The World's Best High-Speed Test Track Just Reached A Major Milestone

The Nardo Ring is a whopping 7.8 miles long, and the diameter is 2.5 miles long. One lap of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway would be the same distance as going from one edge to the other across the middle. The course is located in the Apulia region of Italy, in the area that you might call the "heel" of Italy's "boot" shape. It's also currently owned by Porsche, and it has a long history of vehicle testing and record-setting that have helped make it famous.

Porsche may own the track now, but it's actually the third owner of the track. It was built and originally operated by Fiat, and it opened on July 1, 1975. When Fiat built it, the course only really featured the giant ring, and it had a number of supporting facilities including workshops and a fuel station. A tall control tower was also built to keep track of things at the track. The control tower still stands and has some period equipment on display as well as more modern equipment for detecting wild fires in the forest that the track goes through. Yes, there is a forest in part of the 2.7-square mile facility, and it's a protected forest under European Union rules.

Fiat held the facility until 1999 when it was sold to a company called Gruppo Prototipo. This company began some of the first major expansions of the facility such as a handling course and more workshops. Gruppo Prototipo had it until Porsche took over the facility in 2012. Porsche has done significant work updating and expanding Nardo with even more courses and workshops. It completed major resurfacing and other updates in 2019, and it has added a battery-testing center as of 2021. The company had intended on some further expansions, but they would have resulted in destruction of large portions of the forest. That project was put on hold last year, and officially cancelled just a couple of months ago. Naturally, Porsche and VW Group brands do a significant amount of testing at Nardo, but the track is available for other companies to rent for testing. Alfa Romeo recently tested its 33 Stradale there. As it so happens, the track is even available for testing every day of the year.

A History Of Records
When you create a massive circle that comes as close to an endless straightaway as you can get, you tend to attract people that will want to drive it as fast as possible and as long as possible. In fact, at least one production car top speed record was set in the past. Koenigsegg took the top speed crown in 2005 after testing the CCR there and reaching 241 mph. Bugatti likely would've set a record there, but after a wreck during testing, top speed runs for the Veyron were moved elsewhere. Volkswagen still holds the speed record over 24 hours at the course. That was with the W12-powered Nardo mid-engine supercar that predated the Veyron. The Nardo managed to average just over 200 mph for 24 hours and covered a distance of more than 4,800 miles.