Someone Wants a Nurburgring Shootout to Prove Who's Really Fastest

Jason Siu
by Jason Siu

Not everyone is convinced the Lamborghini Huracan Performante deserves the Nurburgring record.

Heading into the 2017 Geneva Motor Show, James Glickenhaus made a bold claim, saying the Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus SCG003S will beat the Porsche 918 Spyder’s Nurburgring time by nearly half-a-minute. At the time, the Porsche 918 Spyder still held the production car record for the Nurburgring, but as you may know by now, the Lamborghini Huracan Performante has taken it away with a time of 6:52.01.

While that doesn’t affect what Glickenhaus claims is possible with the road-going SCG003S, he is setting a target time of 6:30 after all, he’s not entirely sold that Lamborghini’s time should be official.

Speaking to Car and Driver at the 2017 Geneva Motor Show, Glickenhaus explained his intention to host a no-holds-barred competition to establish just which street-legal car is the fastest around the Nurburgring. As we all know, record lap times are normally set in the most ideal conditions and it’s not a level playing field in a way where not every automaker’s attempt is in the same conditions.

SEE ALSO: American Supercar Claims to be Faster Than Porsche 918 Spyder on the ‘Ring

Glickenhaus wants to change that with what he’s calling the Glickenhaus Road Cup. The event would run at the Nurburgring 24 Hours after the race cars qualify with a few rules. First, an individual has to own the car, which means it has to be registered and street legal. The car would then have to drive from Cologne to Nurburg on the same set of tires it will set the time on, confirming they are street tires anyone could purchase from a tire outlet like Tire Rack. From there, everybody drives and whoever is the fastest gets crowned the winner – simple as that.

He admitted the idea doesn’t have the blessing from the Nurburgring authorities yet. In fact, they don’t even know about it and chances are, they’re first learning about it from the press. “But I’m serious,” Glickenhaus said in the interview. “I’m going to make this happen. I can’t get it together for this year. My idea is to have them yell and scream, ‘How can you say you’re going to do that? You’re an idiot and an asshole, and we hate you.’ Then they’ll get over that, and we’ll come back and race at the Nurburgring for next year. We’re going to do it.”

The idea isn’t as far-fetched as it seems. For the average consumer, a Nurburgring lap time doesn’t really mean much. But for people purchasing an expensive exotic like the Lamborghini Huracan Performante, they like knowing it delivers performance worth its price.

Will it happen? Only time will tell. The biggest question is, who will show up to the competition? Is this really just a way for Glickenhaus to prove his SCG003S is the fastest, most deserving Nurburgring record setter?

[Source: Car and Driver]

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Jason Siu
Jason Siu

Jason Siu began his career in automotive journalism in 2003 with Modified Magazine, a property previously held by VerticalScope. As the West Coast Editor, he played a pivotal role while also extending his expertise to Modified Luxury & Exotics and Modified Mustangs. Beyond his editorial work, Jason authored two notable Cartech books. His tenure at AutoGuide.com saw him immersed in the daily news cycle, yet his passion for hands-on evaluation led him to focus on testing and product reviews, offering well-rounded recommendations to AutoGuide readers. Currently, as the Content Director for VerticalScope, Jason spearheads the content strategy for an array of online publications, a role that has him at the helm of ensuring quality and consistency across the board.

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