BMW M4 Laps The 'Ring In Under 8 Minutes

BMW's new M4 coupe has become the latest car to score a sub-8 minute lap at the infamous Nürburgring Nordschleife in Germany. At the hands of Horst von Saurmer from German magazine Sport Auto, a production M4 lapped the 12.93-mile circuit in a time of 7:52.

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By way of comparison, that time comfortably beats the 8:05 lap time set by the same driver (from the same magazine) in the old V-8 engined E92-generation M3, set in 2007. It's also just two seconds shy of the time von Saurmer set in a BMW M3 CSL back in 2003—a car 500 lbs lighter than the new M4. Perhaps more importantly the new M4 beats both the Audi RS 5's 7:59 lap and the outgoing Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG's 8:01.

While Nürburgring lap times are the subject of much debate due to different driving conditions, tires, drivers and track surfaces, Sport Auto's times are at least reasonably consistent—von Saurmer has set a large number of oft-quoted 'Ring lap times over the past few decades. The magazine runs 'Ring times as part of its regular test program for performance cars, also testing them at Hockenheim.