A couple months back, the bone-stock Corvette ZR1 put supercars everywhere on notice when it took on the famed Nurburgring and ran a Nissan GT-R-beating 7:26. The track-ready, fire breathing Viper ACR bested the Corvette's amazing effort by posting an incredible 7:22 lap time. Despite a four second difference in total track time, blogger Andi Baritchi slapped both track videos together (after 30 seconds of annoying scrolling text) to verify that the Viper ACR came out on top. Hit the jump to view the two fastest American-made, street legal, 600+ hp beasts as they tangle in a 'Ring battle for the ages. The video proves what we already knew, but it's still fun to see how two very different, yet very similar vehicles, handle the twists and turns of the Nurburgring.

Since you can't even really call it a car anymore if it hasn't been blasted around the 'Ring in development, Jaguar has taken the mechanicals of the next XJ sedan to everyone's favorite playground. Those internals wear the ill-fitting sheetmetal of the current XJ, with the addition of serious wheel arches and a fire-breathing nose.

The real thing to take away from the story is this: the car has been described as "the XF's features... draped over an Aston Martin Rapide." Frankly, we were happy when the XJ's design was moved away from mimicking the Mercedes CLS. And we have come to appreciate the design of the XF. But this equation: XF + Rapide = XJ is the kind of thing that could go wrong. Mr. Callum, however, has earned the benefit of the doubt, so we will wait for the feast for our eyes to decide.