Subaru has released on-board driving footage during a hot lap at the Nürburgring Nordschleife racetrack in Germany using a 2011MY Subaru WRX STI 4-door (sedan) test vehicle. Behind the wheel is Finnish rally champ Tommi Mäkinen.
Hilarious to read some of the comments on Tommi's driving. This guy won 4 word rally championships consecutively when wrc was at its most competitive with all the big manufacturers involved. This car he took round on this lap was totally stock !! Now show some respect!!!
Lol, you obviously dont know nothing about racing. He drove those first chicanes perfectly... And you are saying his driving is too much "wrc". How the hell you know how that car handles on that track(on those conditions)? That is how it looks when REAL racing driver is pushing "shitty road car" on it´s absolute limits.
Tommi won 4 WRC championships in the most difficult conditions you can ever imagine. Mud, gravel, snow, ice, tarmac. How can you even critizise his driving skills in any level?
So what does that matter when he clocks a lap time like that? Absolutely nothing. He is extremely fast driver and btw his driving lines are simply perfect.
+cody runge I agree the line's are not the most perfect. But... and there's always a but in a driver like this. Just take a look at 1:34/1:39, that gear swap, very intelligent torque adjusment, just to make it progressively oversteer and get out of the corner faster. And you can find a lot of that all over the lap. That torque sensibility is not the most common. This guy its not a perfect track driver... its not, but as a rally driver he does best outside his environment than a lot of track racers. And that is a huge point to him.
People on the internet are such super skilled drivers they can even talk shit about Makinnen not rev matching, going from 5th to 2nd gear, etc. No more than a handful of people have ever been better at driving than Sir Makinnen once was. He's driving the shit out of a ''regular'' car in Nurburgring as no one has probably done before and he makes it look like he's just trying to enjoy it. Being almost 50, no less. But hey, he's still a bitch cause he doesn't even heel and toe.
It's fun to see there is the racing line you'd have in a porsche, and then there is the"subaru-line" and the subaru line, takes part of the grass, you'd never see anyone in any other car do that, amazing driving!
+Marcus Ryser Bear in mind he´s a rallydriver and not a tarmac specialist. I know Tommi was / (IS) fast everywhere but gravel is his specialty Tommi is typical Fin, likes to drink. Have loads of stories about Tommi and Kimi Räikkönen.
Misshift and he still had the lap record hahah so happy i lived in the era where i got to watch this guy drive. Such a time, such an incredible talent.
1.33 is NOT a misshift; its technical term is "engine braking compression locking". The amount of ignorant comments here from the inexperienced and uneducated arm chair critics is astounding and disgusting. I would strongly suggest that if one does not own a Subaru STi, then driven it at the limit at the track refrain from commenting because whats coming out of people's mouths are just sheer absurd plain stupid garbage nothing short of a raving idiot on a random rant.
Makinen was pushing this car to see it's limits and potential as a test driver for Subaru. This is the guy top WRC manufacturers like Subaru goes to test their cars out at Nurbergring even after his retirement many years ago. Four time consecutive WRC Champion '96 '97 '98 & '99 amazing feat.
Ah classic video. Tommi's got great skill. I do find it curious how people can rip on his driving. It goes to show how little some actually know about driving well. Maybe people expect smoother movements. Part of this has to do with how Subarus are set up stock, basically kind of mushy on inputs, and part of this has to do with the nature of a rally driver. He actually has to work against the car some to get the most out of the car, so there tends to be a lot of driver inputs and larger than expected breadth of input. It is important to note that the car is being driven quite near the limit as much as possible and that Tommi is using quite a lot of the course. He's got the throttle pegged for quite a significant amount of the course, even in sketchier bits. He's braking pretty late and shortly in difficult areas. Plus he's using a lot of curbs and run off when able to improve the line and hold speed. He also seems to modify his lines for the available power of the car, get on to the throttle and hold full throttle, and to carry more speed on exits. There is some margin of safety in place on the run which is noticeable, but frankly you're not going to find a driver and manufacturer out there destroying a pile of cars pushing at 10/10ths. There's no prize. Realistically, he's only leaving maybe 10 seconds on the table for safety.
Not many seem to understand that Tommi is sitting on the wrong side of the car. You can see by the gear changes that he doesn't like this position. I bet he would be a lot faster if he was sitting on the left...
ICEMANZIDANE The gearbox is reversed for him. He makes changes like he was sitting on the left side and then he corrects himself. Tommi is a legend thou..
Pirkka Ruuska You have obviously not driven a racecar on the wrong side of what you are used to. Not to mention the cameras rolling over your shoulder where the world is watching. Since you sit on the different side of the H, the feeling for the centrifugal force is not the same. The vision out of front window to put the H frame close to apex is changed and we have also mentioned that gearbox is reversed. Imagine you are doing the gear changes when you are passenger next time in a car.
+Vincent Vega It is like that manual transmitions come all like that if is left seat or right seat it doesnt matter it stays the same....only a real racer knows thats
this guy might be the best who's ever lived...if not, he's knocking on the door. That was truly impressive driving and watch his corner entry in EVERY corner, tires are loaded up to the max...he knows EXACTLY where the limit is. Impressive as hell.
mkelebay not the 1 at number 95, 95. Porsche 911 GT3 7 : 56.33 Onboard N/A’99 ( nurburgringlaptimes.com/lap-times-top-100/ ) or 82, or 68, or 55, or 51 or 34, or 25 as the matter of fact not a single Porsche gt3 is in the range you said lol im not sure where you got your information from
+xFlow777 That's pretty stupid though, tire technology alone i'm sure made a huge difference, you can't compare an older car to a new one. (www.caranddriver.com/news/2016-porsche-911-gt3-rs-photos-and-info-news) there you are by the way, sorry i was mistaken, its 7:20 flat, thought it was in the 7:10s, although it very well could be.
Supercoolsam The X on the WRX is not the same as the one on the NSX (New Sports eXperimental), it's a cross since it was meant for rallycross (World Rally X (Cross)).
I think you have to give a few seconds to the incredible driving of Tommi, so maybe a a few more seconds slower than your M4 by normal fast driving standards
An extremely gifted driver... who wuld believe that he actualy beat the all other top professionals of this category when he comes from the rally world!
Difference between a WRC driver and track drivers,based on Nurburgring test videos. Track / test drivers trying to be smooth with the car, avoid the curves and very accurate with shifting in order to be fast. Makkinen is throwing the car on the curves,he is not smooth at all,he turns in even with 2 gears up and is still very fast. He really shows to the car, who's the boss by kicking it's butt.
Not smooth at all? He's smoother than 99% of drivers I see. He's not adjusting mid corner because he apexed too early, he's just coaching the car into the corner and using the tires well. If you're keeping the steering wheel completely still in a corner, you're slipping your tires unnecessarily as the road conditions change. If you look at his high speed corner entries, he's taking them better than most drivers I've seen, and definitely better than a single amateur I've ever seen drive the ring. If he was driving in front of someone, no matter how smooth they are, his line and use of tires is just far better. He's entering some corners 20km/h faster than most people. If he's not smooth, explain that..?
I mean that he turns the wheel very agressive and not afraid if the car slides because he can correct it immidiately. In general im saying that he is brutal to the car like he is beating it up and he is very comfortable with that. All im saying is that he is damn fast.Only a WRC driver can drive like that.
Tommi Makinen is a great driver, and watching him crush everyone in World Rally motivated me to buy my Evo 10 and my Subi STI. Great cars, and great fun.
You can set it up to oversteer, be neutral or understeer from the center console. I set mine for understeer in the winter only. It oversteers otherwise in Auto - and locking the diffs to the back. edit: mixed them up without realizing. haha. corrected.
Makinen's brilliant here, he's clutchless downshifting with left foot braking rather than heel-toeing. I think it's a technique that was more common in rallying (back when they were using traditional manual gearboxes) than on a race track where heel-toe would be more used.
brilliant driving, considering the opposite side shifting. still great 👌🏻 very impressive lap time! i can't even get that lap time on project cars with the 400bhp evo10😂
I found that to be damned good driving. There have been faster cars around Nurburgring but not stock standard road legal family sedans. Having owned and driven a muscle car myself capable of speeds well in excess of this one, I was very impressed. McLaren P1s or Ferrari's were designed for this sort of thing but this Subaru wasn't. He entered every corner properly, hit the apex with his foot off the brake and slammed his foot down on the go pedal at exactly the right time. Well done.
As a Subaru STi owner and track day junkie I can confirm, what Tommi does here is nothing short of "technical excellence and talent execution wizardry". His weight transfer methods of getting the car to turn before and during the corner is next level, and resembles the late Ayrton Senna. Subaru STi's have 0 driver feedback as to what and when the center diff is locking or clue us in on what its doing unlike a RWD where throttle steer is a thing or FWD where its a constant factor. Still can't get my head around how his steering inputs achieve a miniature scandi flick to flow more corner entry speed then trailing the brake to the late apex then finally at the corner exit, having enough of a turn moment to not understeer but to instead launch the car off corner after corner its astounding.
One of the last true rally heroes (respect to Loeb of course) but Tommi made it 4 times in a row competing with Colin McRae, Carlos Sainz, M. Gronholm, G. Panizzi and other amazing drivers :D I think it was more challenging back in his days of reign :D
like true rally driver, shortcut over inside grass line. ooops missed shift from 5th to 2nd 9000 rpm, I hope that is a JDM 2 liter engine. I guess he is not used to drive a right-hand drive car.
The brakes are available as an option from STI (they were originally equipped on the Spec C RA-R). The Bridgestones are NOT semi slicks but RE070 road tyres in 245/40R18 (which you can purchase - i have them on my hatch STI) This is what it has: R205 turbo R205 6 pot calipers Flexible tower bar Front lip spoiler Bridgestone RE070 tyres in 245/40R18 Aluminum bonnet (standard on Spec C) Bucket seats Roll cage 5 point harness Under cover (Advanced item) Aluminum fenders (Advanced item)
class wrc drivers like makinen are just awesome... many people think f1 drivers are the best..ohh no. Kimi done well, would love to see Hamilton drive a wrc car, i remember when he had a lap in senna`s old car (with a gear stick) he couldn't believe how they used to drive them on the limit... the old turbo days, when f1 was exciting
first time seeing this and wow 2010, feels so nostalgic! pure rally driver movements and calculation of the turns.. circuit and off road are different but have some common theories.
Wonderful! Go Tommi! It is so much fun to see a real rally-driver on a racetrack - the track's tarmac is just a recommendation, and to go over the curbs really hard a must.
jdmikeg4 he corrected oversteer when the rear went off the road... he did it without going of road completely... watch several more times, you will see.
well the finish line is right after that corner, so he knows he did not have to get a good run for the next straight. He just needed to get to the finish line as fast as possible, so he just went full throttle and accepted the risk of going off road or getting oversteer. The same with qualifying lap in F1. Alonso said that if the finish line is just right after the corner, then doesn't matter if you have a good exit or not, you just need to reach there as fast as possible.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, it seems there are many pros here who are not happy with the driving. Too edgy they say, a lot of fighting they say, could be faster they say. Google Tommi Makinen I say. Also stop watching the onboards of $500000 hypercars glued to the ground and imagine yourself turning at 200 km/h in a dog like this Subaru.
+Harry Mandilas he shouldn't have missed that downshift (accident into 2nd).. the gearing seems to be really short in the low gears and really high in 4-5-6... Half the time he doesn't seem to downshift past 4.
+Kevin Choi Well, tell him . Don't tell me. He has got a website with a contact section. Send him an email and tell him something along the lines: " I, the little schnauzer dog, believe that you are a shit driver and you don't know how to setup a car, ... "
Is this a stock STI??.. :o I knew the car was much past my driving abilities and I consider myself a decent driver. Signed up for a racing course for the summer because of it :) Looks like I was more than right. I needs more skill to tame this beast.
Actually, it' not a beast at all. I had the opportunity to drive a 2011 and it was the easiest-going Subaru I've yet driven. This skill isn't in taming it, the skill is in the madnest required to put it on the edge. You gotta remember, this is a four-cylinder, four-door sedan. Yes, it's holy shit fast , but it's still a Subaru ;]
Been getting to Autocross with my 2020 Sti. Watching vids of the olden days, when there were no paddle shifters and you had to use the clutch. Dunno if I breathed much the whole time watching this vid. Palms are sweaty too. This vid is awesome.
+ph00l1sh If braking the clutch, gearbox and the engine as well, this is a rally thing...NOT That was a mistake IMHO. Honestly i did the same on a slalom track ;-(
Once i tried to drive in the UK , it was impossible to get used to changing gears properly using left hand and i gave up . And im sure Makkinen feels the same
It's easy if you're used to shift with right hand.. It's not about how good of a driver you are, it's more about muscle memory. I couldn't shift fast when I bought my first jdm car. Took maybe like 1-2 weeks for me to get fully used to left hand shifting.
My personal opinion is that, rally drivers tend to be the more skilled of the professionals. As for all the rejects , who comment thinking there can give advice of think they could do better. Fucking wake up lol 7:55 in a scooby wrx standard is a serious bit of driving Love to watch some of the donuts on here attempt that lol
looked a good drive, on a down shift once it buzzed to 8000 rpm, whats max revs usually for a stock sti subi? was it just me or did it look like hard work in the little subi?
disbsam333 Actually, rev matching saves your clutch and gear box and gives your engine a faster response, which will give you faster acceleration after down shifting. When you rev match, after you release the clutch and start to accelerate again, the revs will be already on point, already high, but when you simply downshift, after you release the clutch the revs go slowly back up (when you press clutch, the revs go down, after u release, they go up again).
But he's heel and toeing every downshift, so how is he not revmatching? He's not grinding gears, and can accelerate immediately, so immediately, by all logic, he has matched revs.
Yeah, i felt for the engine at that moment. It's a great way do damage your engine as the rev-limiter can't counter act on over-revving when downshifting
I think its more to do with the fact that's its a 4wd turbocharged road car . On road car suspension . If you try and drive a Subaru smoothly like you would a rwd car , You will soon find your self in a field at the side of the track . You relay have to get it loaded up correctly to make the most of the grip
Finnish driver driving like an English. Steer wheel on the right of the car. Respect. Since he must be more used to drive on the left side. He was official pilot for Mitsubishi. Now piloting a Subaru.
@potoker9 no problem, dude. i know it about heel & toe, and I try to use it everyday (i suck at it, anyways...). i was thinking: was it a mishift because, even though he did heel& toe, it wasn't enough for 5th to 2nd (cuz he was trying to put into 4th)? and after the engine revs crazy, he immediately puts into third.
Awesome drive...his rallying habits are really noticeable here: watch the wild steering wheel work and the aggressive corner cutting + some Scandinavian flick attempts here and there :)) great stuff.
Man was really pushing it. Using the curbs. Full gas great driving. He certainly has a lot of experience and huge balls. Compared to rally stages this must be like his usual comune to work type of driving.
Just looking at his feet and the break/gas computer bar, I don't think his is heel-toeing downshift. Doesn't that put the car off balance when cornering? Hence slower ?
