This Is What It's Like To Drive A Ferrari Race Car At The Nürburgring

Screenshot: Misha Charoudin

Is it possible for a car to be too fast for a track day? When that track day is at the Nürburgring and there are hundreds of cars in the track day, yeah, it probably is. This car, a Ferrari 458 Challenge race car, is probably about as fast as an average track day enthusiast would want to go, as the speed differentials between this dedicated race car and a “regular” fast car like a Volkswagen Golf R, are just immense. You might think you’re hot shit in your new Porsche GT3 RS, but then you get smoked by this Italian sausage. Forza! Veloce!

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This is one of the better modern Nürburgring videos, as it’s just pure speed and glorious engine sound. There is a brief introduction to the car, but within three minutes we’re off and going. This track day allows for full laps of the circuit at speed, so they run a pair of laps back to back, so you get about 13 minutes of speed, speed, and more speed. There are a few cuts and slow-zones, so don’t think that this car is running 7-minute laps with traffic, but it’s probably not far off. Anyway, go click play, it’ll wake you up this morning much more effectively than the cup of coffee you’re holding.

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The cornering speeds and acceleration are just immense. There’s nothing out on track that even stands a chance at holding off this 9,000 rpm beastie. Even with the swan-neck wing out back, the 570-ish horsepower car is capable of 276 kph (about 171 mph) on the Dottinger Hohe straight.

There’s a point early in the video where the 458 Challenge just absolutely smokes a Porsche 911 GT2 with a divebomb braking move into a tight corner, and then just totally walks away like the thing is standing still. One of the most incredibly fast street cars I’ve ever driven is totally washed by this already-fourteen-year-old race car. Get out of the damn way, Porsche 964, a well-used Italian race car is marching into your home turf and planting a flag. Parli italiano adesso. Va bene.