Isdera is a supercar company that spends more time talking about building cars than actually making them. They're like the Vector of Europe. You shouldn't see any, let alone one lapping the Nordschleife.
This is an Isdera Imperator (1), a follow-up to Mercedes 1970s aerodynamic prototype cars like the rotary-powered C111(2). The Imperator has a 390 horsepower 5.5 liter Mercedes V8 behind the driver and it weighs 2,976 lbs(3). More importantly, it has a periscope rear view mirror.
We spotted this video on Autoweek, written by Jalopnik alum Davey G. Johnson and we are still overwhelmed by the awesome.
Footnotes:
1). You see, McLaren? This is how you name a supercar! None of this MP1-12QP4 whatever. This goes to all you other alphanumeric-happy car companies, too.
2). Isdera actually designed these prototypes while working as a Mercedes designer. The Imperator was first submitted as a Mercedes design proposal, the C311. We covered the whole Isdera story right here.
3). All specs from Supercars.net.
UPDATE: Someone close to the car, isderaimperator, came by to explain why the car smoked, and how it has the larger, later 6.0 liter Merc motor.
The car in the video it the number 14 of 17 (series I. From Series II there where made 13 pieces). The car was built in 1988 and has a old AMG 6.0-32v engine
(modified 5.0l Mercedes V8) instead of the 560 V8 which came as the standard engine.
The smoke in the vid: Nothing dangerous, just a restoration mistake from 2006. On the side of the copilot, there is an air intake in the wheelhouse, above the front tyre, for the air-condition.
…and a little bit to much material. Due to the weight of the copilot and the massive compression in that downhill left corner "fuchsröhre" with around 120mph, the left front tyre had contact with the air intake, and smoke (plastic, tyre) came into the air condition system for a second. On the road it never happened. After that trackday the air intake was restored properly by Isdera with the right dimensions.
The track was cold an partly wet. The driver is not an Isdera test driver, but the owner, with racing experiance (2012 Champion of the German Hankook Cup- and touring car championship).