Would you explain to easily confused, non-car-racing-enthusiasts? EDIT: In fact, I should ask: What is the significance of Nurburgring?
According to Porsche PR the WEC specification car the ICE put out 500hp. the EVO car did 720. and the Hybrid system went from 400 to 440hp.
Aero Development is also limited in WEC in not only the number of aero iterations you get per season, but what you can do like the size of the rear wing, and the rear diffuser. and of course they added a drag reduction system, that basically drops the rear wing out of the airflow on the straights to reduce drag.
they were also able to cut the weight by 39KG by taking out the windshield wipers, headlights, air conditioner and all the electronics that the FIA/ACO mandates in the WEC.
they also had a special tire.
as a point of comparison the 919 in WEC spec qualified at SPA for the 6 hour race with a 3 lap average 1:54.097. the evo did it this year in 1:41.770.
It's a very long and very tricky track. It has everything: superfast sections, slow sections, steep uphill and downhill, bumps, banking, often wet. If a car does well on this track it will do well almost everywhere. It's called the "green hell". I don't think there is another track worldwide left that can compare.
And the Nürburgring has various safety features. The Mountain Circuit has basically nothing, just a road.
It's 20.8km long and has 300 meters of elevation change along its length. It is an absolute monster, and a grueling test of both car and driver.
It's also so big, that you probably won't be able to see it at first on Google maps. Try zooming out a bit ;-)
It also requires anticipation; you have to know Exactly what the car is going to, in every situation, and that gives you the ability to make corrections Before the fact, because again; during is too late. Now couple these things with the sheer length, number of corners and top speed of the Nurburgring and you have an idea of what a lap like that takes.
It's both old and good. Almost a century of racing, setting and breaking records went down on it. (Also you can drive on it yourself w/ your own car).
Most people know about the unrestricted sections of the autobahn, and it is certainly fun to flog a rental Opel Corsa with a 1.0L 3-cylinder engine to 160kph, while being overtaken like you were standing still by various Porsches and big BMW/Mercedes/Audis.
But the real fun is that the general speed limit is 100kph (62mph) off the autobahn and outside of towns, even for relatively small and curvy roads. Couple this with the generally very high standard of German roads, and you can have a hell of a lot of fun within the speed limit.
I'm in southern Germany at the moment, visiting my girlfriend's family. The winding roads in the Schwarzwald area are absolutely amazing to drive, even in the little Corsa we're renting. You have to really flog it in second gear to get any speed going uphill, but it is so damn rewarding. And you notice so many other people doing the same, in all kinds of cars and on motorbikes.
I know it's a bit of a cliché, but driving enjoyment really is part of the German mentality.
http://i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/794/698/475...
> But the real fun is that the general speed limit is 100kph (62mph) off the autobahn and outside of towns, even for relatively small and curvy roads.
Well they certainly remain to exist, but sadly there is a tendency since ~10 years or so to stick a 70 speed limit anywhere where the road deviates the tiniest bit from a ruler. Nowadays they are often coupled with "no overtaking" signs. Apparently the level of driving skill has sunk so low, that people neither know how fast they can drive through a curve, nor can they realize for themselves that overtaking in a curve is forbidden anyway and they shouldn't need signs to remind them of that.
> I'm in southern Germany at the moment, visiting my girlfriend's family.
In the south road conditions are a bit better, but still many municipal and country roads are in either poor or piss poor condition.
Honestly, you have no idea how good you have it road-wise, compared to Denmark or the UK or especially the US.
Down here in the Schwarzwald/Schwaben area, they really are in amazing condition and the majority of roads are still 100kph or at least 80kph in the trickier sections. Sure, there are a few villages with blanket 30kph limits (WTF) and the occasional 70kph sections around tricky intersections. But other than that, it's very good still, and 100kph on some surprisingly curving roads. Mostly unlimited autobahn too, although I know they're reigning that in as well.
But roads are easy when in a small country with a dense population like Germany. Heck, you can drive from one side of Germany to the other in a single tank of gas. Compare that to properly large roads like those in Canada, or Russia. (I'd add Australia but the weather is so good there that they have no word for pothole.)
How small Germany is compared to one of Canada's medium-sized provinces.
https://mapfight.appspot.com/de-vs-british.columbia/germany-...
The average population density of Germany is ~46 times greater than British Columbia. So yeah, obviously you get some long stretches of badly-maintained roads in BC. That wasn't my point, though.
The roads in comparable situations between Denmark and Germany lean very heavily towards Germany having much higher quality. For goodness' sake, they'll put up "Straßenschäden" signs for even tiny little holes in the asphalt. In Denmark, they won't put up a warning sign until someone falls in, and sometimes not even then.
... and accordingly traffic is much denser, and roads will see a lot more wear.
I learned to drive there. Recommend this route:
Sasbachwalden > Seebach > Ottenhoefen > Allerheiligen > Ruhestein
https://www.google.com/maps/dir/77887+Sasbachwalden,+Germany...
Have fun! The race is always won on the corners, not on the straights ...