The Alfa Romeo 4C has received tons of media coverage lately, but there was still something people were curious to find out: its Nürburgring Nordschleife lap time.
Although no official announcement has been made so far, Italy’s car magazine Quattroruote has reported that the 4C lapped the “Green Hell” in 8 minutes and 4 seconds flat, which is a second faster than the BMW M3 E92 ’s lap set in 2007.
If the Nürburgring lap time is accurate, it means Alfa Romeo has really nailed it with the 4C in terms of handling and dynamics, since it managed to be faster than the M3 with a car that has four less cylinders and roughly half the power output.
The Alfa 4C’s lap time is identical with the Lamborghini Diablo GT’s (1999) and only a second slower than the lap times of the Jaguar XKR-S (2011), Aston Martin V8 Vantage (2005) and Porsche 911 GT3 (1999).
Much of the credit goes to the lightweight construction of the car, as the 4C has a dry weight of 895 kg (1,973 lbs), making it easy for the 236hp (240PS) turbocharged 1.75-liter 4-cylinder engine to catapult it from 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) in 4.5 seconds and on to a top speed of 258 km/h (160 mph).
By Dan Mihalascu
