There is a huge hype around the all new Porsche Panamera Turbo, it’s a big (huge even) luxury barge of a Porsche, but that doesn’t seem to be slowing it down… In the hands of Porsche development driver Lars Kern it’s recently lapped the Nurburgring in 7m 38s.

If you can’t comprehend this just yet, we’ll put things into perspective – 7m 38s is light speed even for light weight, lap-time orientated sports or super car. So much so that here are five examples of finely tuned ‘go fast’ cars which the new Panamera Turbo has beaten:

1) Alfa Romeo’s newest creation the Giulia Quadrifoglio – 7m 39s. Every second counts and the Alfa comes in 1 second slower on the famous race track. With 375KW and a light weight of 1,524kg the new sedan is a huge step forward for Alfa Romeo (and a welcomed one) but the bigger, heavier Panamera still comes out on top.

2) Lamborghini’s LP670-4 Super Veloce – 7m 42s. The light-weight powerhouse of a Murcielago. Over 100kgs lighter than a standard model, packing 493KW’s of power. Designed for high speed cornering and blistering lap times it is still 4 seconds behind the luxury, heavy weight Panarema.

3) Porsche’s very own 997 GT3 – 7m 40s. Even though the Panamera doesn’t beat the current model GT3 it does fly past an already blistering fast 997 model. Remember this model is only one generation ago which means if Porsche carries on at this rate, tomorrow’s Boxster will lap as quickly as today’s 918. Think about that!

4) Pagani’s Zonda C12 S – 7m 44s. Although this Pagani was first sold in 2002, needless to say a Pagani is a very special and fast car – even in today’s standards. Now the luxurious daily driven Panamera takes the lead.

5) Mercedes Benz SLS AMG – 7m 40s. It’s a grand tourer, but it has been massaged with many go fast bits by the team at AMG.

Not bad for a luxury sedan...