McLaren MP4 12-C Laps the 'ring in 7:28
The Nordschleife Test

The new McLaren MP4-12C is given its debut test at the famous Nürburgring Nordschleife circuit by Horst von Saurma, Editor-in-Chief of Sport Auto.

The times were slower than the ZR-1, GTR, RS 4.0, GT2 RS, and as fast as a Carrera GT running on 2003-tech tires. I was expecting much more. Here is the super test results from Sportauto. (GT2 RS stated as benchmark)

NBR: 7.28 (GT2 RS: 7.24) - Doettinger Hoehe 293kph (300kph)

HHR: 1.08,7 (1.08,4)

0-100kph: 3.4s (3.5s)

0-200kph: 9.8s (9.8s)

Weight of tested car: 1451kg (1405kg)

Cw: 0.37 (0.35)

CwxA: 0.72 (0.71)

Downforce at 200kph front: 2kg (14kg)

Downforce at 200kph rear: 62kg (35kg)

200-0: 144.2m (126.6m)

Wet handling: 1.38,7 (1.38,7)

36m slalom: 138kph (144kph)

110 meter test: 157kph (159kph)

0-300kph: 31s (included in the same issue of Sportauto, not Supertest though: GT3 RS 4.0 benchmark 41s)

MP4-12C: The Nordschleife Test - YouTube

 

Underwhelming..at best.

 

Well, it was faster than the Italia which was their goal but I agree, I guess I was expecting more too. Great time though. Really an amazing car.

It also shows how incredible the ZR1 & GTR are at a fraction of the price.

Sent from my SGH-T959V using Teamspeed

 

GT2 rs ftw

 

doesnt add up.... not pushed to its limit?

would like to see mclarens official time.

 

+1 but hey, at least it did a lap without crashing

 

and i dont agree with you Carrera. Thats the problem with times done by the companies themselves, we are spoiled. I dont care what G.M do with a ZR1, i dont care what nissan say about GT-R times, and even porsche. What is "importante" is what these cars can do in a independent review with a customer spec car, and a 7:28 is a respectable time. Isnt this the 3º fastest sportauto time?..thats something. The car match almost the GT2 RS times, i think thats good, a GT2 rs is a very focused car. And i am even not a MP4 12-C fan

 

I'm starting to believe that N'Ring times are overrated. It's definitely a benchmark to some extent (why else would all these manufacturers care so much??) but the variables that can help or hurt the lap times are near infinite. Unless you bring all of the cars there on the same day, with a fresh set of production spec tires and run them all at the same time, there's no way to get a fair test.

Even still, how often will the average owner of any of these cars take it around the track at 10/10th? In the case of the Porsches, I'd bet slightly more often but I bet it's less than 25% of most sport/super cars that will ever see track time.

All that said, I'm surprised the McLaren didn't put down a better time. Given how bumpy and technical the 'Ring is, I would've thought the suspension would have been very well suited to this track.

 

In all honesty, I think the rings times are off that it shouldn't be used as a solid benchmark. Some cars times just don't make any sense.

 

Every lap time has variables. Unless you put the same driver, in the same car, with the same amount of seat time; and do that for every scenario. I appreciate it but there will always be speculation. Even launching a car nowadays has variables. Every magazine I read has different 0-60, 60-0, 1/4 mile, and 60-100 times. We will never truly know what these cars are capable of.