Just a couple of days ago, Alfa Romeo released a video showing their new Stelvio Quadrifoglio breaking the Nürburgring SUV lap record with an impressive time of 7:51.7. That’s great, right? Well, it’d be a bit more great if the video of the lap didn’t seem to have two major cuts, added and removed time, and in the video the car seems to teleport around parts of the ring in ways that defy physics. In short, while the record may be true, the video to ‘prove’ it seems quite suspect.


The website Bridge to Gantry has a full breakdown of the issues with the video, and seems quite adamant that it’s a ‘fake video.’ Here’s the original video released by Alfa:

For comparison, the site suggests watching this video of a 2015 Honda Civic Type R for an uncut ‘Ring lap that takes about 7 minutes and 50 seconds:

In addition to the Bridge to Gantry site, a reader who claims to be familiar with the Nürburgring and who’d like to remain anonymous has examined the video as well, and states the two main cuts in the video are as follows:

First cut happened at 0:58. After that turn(Hocheichen) they changed the camera angle again and the car was already at the bridge(Qiddelbacher Hole). Impossible. You can also hear the engine sound increasing. Second cut happened at 3:29. After that turn(Ex-Muhle) they changed the camera angle again and the car did like 100-150meters in 1 second.


The reader points out that if you compare the sections of the track where these cuts took place with that of a video of a Porsche GT2 RS on the ‘Ring, it appears that the Stelvio did those portions of the track in half the time of the GT2, which is, um, hard to swallow.

He’s even made videos comparing the two cuts to the GT2 lap:

he breaks down the differences:

0:09 - Both cars at Hocheichen (left pole). 0:14 - Alfa change camera. Video cut nº1. 0:16 - Alfa at the end of the Qiddelbacher Hole (left fence). 0:18 - GT2 RS reaches the end of the Qiddelbacher Hole (left fence). —— Times “left pole” to “left fence”—- Alfa Romeo Stelvio QV: about 5 secs. Porsche 991.2 GT2 RS: about 9 secs.

... and for the second cut:



... and the breakdown:

0:09 - Both cars at Ex-Muhle (Poland flag). 0:11 - Alfa change camera. Video cut nº2. 0:12 - Alfa reaches “right safety entrance”. 0:16 - GT2 RS reaches “right safety entrance”. —— Times “Poland flag” to “right safety entrance”—- Alfa Romeo Stelvio QV: about 3 secs. Porsche 991.2 GT2 RS: about 7 secs.


It’s worth noting that the total time for the clip matches the reported record-setting laptime, 7:52, but there were two cuts in the video. This would suggest that the Stelvio, if we assume its speed was on par with the Porsche GT2 RS, should be about seven seconds slower than the video shows.

So, what’s going on, exactly? So far, nobody is saying that the new Alfa SUV did not set the ‘Ring time that Alfa claims, but the video of the lap was clearly edited, and there must be some reason why. We’ve reached out to Alfa for comment, and will update when we hear Alfa’s explanation for what’s going on.


In the meantime, I guess it’s worth remembering that it’s often healthy to be skeptical.