Four thousand kilometres at the Nürburgring, and one broken upright

The development car completed four NLS rounds and two test days this season. Four thousand one hundred and sixty kilometres, no technical retirement, and one broken part.

The upright

A left-rear upright failed at Adenauer Forst on the final test day, on a kerb the car had taken roughly nine hundred times. The failure was a fatigue crack originating at a machined radius, not an impact.

The radius was increased and the part re-tested to twice the recorded load spectrum. The revised upright is homologated and ships to every customer car at no charge, whether or not the original has done the mileage.

Why the car is there at all

The Nordschleife loads a car in ways no other circuit does, and it does it in a race rather than a test. Running there is how faults are found on the factory's time instead of a customer's.

One broken part in four thousand kilometres is a good season. It is also a part number that changes.