The fastest cars around the Autocar handling circuit

Ranked: all the supercar and hypercar lap records set by our road test team during their rigorous testing

19 October 2018

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The Autocar handling track has a new record holder.

As part of our comprehensive road test, Autocar puts machines through their paces on a seven-corner, 1.53-mile handling track, located at the MIRA proving ground in Nuneaton, central England.
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Autocar's handling track

It's a high-speed track designed to take cars to the edge of their grip and test their high-speed stability. The quickest speed recorded on the track was 131.6mph, achieved by the McLaren P1 hypercar.A new record has just been set - let's find out by which car - we start at number 20, and work our way to the new record holder.
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20: Ferrari 430 Scuderia: 1min 9.50secs

The Scuderia bettered the standard F430 on our track by half a second, ensuring that several of Modena’s finest made it into our top twenty. And yes, that is Chris Harris, late of this parish, at the wheel.
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19: Ferrri 812 Superfast: 1min 9.30sec

Maranello's most powerful series-production road car might have a stupendous atmospheric V12 engine, but standard-fit Pirelli P Zero tyres began to overheat after five laps and its time was only enough for the beginning rungs of our top twenty ladder.
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18=: McLaren MP4-12C Spider: 1min 8.90secs

The drop-top version of McLaren Automotive’s first model. Its coupé sibling was a whole 0.4sec quicker.
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17=: Ferrari 458 Italia: 1min 8.90secs

Just 0.9sec separates the 458 Italia from its replacement, the 488 GTB, but that 0.9sec represents a significant number of places on our top lap times leaderboard.
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16: McLaren 570S: 1min 8.70secs

McLaren’s ‘baby’ Sports Series supercar, the 570S, is just 0.1sec off the pace of its Super Series elder, the MP4-12C. It’s still got that fearsome twin-turbo V8, albeit with 562bhp in place of the ever-increasing power outputs of its bigger brothers, but it’s marked its territory in a not unremarkable 16th place in our top 20.
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14=: McLaren MP4-12C: 1min 8.60secs

Yes, another McLaren. This time, it’s the MP4-12C – the first car made by McLaren Automotive back in 2010. Great to see a car over seven years old still holding its own on our circuit.
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14=: Ferrari F12 Berlinetta: 1min 8.60secs

The F12 Berlinetta's 731bhp helped the car make it onto this list and its status as Ferrari’s production flagship makes it a blast to drive on road or track. It’s been replaced by the 812 Superfast, but road tyres hold the newer model back.
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13: Bugatti Veyron Super Sport: 1min 8.50secs

The car that broke new ground when the Volkswagen Group revived the Bugatti brand. In its quickest, Super Sport iteration, the Veyron can hit 268mph, and 62mph passes in just 2.5sec. A weight of 1838kg (4044 lb) holds it back from climbing further up our leaderboard.
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12: Ariel Atom 500 V8: 1min 8.40secs

There was never going to be a lighter car on this list than the Ariel Atom, which tips the scales at 550kg (1210 lb). With a 475bhp, 3.0-litre V8 sitting behind the driver, it’s got a power-to-weight ratio of 864bhp; one of the highest on this list. Little wonder that it did so well, then.
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9=: Mercedes-AMG GT R: 1min 8.30secs

The quickest car with a three-pointed star around the Nürburgring is joint ninth around our circuit. Mercedes claims an unprecedented level of motorsport technology into one of its production cars for the GT R and clearly it’s paid off.
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9=: Ferrari 458 Speciale: 1min 8.30secs

The 458 Speciale is the range-topper of the 458 range, and delivers unparalleled poise and purpose. It's mighty fast, too, cracking into our top ten.
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9=: McLaren 650S Spider: 1min 8.30secs

Yes, another McLaren; this time it’s the father of the 720S, the 650S. With just 0.3sec between it and the Ferrari 488 GTB, there’s something of a tense rivalry on our leaderboard. The McLaren is lighter than the Ferrari, but has 641bhp - 20bhp down on the 488.
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7=: Ferrari 488 GTB: 1min 8.00secs

It’s got more than double the power (661bhp) of the car it ties with - but Ferrari's successor to the 458 weighs around double that car too. A hotter Pista version akin to the 458 Speciale stands a fair chance of trouncing both on arrival, though.
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7=: Radical SR3 SL: 1min 8.00secs

The radical, erm, Radical is one of the most extreme road-legal cars there is. With 300bhp on tap, it’s also the least powerful in our top 20, but weighing a feathery 765kg (1683 lb), it’s the second lightest after the Ariel Atom 500 V8. It’s level pegging with the Ferrari 488 GTB in its lap time.
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6: Porsche 911 GT2 RS: 1min 7.80sec

Porche's naughtiest 911 was built to go supercar hunting, and comfortably lands in our top ten amongst machines costing significantly more money.
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5: McLaren P1: 1min 6.80secs

The first McLaren road car to utilise hybrid power, it was every bit the hypercar and set a phenomenal time when we tested it in 2014. Turns out power isn't everything, though, and it has since been surpassed by more aerodynamically efficient machines.
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4: McLaren 720S: 1min 6.10secs

McLaren was on the war path with the 720S, which beat all of its direct rivals and even the far more powerful and hardcore P1 in the process. It has since been bumped from a podium position by faster rivals, along with something else from Woking's technology center...
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3: Porsche 918 Spyder: 1min 5.70secs

It might be four years old and it might be some way down the leaderboard for top road-legal laps of the Nürburgring, but Porsche’s 918 Spyder dominated the top spot around our handling circuit for several years, finishing almost half a second ahead of the closest challenger, but the same time off the pace of the new circuit champion.
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2: Lamborghini Huracán Performante: 1min 5.30secs

The Huracán Performante held our lap record for the best part of a year, dethroning the Porsche 918 Spyder in October 2017 with a 1min 05.30secs lap time. Now it has to settle for second place, and it's not just at our handling circuit where the Lambo's records have tumbled: the previous production car record-holder at the Nurburgring has since been bested by the Porsche 911 GT2 RS, and Lamborghini's own Aventador SVJ.
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1. McLaren Senna: 1min 3.80secs

And the new record holder is... The McLaren Senna. Woking's latest "ultimate series" beat the long-standing first-place holder, the Lamborghini Huracán Performante around our dry handling track with an incredible lap time. It shows what an impact the Senna's dramatic aerodynamic design can have on high-speed stability, which translates into record-breakign performance.

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