It’s the experience of the lifetime. In fact, it’s several, all rolled into one.

To help celebrate the launch of the all new 2012 M5, BMW flew six lucky winners to Germany where they became the very first to drive what will no doubt soon be crowned as the world’s most high performance sedan. Better yet, all six were taken to the Nurburgring to drive car, and get the ride of their lives sitting shotgun for a few hot laps.

Get full details on the new M5 here and look for more photos from its Frankfurt Auto Show debut in the weeks to come.

Watch the video after the jump:

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It looks as though the drivers are just as excited as we are for this showdown. In this teaser trailer three all-new BMW M5′s lap the famous race track accompanied by a helicopter filming in HD. The video is set to come out tomorrow and from the looks of it, will not disappoint.

The M5 has been entirely redesigned but the biggest change is the switch from a high-revving V10 to a 4.4-liter twin-turbocharged V8. The new engine cranks out 552 horsepower and 502 lb-ft of torque mated to either a six-speed manual or a seven-speed dual clutch transmission. The car is capable of achieving a 0-60 time of 4.4 seconds, not bad for a car that weighs around 4,000 lbs.

Check out the video after the jump!

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Toyota seems to be getting more and more serious about electric vehicles. Recently it announced that it will start producing an electric version of the Rav4 in Canada, and now comes news that it wants to conquer the Nurburgring electric car lap record.

Currently this record belongs to Peugeot and its EX1 prototype vehicle. It managed to go around in 9:01.338 seconds. Toyota plans to not only beat it, but demolish the old record with a car based on the Radical SRF.

In testing, this vehicle has achieved a top speed of 162 mph and can sprint from 0-60 mph in a scant 3.9 seconds.

With green-energy getting more and more popular, the future for electric racing cars is getting closer and Toyota hopes to be at the cutting edge of such technology.

Will Toyota capture the Nurburgring lap record for electric cars? We’ll find out on August 29th.

Hyundai Germany has announced a limited production of just 50 units for a Genesis Coupe GT, inspired by the Hyundai Schuhmann Motor Sport Team. The team is famous for campaigning a Genesis Coupe at the Nurburgring 24-hour race. The Genesis Coupe GT will come with the standard 3.8L V6 powerplant with 306-hp and 266 lb-ft of torque but will feature a quad-tipped, stainless steel exhaust.

Other modifications to the Genesis Coupe GT include suspension upgrades, lowering the Genesis by about 1.2-inches giving it better handling and a meaner stance. The vehicle is lowered on a set of 19-inch OZ Ultraleggera wheels in a matte graphite finish, wrapped with Dunlop Sport Maxx GT rubber.

Available only in Germany, the Genesis Coupe GT is priced at $59,445 on today’s conversation rates.

GALLERY: Hyundai Genesis Coupe GT

The ADAC GT Masters now has their own bizarre racing accident to show off after an Alpina BMW B6 race car decided to crash over the tire barrier, jettisoning it towards a porta-potty and ironically enough, a BMW sign. And of course, this occurred at the famed Nürburgring raceway where it has truly lived up to its “The Green Hell” nickname.

The unfortunate victim was driver Alex Plenagl who was piloting the Alpina B6 GT at the beginning of the fourth round of the ADAC Masters championship. Fortunately no one was injured in the accident and Plenagl was able to walk away with any serious injuries. We could only imagine what sort of experience would have been in store had someone been in the porta-potty. Oh, and let’s be grateful no poor photographers were standing in that area trying to do their job, that would have been pretty tragic.

Check out the video after the break.

[Source: Autoblog]

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Mission accomplished. After the official reveal of the MINI Cooper Coupe, the fun British brand wanted to show off its reliability and performance through two John Cooper Works Coupes campaigning at the 24 Hours of Nurburgring. Both vehicles passed with flying colors, running strong throughout the 24 hour race and crossing the finish line after campaigning almost 3,500 miles at the Green Hell.

The John Cooper Works Endurance MINI Cooper Coupes got a 500-lb weight savings thanks to a gutted interior and a single Recaro race seat. There was a slight bump in performance as well, with the Nurburgring racers sporting 247-hp and 243 lb-ft of torque compared to the stock JCW’s 208-hp and 207 lb-ft of torque. And of course, tackling such an arduous track as Nurburgring is, aerodynamic enhancements had to be made to the body of the racers.

Check out a highlight video of the JCW MINI Cooper Coupes campaigning on Nurburgring after the jump:

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There are a few guarantees when it comes to a new Porsche. For one, you can guarantee that it will feature the highest technological advancements that focused German engineering can achieve, all measured by Nürburging lap-slaying metrics.

And you can also guarantee that Porsche will evolve its 911 as slowly as actual evolution, slavishly keeping to tradition: its flat-six engine will be imprisoned behind the rear wheels and that it will look exactly the same as the last one. Because if it didn’t, imagine the wrath of legions of Porsche fans. Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies! Human sacrifice! Dogs and cats living together! Mass hysteria! However, the specs recently released on the next 911—known internally and to enthusiasts as the 991—should appease the masses.

The new Porsche will be slightly longer than the last one, by 2.2 inches but 4 inches in wheelbase. Sources with Porsche’s engineering team believe this is to accommodate a possible hybrid system. But for now, the venerable flat-six gets direct injection and a 3.4-liter, 350 horsepower engine in the base Carrera that’s shared with the Boxster, while the Carrera S gets 3.8 liters and 400 horsepower. The manual transmission gains a cog to 7, and the doppelkupplungsgetriebe (PDK, in less Germanic terms) will also have the same number of gears.

Performance will be similar to that of the current model, with a 0-60 time of 4.5 seconds for the base Carrera and a top speed of 186mph. But what’s more, the 991 will be 12-15% more fuel efficient, and lighter by 55 pounds—so those times may be even more forgiving. According to Porsche, the 991 Carrera ran the Nürburgring in 8:04, and the Carrera S 7:50. Those figures will be the source of much contentious debate when the next 911 debuts in September, though hopefully without ghostly or otherworldly implications.

Look for the 2012 Porsche 911 to debut at the Frankfurt Auto Show this September.

[Source: Car & Driver via TeamSpeed]

Gran Turismo’s creator, Kazunori Yamauchi, has taken his GT500 “Stealth” GT-inspired Nissan GT-R to a class victory at the 24 Hours of Nurburgring. Complete with his team comprised of Tobias Shulze, Michael Schulze and Yasuyoshi Yamamoto, the GT-R battled through a dramatic race full of mechanical issues to claim 36th overall, but first-in-class.

This is a great follow-up to Yamauchi’s class victory last year in a Lexus IS-F in the four-hour Nurburgring VLN race, but this year he didn’t have to settle for fourth place in his class. Despite having to spend time in the pits addressing their mechanical issues, the time was able to officially complete 134 laps in 24 hours, 2 minutes and 26.9 seconds with a fastest lap time of 9:17.707.

Now if only his team of developers could work that quickly on Gran Turismo 6. Check out a video of the GT-R in early Sunday morning action after the break.

[Source: GT Planet]

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The Lexus LFA may sport one of the highest price tags in the exotic car market, but until now it’s been missing an all-important Nurburgring lap time.

Lexus has never released an official time for the car, but leading up to this past weekend’s 24 Hours of Nurburgring, the Toyota luxury arm took a Nurburgring Edition LFA for an exhibition hot lap. Even though it wasn’t classified as a full-on attempt, Gazoo Racing driver Akira Iida put in an impressive 7:22.85 in the LFA, putting it in 10th place overall on the fastest production vehicle list.

With that time being three seconds off the Corvette ZR1, which costs just a third of the price, even Lexus fanboys aren’t thumping their chests. That may soon change, however, with reports that there are plans for an official run in the future.

Was Iida going balls-to-the-wall, or was he sand bagging? Time will tell.

[Source: LexusEnthusiast]

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With a BMW factory driver behind the wheel of BMW’s new M5, the luxury sedan has reportedly turned in a lap time of 7:55 around the famed Nurburgring. This makes it the world’s fastest sedan, ahead of Porsche‘s Panamera Turbo (7:56) and Cadillac‘s CTS-V (7:59), and puts it on par of other supercars such as Ferrari’s F430 and is even one second quicker than Porsche’s 996 Turbo.

Powered by a 4.4L V8 twin turbo engine, this accomplishment proves BMW’s M-models have hardly skipped a beat against the competition. It will be interesting to see how BMW’s competitors respond with their next-generation sedans, but it clearly proves that the Germany automaker’s devotion to twin turbo powerplants is paying off.

A word of caution; the time is in no way an official BMW number and we can’t verify the validity of the source (FastestLaps.com). It’s almost not necessary, however, with the new M5 almost certain to run a solid sub-eight minute lap around the Ring.

GALLERY: 2012 BMW M5

[Source: TeamSpeed]