Here’s a Nurburgring story we weren’t expecting.
A year ago, Volvo apparently put their S60 Polestar sports sedan around the Nurburgring Nordschleife and set a then-record time for four-door production cars of 7:51.11—and are only telling us this now. This means the S60 held the record for about two months until being usurped by the Porsche Panamera Turbo in June. That car was then beaten by the Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio in September.
In the video below, Volvo acknowledges this unprecedented delay in Nurburgring lap-time record announcements thusly:
Being Swedish, we didn’t want to shout about the record, just learn from the experience. The learnings were so important, not only for road car development but also for the race team that we had to keep it secret for a full year. Revealing, now just days before we return for the 2017 WTCC race of Germany.
Polestar
Right. That’s totally what happened and has nothing to do with that e-mail Viktor from PR missed and didn’t notice until July when Porsche already had them beat.
As long as manufacturers are setting Nurburgring records in secret, I wonder what other records they’re keeping from us. The new Honda Odyssey could be holding the title of fastest production minivan around the Nordschleife and we don’t even know it.
