Saturday 5th August 1961
During practice for the German Grand Prix, American Phil Hill became the first person to complete a lap of the Nordschleife (the 14-mile ‘northern loop’) in under 9 minutes, with a stunning lap of 8 minutes 55.2 seconds. He had driven at an average speed of 95.3 mph in his Ferrari 156 ‘Sharknose’ Formula One car. Even 50 plus years later, the highest-performing road cars have difficulty breaking 8 minutes without a professional racing driver, or at least a driver very familiar with the track.
