Nürburgring lap records might not mean a lot to you, but Porsche argues these attempts are an accurate way to show off a car’s performance chops. Remember the 918 Spyder and its 6:57 time in 2013? What about the 911 GT2 RS with a lap time of 6:47 in 2017? Of course, we mustn’t forget the 919 Hybrid Evo, which has the outright ‘Ring record with an incredible 5:19 time in 2018.
Fast forward to 2020, the Panamera has set a Nürburgring lap record as well, albeit a highly specific one. It’s the fastest “executive car” at the Nordschleife, beating the Mercedes-AMG GT63 S in both the 20.6-km (12.8-mile) and 20.83-km (12.94-mile) track layouts. Porsche has now released a full onboard video with the record-breaking attempt of 7:29.81, following last week’s preview video that was a little over three minutes long.
While the company from Zuffenhausen remains coy on details regarding the car used for the record run, we do know it’s some kind of Turbo model you’ll be able to buy. It goes without saying the full roll cage and those body-hugging seats are unlikely to be found on the production model, but Porsche did mention several upgrades over the regular Panamera Turbo.
More power is being promised over the 542 hp and 568 lb-ft (770 Nm) available in today’s Turbo model as the new version is claimed to go by the name of Turbo S to sit between the Turbo and the range-topping Turbo S E-Hybrid. We might have an idea regarding the output its twin-turbo 4.0-liter V8 engine will have as the adjacent video shows the car’s power delivery during the Nürburgring run.
As you can observe from the screenshots we attached below, we saw the horsepower count go as high as 634 PS (625 hp) and torque climb to 614 lb-ft (832 Nm). In other words, expect a healthy bump compared to the regular Panamera Turbo.
In related news, Porsche has also dropped a teaser image of the 2021 Panamera to announce the world premiere is scheduled to take place on August 26. The event will be livestream, and Motor1.com we’ll obviously cover it. Meanwhile, enjoy the onboard video with Porsche test driver Lars Kern showing that even a large and heavy sedan can be relatively nimble on a track as challenging as the Green Hell.
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