A Volkswagen van supplied by Northgate Vehicle Hire has set an unofficial lap record of the Nürburgring Nordschleife in the hands of British Touring Car driver Rob Austin.
The Volkswagen T6 Transporter, identical to that available to hire from Northgate, was powered by a 150PS diesel engine rather than the more powerful 180PS version, with Austin saying, “We didn’t want to make it too easy for ourselves. We’re really trying to do this within the spirit of the Top Gear rules, so it’s bog standard. All we’ve done is put some stickers on it.”
In the video released by Northgate under the title #ProjectEifleGeist, Austin said he was not attempting to beat the time of 10 minutes 8 seconds set by Sabine Schmitz in a standard Ford Transit on BBC’s Top Gear in 2005. However his initial lap, slowed by yellow flags on the circuit, was just four seconds slower.
Following the removal of several unnecessary items such as the second row of seats, cargo paneling and spare wheel to save weight and employing the help of a pace car to provide a slipstream effect on the straight sections of track, Austin produced a lap of 9 minutes 58 seconds, quicker than Schmitz and under the notional 10 minute target. Northgate have promised more records and stunts will follow under its #ProjectEifelGeist hashtag.
