Porsche Engineering Group Purchases Control of Italy’s Nardò Testing Facility

Viewed from space, the storied Nardò Ring racetrack appears almost otherworldly, its seemingly flawless 7.8-mile circumference resting in stark contrast to its largely agricultural surroundings. But make no mistake, the man-made test track is very real, and has served as ground zero for countless manufacturer test-sessions and speed-record attempts for more than thirty-five years. And now, the Porsche Engineering­­ Group will oversee all future record attempts with its purchase of the facility Wednesday.  Built by Fiat in the 1970s, Nardò's location in southern Italy was selected largely for its moderate climate and sparse population, conditions Fiat reasoned would allow for 24/7, year-round use. When the track was finished in 1975, it began attracting attention from other manufacturers and by 1978, Fiat opened Nardò's doors to other makers for testing and record-setting attempts. One of the most relentless assaults on the record books began in 1976 when Mercedes-Benz arrived with a repurposed version of its legendary C-111. Called the C111-IID, the diesel-powered car averaged 156.4 mph for 10,000 miles, breaking numerous 3.0-liter diesel-class records in the process. Over the next few years, Mercedes would return with the C111-III and the C111-IV, breaking speed and endurance records almost at will. Benz's crowning achievement came on May 5, 1979, when the C111-IV clocked a lap at 250.918 mph, eclipsing the previous record of 221.160 mph set by Mark Donohue in a Porsche 917/30 at Talladega Superspeedway. In 1992, British F1 driver Martin Brundle pushed an XJ220 to 217.1 mph lap, edging out the production car record then held by a Bugatti EB110 GT. In 1999, Fiat sold the complex to Prototipo SpA, a Turin-based company that specializes in engineering and testing services for the automotive industry, which renamed it the Nardò Technical Center. Some feared the change in ownership would close the compound to outside speed attempts, but it proved not to be the case: In February 2005, Loris Bicocchi piloted a Koenigsegg CCR to a lap speed of 241.1 mph, besting the Brits by more than 25 mph. Interestingly, when Bicocchi's record later fell two months later to the Bugatti Veyron, it would not be at Nardò, but on Volkswagen's own track in Ehra-Lessien. So today, when word came that the Porsche Engineering Group would be "taking over responsibility for the Nardò Technical Center" in May of 2012, a momentary wave of panic swept over us: Would this temple of speed be locked away to be used solely as Porsche's personal playground? Will the storied and somewhat mysterious Nardò facility still welcome outsiders to enter the Ring and attempt to topple long-standing records, free of partisan influence? Thankfully, Porsche has chosen to stay the course charted by the facility's previous management. According to its press release announcing the deal, the Stuttgart brand plans to "optimize the testing facilities, and make them available to clients for testing and trials purposes." Porsche also plans to keep the facility humming 24/7. So rest easy; at any given time, night or day, someone is hammering a vehicle around the loop at Nardò, probably at speeds in the triple digits. Just the way its creators intended. from Car and Driver Blog http://blog.caranddriver.com

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