Among the inconceivably large volume of data just a click away on the internet is at least one running list of production car lap times recorded at the notoriously difficult Nurburgring Nordschleife - the "Green Hell." There are also new attempts just about every week, the latest being the 2021 Porsche Panamera's record-setting effort. Lamborghini, as competition-averse as the marque is, claims a number of the top spots, including the very top, held by none other than the Lamborghini Aventador SVJ.
Zyrus Engineering's 1,200-horsepower, Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo-based LP1200 probably wouldn't quite meet the criteria for a production car, but if it did, it would absolutely earn a spot toward the front of the pack. Onboard video of a Nordschleife lap, which was recently shared to Zyrus's Facebook page, shows the car blasting through the Green Hell, from bridge to gantry, in an incredible 6 minutes, 29 seconds.
A quick note here: that 6:29 refers to the LP1200's "Bridge-to-Gantry" lap time, timed from the first bridge after the barriers, to the last gantry before the exit - not a complete lap time. Zyrus Engineering tells us the LP1200's actual full lap time was 6:48.56.
Still, it's hard to overstate just how fast a lap that is. Not until the Porsche 918 Spyder hypercar came along in 2013 had a production car ever managed to break the 7-minute Nordschleife barrier - unless you count the Radical SR8 and SR8 LM, both of whose "production car" credentials are a bit questionable.
Zyrus built its LP1200 to run in the Norwegian Extreme GT Championship's open class - a racing class that routinely sees entrants with upwards of 1,000 horsepower. The build required reengineering some 527 different parts on the Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo, including reskinning the whole car in lightweight carbon fiber. At its peak, the LP1200 generates an astounding 2,645 pounds (1,200 kg) of downforce - an exact match for its 1,200 kg of curb weight. And its 1,200 horsepower of grunt. We're beginning to notice a pattern.
Of the 24 examples planned for production, just 12 Zyrus LP1200s will be road legal, and that's just the beginning: more potent versions with 1,600 and 2,000 horsepower are in the pipeline.
This is merely the latest run over the last couple of weeks, however, as the LP1200 has been getting quicker with each attempt. Previous attempt even included a crash as a result of a high-speed tire blowout, but the team at Zyrus repaired the car and were back in no time to attempt another run.
Zyrus's Facebook post about its earth-shattering Nordschleife lap was short on information, so it's unclear whether the company plans to try to wrangle an even faster time out of its highly modified 1,200-horsepower Lamborghini. Regardless, we can't wait to see it test its mettle in the Extreme GT Championship.