Nurburgring - Porsche 956 Derek Bell

Road and Track have produced an decent multi-page section on the Nurburgring in their February 2009 Issue.  It includes a section by section breakout of the track, as well as listing of current record holders by car type, a overview of  Mercedes' AMG Nurburgring school and the 75experience school (which readers of the Axis of Oversteer Blog would have learned about last year in a much more detailed and entertaining posting on the Nurburgring experience.)

That having been said, as I read through the article and watched a bunch of video taken during laps of the 'ring,  I still find it hard to wrap my head around the record setting lap of 6minutes, 11 seconds, posted by Stefan Bellof in a Porsched 956.  While I was unable to find a complete video of Bellof's lap, the closest thing that I could locate was this one shot from Derek Bell's Porsche 956.  Although the speeds are different, I thought that this video provides some context for how fast Bellof was going.  

When watching the Bell lap (which looks like a Gran Turismo flyer) it is hard to believe that the he is 30 secs SLOWER than Stefan Bellof's record 6:11 lap of the Nordschliefe. 

To Bell's credit, his car was equipped with the type of heavy movie cameras popular in the day and it's unclear how much fuel he had onboard versus the Bellof lap, so his time is still extremely quick by almost any standard.  That Bell is moving slower than is possible is clearly  demonstrated by Jacky Ickx, who provides Bell with a filmed clinic on how one should be driving through the Fuchsröhre.