A modern Formula 1 vehicle was driven around the historic Nordschleife track at the Nürburgring in Germany for the first time in 31 years. A crowd of 45,000 witnessed BMW Sauber F1 Team driver Nick Heidfeld drive three laps around the 20.8 kilometre race track. His second lap, with a recorded lap time of 8:34, was his fastest. Heidfeld also reached a top speed of 275 km/h on the “Döttinger Höhe” straight despite the car’s unusually hard demonstration tyres.