Tommi Mäkinen is mackin’ it hard in this video, released to today by Subaru’s parent company Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. The vid is part of an advanced R&D project carried out at the world-famous the Nürburgring racetrack in Germany, using a 2011 model year Subaru WRX STI four-door sedan test mule.
His time (7’55″00) is Subaru’s fastest lap time ever for a WRX STI and is four seconds faster than its previous best lap in 2004.
Of course, whether or not the four-time WRC champ’s legendary skills were the deciding factors in this exercise remains to be seen, watch him plow into Aremberg and nearly blow up the gearbox in second, up-shift twice and grab fourth to set up perfectly for the apex, and then slam over the curb with the throttle wide open and accelerate past 100 mph before grabbing fifth and speeding away into Adenauer-Forest, which he destroys! Then, watch him save his ass at 4’19” (video time) and then again go sideways at the finish line – amazing car control can be seen throughout this vid.
“The car was controllable with precise and faithful handling even on tricky corners,” he says. “I could easily predict the car’s behaviour. That is exactly what Subaru is offering, confidence.”
Now, 7’55” is not anywhere close to the fastest lap for a production car – official or unofficial – but it is in supercar territory and faster than many cars that cost a lot more money. Click here for a list of unofficial lap times.
Okay, so now you’re ready to see the second fastest lap time ever recorded in a production car? Watch Michael Vergers just blow it away in the Radical SR8 from September 2005. I won’t spoil it for you, but it is faster. A lot faster. And, there’s no interior either. Check it out!
I’m looking forward to having a go with the new STI sedan at Calabogie Motorsports Park later this year; but for now, watching Turbo Tommi Mäkinen go seven minutes and fifty-five seconds flat in a Scooby on the Nordschleife will have to do.