During the industry testing sessions in which [[sport auto]] records its "Supertest", the track can not be traveled at full speed past "Tribüne 13" (T13, grandstand 13) in order to allow safe access from the old exit/entrance there. The missing {{convert|232|m|abbr=on}} uphill section, from a slow right hand corner, would take in average an extra 7 s compared to a full lap.

== Sport Auto Trophy ==

Since 1995, the magazine also used to run a lap Nordschleife record challenge for the fastest lap time driven with a car that is road legal, having passed German [[TÜV]] and is registered in Germany. The road legality rule also applies for the tires. For many years, this record was held by various Turbo Porsche, of Gemballa and other tuners. Saurma was also among the drivers, but mostly racers were hired to squeeze out additional time. After lap times were in the 7:40 range until the early 2000s, Wolfgang Kaufmann set 7:32,5 with a Gemballa-Porsche. Later, [[Roland Asch]] spun in an attempt to better this time. Challengers even grinded the tread of new road tyres down to the legal limit of 1.6 mm for extra grip, and they stretched limits elsewhere, too, showing up with large aerodynamic aids which normally are not approved by German TÜV (and not even in VLN7/24h races, were the rules are changed annually to keep speeds in check). People wondered how approval for all kinds of changes could have been achieved. In April 2004, sport auto editor Horst von Saurma set 7:32,3 in a Porsche Carrera GT, and on 25 Oct 2004, Michael Düchting<ref>http://www.donkervoort.de/news.php?tnews</ref> set 7:18,01 in a Donkervoort RS. On 4 August 2005 Patrick Simon with an Edo Competition Porsche 911 GT2R bettered this with 7.15,6 before in October the [[Donkervoort]] of Michael Düchting was 0,7 sec faster. He remains the current holder. <ref>''die bisherige Rekordmarke, die bei 7.32,3 Minuten lag und noch aus dem April 2004 stammt. Damals wurde der Rekord von sport auto-Chefredakteur Horst von Saurma in einem Porsche Carrera GT aufgestellt. Was den Rekord für straßenzugelassene, aber getunte und somit nicht mehr der serie entsprechenden Autos betrifft, liegt Porsche ebenfalls nicht mehr vorne. Lange Zeit wurde hier der Rekord vom Westerwälder Wolfgang Kaufmann gehalten, der einst auf einem Gemballa-Porsche die Nordschleife in 7.32,5 Minuten umrundet hatte. Dann war der Wiesbadener Patrick Simon an der Reihe. Dem Nordschleifen-Experte gelang in einem Porsche 911 GT2R aus der Tuningschmiede Edo Competition am 4. August 2005 eine Runde in 7.15,6 Minuten. Doch bald darauf konterte der Paderborner Michael Düchting mit seinem Donkervoort D8 RS: um etwas mehr als 0,7 Sekunden unterbot er im Oktober 2005 Simons Bestmarke.'' - Gregor Messer http://www.sportauto-online.de/marken/news/nordschleife-neuer-rundenrekord-fuer-serienfahrzeuge-1045429.html</ref> The sub-7min time set by the Radical SR8 was not recognized as the car was registered outside of Germany.Sport auto has announced to introduce rules according to their Hockenheimring-based Tuner GP event, and nobody seems to have made an attempt since.

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