can you find a link for that? cause i can't find anything...At Daytona, I don’t remember what year, but probably mid 1980s, there was an auto magazine write up about top speed at a superspeedway. There was a runoff between an IMSA GTP prototype and a purpose-built NASCAR type car. The IMSA prototype was the Al Holbert Lowenbrau Porsche 962 with a low-drag Le Mans rear body work and wing attached, and maybe just a different gearbox, but a pretty stock race car. The NASCAR was something I don’t remember, but I don’t think it met any NASCAR rules as it was purpose built for this run and no reporting on what it had or how many laps it could last.
The Porsche ran an oval lap at around 250 mph. The “Nascar” ran a few MPH faster. Just shows what speeds could be attained if the rules did not keep the speed down.
can you find a link for that? cause i can't find anything...That must be top speed rather than lap speed. The current closed-course speed record is 241.426mph, set by Gil de Ferran at Fontana in 2000 in qualifying for that year’s CART race there.
There is also a rather famous instance of a Porsche sports car running around a high-banked NASCAR oval, specifically Mark Donohue in a 917/30 Can-Am car in 1975. His best lap was 221.160mph, a record at the time which stood until 1980. BTW, according to some reports, the 917/30 was capable of over 260mph flat-out.