I agree. The driver was clearly driving the car like it was made to be driven. I liked the viewpoint in the video because it gives you a really good sense of the speed being carried throughout the track. I'm sure the same driver in the GT3's would have been amazing as well.

 

Quick!

 

Looks like a "Destination Nürburgring" track day. Was not a public day as someone else has already pointed out.

As for the car and driver, the description of the lap was provided:

"Take a ride with our M3 CSL for a lap and a half of the famous Nordschleife with owner David Pook at the wheel. The car runs our new Clubsport+ coilover suspension, made by Nitron, and Rota Grid 18" x 9.5J wheels with Kumho 265 track tyres all round. Otherwise it's standard, even the brakes (save for Pagid RS29 pads)..."

Clearly Mr. Pook is an extremely accomplished driver and I suspect he's had a few laps around the "Ring!!"

As others have noted, there is absolutely nothing else you can surmise about the other GT3 drivers. Are they new to the "Ring?" Are they just warming up? Are they on "track tyres" or not? I've passed GT3s, Ferraris, and other "better" cars in my 2009 Cayman S on the "Ring," but I've also been passed by many "lesser" cars with clearly better drivers.

Bottom line is that Mr. Pook and his M3 CSL are a great "Ring" combination!

 

The CSL is a truly great car, I owned two (both with AP brake upgrades) and they both spent time at the 'ring and on many other tracks. I've also driven extensively against friends of similar ability in all variants of GT3/2 (including my own ones). The CSL is slightly faster than 996 GT3 (except RS), but is slightly slower than a 997.1 GT3, where the extra power shows.

The 'ring is all about knowledge, I've driven my Alpina B5 there with four passengers past Ferraris and 911 Turbos in the wet against people who don't know the track etc. A friend who races in the VLN lapped there once and we passed many dozens of cars in his diesel mini-van.....!

Also track videos always show fast overtakes of slower drivers whatever the camera car is, the other drivers who can actually drive are doing similar lap-times simply don't get seen on the videos as the camera car never catches them. There will be as many videos of GT3s passing CSLs, but neither videos makes CSLs quicker than GT3s or vice versa, just good internet viewing.

 

Lol... you cannot compare like that..

My second lap around the ring, i was passing 911's, lotus elise, caymans and m3's... i was driving a Lancia ypsilon, diesel, with 48 hp, it wasen't the cars....i'll let you figure out the major equation that makes the difference.

 

Some good driving, think he past BRIDGE at 2.58min and past GANTRY 11.04 so a 8.06 Lap pretty quick, done a few laps quicker myself but also some alot slower!!

 

If anyone would like to see how much faster a 996 GT3 (mk1) is than the CSL in this video, please have a look here. The GT3 is carrying a passanger as well.

 

Found this video, not quite the same (M3 GTS not CSL & GT3 RS 4.0) but I think it adds some weight to the difference in the other video being mostly driving ability.