The news out of Germany is that the famed Nürburgring, one of the oldest race tracks in the world and also one of the deadliest, is ramping up its speed limits in certain segments. That means the days of the ‘Ring being the go-to track for insane lap records, especially for cars like the Koenigsegg One:1, may be over.
Maybe that’s not such a bad thing. Increasingly ‘Ring times have felt like nothing more than a market exercise at one of the most hallowed grounds of racing, a place where scores of people have lost their lives in pursuit of speed. At the same time, lap testing is a boon for the track, which has been in dire financial straits for years now.
But automakers and drivers will always chase top speeds and lap times. If not a the Nürburgring, then where?
That’s our question of the day: What track should be the new top standard for speed?
I vote for Volkswagen’s private 60-mile Ehra-Lessien facility in Germany. An engineering feat to rival any supercar, the high-speed circuit alone has a 5.4-mile straight, ideal for top speed runs. It may not have the ‘Ring’s racing history, but it’s a worthy successor for testing.
What say you?
Contact the author at patrick@jalopnik.com.