Image Source: Sport Auto

The Renault Mégane RS 275 Trophy-R holds the Nürburgring lap record for FWD production cars, and yes, it gets to keep it, but that’s only because the extensively-modified John Cooper Works Mini Cooper that shattered its record by ten seconds is not considered a production car.

Tuned by the specialists at Schirra Motoring in Germany, this little Mini achieved the same lap time around the Green Hell as a factory Pagani Zonda S. The 1.6-liter engine has been tweaked to the tune of 286 hp and the car has had a weight reduction of 385.8 pounds by using lightweight components. This all played a big part in achieving such a great lap time.

During the record lap, the car was on Dunlop Direzza 03G street-legal semi-slicks and was driven by Sport Auto‘s test driver, Christian Gebhardt. Schirra Motoring’s Mini JCW GTS isn’t only as fast as a Pagani Zonda S, it’s actually faster than a handful of sports cars and exotics we know and love. For example, the little Mini is faster than an Audi R8 V10 Plus (7:45), Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera (7:46), BMW M4 (7:52), and Lotus Exige S (7:53).

Although it didn’t take the record for fastest FWD production car, it did set the lap record for the fastest FWD street-legal car. And for all of the people who think you need insane amounts of horsepower to go fast around a track, this proves there is much more to it than that. Schirra Motoring’s Mini JCW GTS just goes to show that you can accomplish more with less.