British car smashes 'Ring record

Forget the Nissan vs Porsche hype, the world's most demanding racetrack -- Germany's Nurburgring -- has a new master; the Radical SR8LM. The British-built machine established a new production car lap record this week and that's not even the best news.

The best news is the Radical SR8LM is now available to buy in Australia. Classic Throttle Shop has announced it will sell the car through its North Sydney dealership.

With ideal weather and track conditions -- clear skies and warm air temp of more than 25 degrees -- the Radical SR8LM managed a lap time of 6min 48sec which at the time of writing is recognised as the record for a road-going car.

It slashes more than 24 seconds off the Gumpert Apollo Sports which was claimed to be the previous record holder for a production car (despite the fact that Radical set a time of 6min 56sec in an SR8 Supersport in 2005).

The record lap time was achieved by Dutch driver Michael Vergers on road-legal tyres. Even more impressive the quick lap came after the car was driven 800 kilometres from Radical's UK factory to Germany.

"The car was great, I could push really hard and it felt clearly faster than the previous SR8 in 2005.

"It's fantastic that we've beaten the record; hopefully I'll get an opportunity to return with Radical in the future," added Vergers.

The lap time was witnessed by German mag Sport Auto and evo magazine; the latter publication confirming the record-breaking lap time.

The ultra-light two-seater SR8LM sports car is fitted with a 2.6-litre V8 engine that will rev past 10,000rpm as standard. The compact V8 engine cranks out 280kW and 305Nm of torque and uses a Powertec P-Tec six-speed sequential gearbox to transmit power to the rear wheels.

However it is believed the record breaking car was specified with the optional 2.8-litre V8 which spits out more power (338kW).

Radical's co-founder, Mick Hyde, was chuffed with the performance. "We've proved that the SR8LM is the world's best track day car, while also being practical enough to drive to and from the circuit.

"The SR8LM is the ultimate production sports car for customers whose primary aim is driving to, on, and from the racetrack," said Hyde.

The Nürburgring is a high speed 20km circuit that has seen the likes of Nissan and Porsche come to blows over allegations of cheating, manipulated lap times and all sorts of sordid claims, as the legendary track carries great weight amongst auto enthusiasts.

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