I've driven - but I'll admit my track experience is limited and was in a Ford Capri 3L in the 80s. That one moment at Schwedenkreuz, having entered too fast and trying to scrub speed without braking mid-curve, was the only time I felt it get away on me for a second.

And despite some very hard braking (e.g. after the jump in Pflanzgarten, which you can see at 8:39), I only triggered ABS once when I was caught out by a slower car swerving in front of me - every other time, the cat just dug its claws in and slowed dead straight. I have the standard Pirelli P-Zeros, so I'd be interested to feel the difference on a set of Michelin PSS. The P-Zeros certainly got a bit of wear, right onto the shoulders; as my biker friends would put it, I have no 'chicken strips' (the unworn sections of bike tyre that show you haven't been leaning it right over into corners).

Switching to Trac DSC did help with performance - I didn't get the little DSC hiccups when exiting corners, but I had the comfort that it would help keep things somewhat under control if I happened to be booting it on someone's oil spill. And the car certainly adapts to track driving; it seemed to become more aggressive on downshifts, stiffer into hard corners. The other impressive feature was that it took the punishment without blinking. The brakes didn't fade, there were no warnings for water or oil temperature, no drama whatsoever.

It was a great day, and a great experience - and I'm itching to go back again.

 

Thanks for posting. I had a blast just watching your videos. I was shocked to see how crowded the track was. Looks like so much fun.

 

Yes, it was tremendous fun, though a bit nerve-wracking in places. The traffic is a real problem - people get so involved in their own lap that they forget to look in their mirrors. I was lucky to have a navigator to keep an eye on what was coming up behind, so I could get out of the way where possible.

But it's not that easy; you have to stay right and indicate, to show the person behind that you've seen them. Staying right on a left-hand bend puts you out on the edge - conversely, if you're the person behind, you can't take a wide line in, which means you have a tight apex and can slip wide on the exit, into the path of the person you're trying to pass. I ended up on the high kerb halfway through Adenauet-Forst while trying to get past a string of slower cars - too tight in, too wide out.

 

WTF...I would never do that with my car. That's scary ****, especially those guys on the bikes. You must have a lot of trust in the other drivers. However, I'd love to do it with a track oriented rental car with lots of insurance. Looks like fun and a good way to wrack your car or get killed if your on a bike.

Thanks for posting this. It was fun just watching you. That Aston was moving.

 

Thanks for posting. Looks like loads of fun that I always hoped to do but, never quite got to it.

Actually, I did, I lapped that circuit in 6:57, if I remember correctly in a souped up ZR1 Corvette.... in Grand Tourismo 5...ha..ha..ha. That is the closest I got to it. Oh well, just enjoyed it vicariously through your video

As to the Autobahn, the fastest rental car I had there was an Opel Senator which had a top speed of 240 Km/hr or 150 MPH, probably at least 15 years ago. I remember even at that speed the sensation as the slow cars in the right lane appeared to be yanked backwards rather than a sensation of me going forward at very high speeds. That was fun, I spent countless hours running the rental Senator at tops speeds while my wife kept reminding me that, "you are going TOOOOOOO fast!!!". My answer was that, "no hon, it is LEGAL here".

Albert

 

Wow! That was great. Thanks

 

That's crazy running bikes with the cars....they could get run over so easy after falling. Surprised they allow that.
I'm very jealous though, looks like fun!

 

That was great, thanks for taking the time to post, interesting that the car topped out at 182 when the limiter should be set at 174, mine is the other way and only pulls 170 until limiter.

Nice to see that much didn't pass you! The Aston I can understand, and the supped up BM, but the mini? lol

Great video and looks like you had fun, great navigator BTW

 

Well, I guess it's a risk, but a calculated one. And the trust in other drivers extends only as far as trusting that when they indicate right, they'll stay right. If they're not indicating or not clearly hugging the right down a straight, I hang back and give them a flash (wow, those HID lights are bright).

Sure, I could have rented a 'Ring racer, but I wanted to see what the 75 was like on the track. I was prepared to accept the chance that I might bend it, and made sure I didn't do anything too stupid. Perhaps I should have put in some track time at Brands Hatch or Silverstone first, but I don't have a lot of time.

And it was a real blast - I just want to go back

 

Yes, odd - I have no idea why the limiter is not limiting, but I'm happy about it.

And you're not the only one to rag me about that Mini - in my defence, it was a Cooper Works, and probably driven by someone who knew what they were doing. You should have seen some of the other stuff that came past - an old-skool Mini van and a primer-grey 1980s Opel were the most notable. Of course, both were stripped out, full cage, wide tyres and tweaked to the max - in fact, the Mini van lost all its smoke and ground to a halt shortly after.

Terv did a great job of navigating - all those years spent playing video games weren't wasted. It's damn hard to keep all the tricky corners in your head, so a reminder to "stay left" really helps to keep you out of trouble.

 

Thank you for the terrific post. That's one of the world's most exciting tracks, and the key track for manufacturers to test and record lap results. You're very fortunate to have the opportunity to drive it. Nice driving and navigating...congrats!

Bruce

 

I guy from my local Jaguar dealership told me the that speed limiter was just words on a piece of paper and that the car would go as fast as it could. I have never verified this but it seams that you have...

 

Thanks, Bruce - you can tell I'm not an experienced circuit driver like you, and perhaps the 'Ring is not the best place to be exploring the limits of both the car and my skills for the first time, but we had a pretty good day. There were a lot of places that I was just lifting and engine-braking rather than approaching at full speed and braking hard. I think I could get under 9 mins bridge-to-gantry, but it would take a lot more laps and some luck with traffic & incidents. Just wish I'd had the gas for a final lap with no yellow flags.

Oh, well, maybe next year...

 

Well, I think the 75 is still limited, but limited to 300kmh/186mph rather than 280/174. Of course, that limit is related to the car's measurement of speed, and that tends to err on the high side to preserve your license, which is why GPS shows a lower figure. In most countries, it's academic - there are very few places you could safely & legally hit even the normal 155mph limit.

I did try to get a higher figure on a downhill run, but it resolutely stuck at 182-183 (GPS measurement), so I don't believe I was being held back by hitting max power. I certain wasn't at the redline in 6th - I think it was about 5,500.

 

You guys are having way too much fun with your XKRs. This is the second thread this week....

Glad to hear you enjoyed it, as i am sure it started with trepidation and ended up much happiness.

Can't wait to watch the videos.

 

I thought your driving looked conservative, but quite good! Tough to be on track with such a wide range of vehicle speeds and unknown driver abilities. You can't adequately focus on the ideal driving line through corners when you're worried about what the other guy might do. It must take years just to remember what corner is coming up ahead on a track that long. You guys did great!

Bruce

 

Thanks! Yeah, I was definitely pulling punches; the 'Ring will surely bite you if you overdo it. There's no runoff area in most places. I'd like to do it on a track day with less traffic and an instructor to tell me where I can go faster - and where not to!

But, actually, most of the track sticks in your mind after a few laps, apart from some 'same-y' bits that occasionally confused me. The key thing is to recognise the hardest corners before you get to them, and I'd mentally bookmarked those from watching You Tube. All it took was some 'sighter' laps to match the mental image with the reality. Of course, learning the right line through every corner, that's a different story.

 

Just found myself in someone else's video (@7:32):

 

What are the stats on this track with all the traffic and mixed bikes and cars on crashes, serious injury and deaths? Looks pretty nerve wracking to me to trust all the other drivers.

 

got your turn signal on, bro