Earlier this week, it set a production car lap record around the Nürburgring Nordschleife using the new Black Series, with a time of 6:43.616. The previous record-holder, the Lamborghini Aventador SVJ, ran a 6:44.97 in 2018.

Piloted by Mercedes factory driver Mario Engel, the GT Black Series remained on its factory Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 R MO tires for this session. The car was said to be in stock guise, though the anti-roll bars, coilover suspension, front and rear aero and camber were all tweaked in setup to extract every precious tenth.

And yet, despite all this fanfare, 6:43.616 doesn’t technically stand as the new Nürb time to beat. In 2019, the route constituting an official lap around the Nordschleife was altered by a little over 200 meters. The GT Black Series’ lap around that official route — a 6:48.047 — is therefore the actual new production car record, though Lamborghini didn’t run that configuration two years ago. Mercedes evidently chose to submit two times, rather than win on a technicality. A bit silly, but I can respect it.

But even then, some may argue that neither the GT Black Series nor the Aventador SVJ should’ve ever laid claim to the production car record for the old track to begin with. In 2017, around the Green Hell, clocking a 6:43.22 with Kenny Bräck at the helm. Perhaps there are some criteria the P1 LM‘s lap doesn’t adhere to — it wasn’t run by a manufacturer, or there weren’t enough vehicles produced to qualify as an official lap record. Whatever the case may be, the fine print that seems to accompany every proclaimed ‘Ring record has me a bit sour on the whole charade.

What say you, though? Do you look forward to automakers smashing each other’sNürburgring lap records, or are you over the never-ending one-upmanship?