Corsa OPC Sets Circuit Record on Nürburgring Nordschleife

• Manuel Reuter sets new supermini record of 8m47.99 minutes
• Third record for Opel OPC model after Astra and Zafira

Rüsselsheim. The Nürburgring Nordschleife, nicknamed the “Green Hell”, met its match today in the shape of a standard production Corsa OPC. After 20.8 challenging kilometers, the stopwatch showed 8m47.99 seconds – a new record for a supermini. Manuel Reuter set the officially confirmed circuit record during level four of Opel’s popular motorsport initiative called “OPC Race Camp”. The former Opel works driver and current head of the innovative racing driver talent search showed the candidates just what the 141 kW/192 hp top-of-the-line Corsa OPC is capable of. Reuter has already set class records on the legendary Nordschleife with the Astra OPC and Zafira OPC.

Manuel Reuter, who is involved with the chassis tuning and post launch modifications to OPC variants, said: “You can sense that this car had its final tuning here on the most demanding racing circuit in the world. The Corsa OPC reacts directly to driving commands and remains fully predictable even well into the car’s physical limits.” The Nürburgring, and in particular the famous Nordschleife circuit, is Opel territory, as development engineers from Rüsselsheim regularly test and optimize the driving dynamics of new models there.

The Corsa OPC, which has been on sale since March and already exceeded the planned annual sales target of 3000 units, also offers top class everyday driving fun away from the racing circuit. The sporty top version of the fourth-generation Corsa has a 1.6-liter turbo engine, which accelerates the car from zero to 100 km/h in 7.2 seconds. The Corsa OPC has a top speed of 225 km/h, and its maximum torque of 230 Nm can be temporarily increased by 15 percent via the Overboost function. The Corsa OPC’s only conservative trait is its fuel consumption – just 7.9 liters per 100 km.

sweet! Looking forward to a Saturn Corsa...

Saturn not having that car is inexcusable. I don't care if it would take a lot of work, it should have been developed for the global market from the start.

Saturn not having that car is inexcusable. I don't care if it would take a lot of work, it should have been developed for the global market from the start.

shoulda, woulda, coulda - as long as the efforts are underway to get Saturn the next gen, and hopefully speed up the arrival of the next gen, then there's not much more they can do.

That is one hot looking car... I might prefer this as a replacement for my S-series down the road over the Astra. Small, efficient, nimble, and fast... sounds good to me.

They could do what Honda did and slap on "sumo-suit" to meet US regs at the 11th hour before it goes out of production.

Thats pretty cool. Saturn needs this car NOW.

GM saying the current Opel Corsa not being able to be Federalised to meet U.S. regulations especially so early in production is utter horse$h!.

GM made the current Astra U.S. regulation acceptable waaaaay late in its product cycle, and there's no reason at all it couldn't do the same with an all-new Corsa that's early on in production.