Porsche 911 Carrera S laps the Nürburgring in 7 min 38 seconds (w/VIDEO)

The performance of hyper cars around the Nürburgring, can sometimes be so overwhelming that we lose sight of what’s possible with cars which are considerably more affordable.

Recently, Porsche’s £650,000+ prototype 918 Spyder set a lap time of 7 minutes 14 seconds around the 12.9 mile Nordschleife, and although an awesomely quick time, it was propelled by a 784bhp hybrid powerplant and the optional “Weissach” performance package.

So when looked at in that context, how much more impressive is the achievement of an £82,000 911 Carrera S mit 394bhp und PDK gearbox, lapping the green hell in 7 minutes 37.9 seconds?

The man behind the wheel was racing driver Timo Kluck, who thoughtfully remembered to film his adventure so that we could ride along and enjoy it too.

Photo of the New (Type 991) 911 GT3 3 spotted near IDIADA proving ground in the Catalan region of Spain. Image: collaverglas.net.

My apologies to anyone uninterested in Nürburgring lap times – it takes a special kind of car nerd to enthuse about such a relatively meaningless accomplishment, but nevertheless 7:37.9 mins is only a fraction behind Porsche’s fully-focused track machines, including the Type 997 GT3 RS’s time of 7:33 mins.

It’s also ahead of more powerful cars such as the 552bhp Lexus LFA, 562bhp Lamborghini Gallardo LP 570-4 Superleggera and 617bhp McLaren Mercedes SLR (according to fastestlaps.com)

Why has Porsche chosen to share this time? Well the new Type 991 GT3 was recently spotted undergoing final testing, so we can expect to see it on display at next March’s Geneva Motor Show. So, I guess Porsche are telling us that New 911 GT3 will be considerably quicker than the outgoing 997 GT3 RS.

Excellent. Vorsprung Durch Technik (‘progress through technology’), as they are fond of saying at sister-company Audi.