Top Gear

Sabine Schmitz’s Top Gear Nurburgring Van Record Has Been Smashed

If you’re on this website then I’m sure you’ve seen the episode of Top Gear where Sabine Schmitz, German racing driver and Nurburgring extraordinaire, races a Ford Transit van around the Green Hell in an attempt to get under the 10 minute mark. She didn’t quite manage, with the fastest she could do being a lap of 10:08. But despite this, that van help the lap record for a long time.

That’s until this happened.

This is British Touring Car driver Rob Austin, and with a Volkswagen Transporter he conquered the record with a time of 9:58. That’s not only over 10 seconds faster than the Transit, but one second faster than Jeremy in the Jaguar S-Type.

The Transporter that was used had a 148bhp turbodiesel, but the model is also available with a 204bhp 2-litre turbocharged petrol, meaning the van record could be much faster.. But even with the smaller engine, it must be hilarious to watch the faces of the drivers you pass behind the wheel of a commercial vehicle.

If only I had that sort of talent. One can only wish!

Alex Harrington

Alex started racing at a young age so certainly knows his way around a car and a track. He can just about put a sentence together too, which helps. He has a great interest in the latest models, but would throw all of his money at a rusty old French classic and a 300ZX. Contact: [email protected]

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