THE NEW AUDI RS3 IS FAST - NüRBURGRING CLASS RECORD FAST!
Back in 1992 Woody Harrelson and Wesley Snipes starred in one of the coolest basketball movies of all time - White Men Can’t Jump. In street basketball, it’s all about dunking on your opponent, and it was always a running joke that the white guys in the sport couldn’t dunk. The movie was about more than just jumping though, but the name has always stuck as a phrase to use when white guys mess up in physical sports. It’s a weird thing to have stuck in your head since 1992, but it’s there. That brings us to Frank Stippler, a professional race driver contracted to the Audi Sport race team, who has been racing competitively since that aforementioned movie was just a year old. He was the man chosen to pilot a preproduction version of the new Audi RS 3 around the Nürburgring-Nordschleife to see how it fares against the usual competition. How does a fast lap of a German racetrack link to a 1990s pup culture classic movie? Well, just look at that first image with the team celebrating Stippler’s stupendously fast lap of the iconic track - this white man from Cologne definitely CAN jump, and higher than just about anyone we’ve ever seen do jump in a photo. Besides being able to jump higher than most, Stippler is also rather good when it comes to making cars go fast around a racetrack. Just the other day he was handed the keyfob to the preproduction Audi RS 3 and let loose on the Nürburgring to see what kind of lap time he could squeeze out of one of the world’s most popular performance hatchbacks. The Audi RS 3 competes in the Compact Car Class when it needs to prove itself on track, and that’s a class with some pretty serious competitors to try and beat. The class record holder, well until Stippler put in his laps, was the BMW M2 at the hands of Jörg Weidinger. The turbocharged inline 6 was clocked at an impressive time of 7:38.706 minutes.
The latest incarnation of the Audi RS 3 has the usual setup, that iconic turbocharged 5-cylinder powerplant hooked up to the world-famous quattro all-wheel drive system. We’ve already seen some people complaining on socials because the BMW is only a rear-wheel drive so the Audi has an advantage with power going to all four wheels, but the Audi also uses one less cylinder which should even the playing field out a bit, well in our books anyway. The Audi Sport racing and development driver clocked an amazing lap time of 7:33.123 minutes. Impressive to be sure, especially seeing as it was faster than the BMW M2 by more than a whopping 5 seconds. While 5 seconds doesn’t sound like much of a difference, in racing terms and measured track times, that’s a lifetime. In Formula 1 qualifying 5-seconds separates all 20 cars with some change to spare. Audi’s release explains the day’s proceedings:
“The record was made possible by the optimized cornering behaviour, enabling the new RS 31 to deploy its agility even earlier and in a more controlled manner, as Frank Stippler explained: “That was the key to our success. The new RS 31 turns in more willingly at corner entry thanks to fine-tuning – including brake torque vectoring – which allows the vehicle to be positioned earlier and better for corner exit from the apex, at the latest. The result is a lower steering angle from apex to corner exit, which leads to less friction and earlier acceleration, allowing you to carry more momentum and speed onto each subsequent straight." The basis for the vehicle’s exceptional driving dynamics is the interplay between the torque splitter with its fully variable torque distribution between the rear wheels, the electronic stabilization control, the wheel-selective torque control (brake torque vectoring), and the RS sports suspension’s optional adaptive dampers. The modular vehicle dynamics controller now connects the data from all components relevant to lateral dynamics with even greater sensitivity thanks to an enhanced algorithm. Power is still provided by the legendary 5-cylinder engine with 294 kW and 500 Nm torque. In combination with the Pirelli P Zero Trofeo R semi-slick tyres, the 19-inch ceramic brake system, the RS sports suspension with adaptive damper control, and the optimised chassis setup, the 2.5 TFSI now propels the RS 31 even more spirited around bends. All are underscored by its distinctive deep-throated roar, thanks to its signature 1-2-4-5-3 firing sequence. The upgraded production model of the RS 3 will be available to order from the end of August and will be at dealerships starting in October.”
Take a look at the YouTube video that shows just how fast the new Audi RS 3 is at the hands of a competent and capable driver like Frank Stippler. This is in OEM-guise too, and we know for a fact that most cars like this get modified as soon as they leave the showroom floor. There's gonna be even after ones around in a few months: Audi RS 3 | 7:33.123 minutes official laptime | Nordschleife | Nürburgring
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