and i’d still take honda reliability any day. what is this pca track day?
Porche Club of America is where all the Porsche gearheads meet for Concours, AutoX, and circuit racing. It’s pretty neat to check out some of the evolution in the company, and how technology has improved their models (ie Vario Cam). Now if the GT3 or the GT3RS could take the GTR, it’d be more of a big deal to me (no boost vs TT).
porsche does have one hell of a history in the car world. i’m sure a pca day would be pretty damn fun, but for those of us that are broke, i’ll stick with my rice box.
lol, many of the trackday cars are 1970-1990 911’s. One guy told me he purchased the car and had it race prepped for under $20K (which is about right for a mid 70’s 911). I’ve considered sellng my Bird and getting an older 911, but PA would DESTROY IT!
I am BY FAR not a gtr fan, but they were obviously racing at a dragstrip not sanctioned by Nissan and they still had their governors on. why else would there be a 1 second difference in ET but identical MPH for both?
The last time I went to the track, there was a gt-r there. He was running mid-11’s all day long. and that was at a sanctioned track. (believe he was trapping 122 mph?)
and weren’t those gt-r’s driven by lot boys from a dealership or something?
I don’t see what being a “Nissan-sanctioned track” has to do with anything. I’ll agree with the driver issue.
you might not be a GTR fan, but you are still pulling facts out of your ass like one.
US nissans dont’ have the 111mph (180kph) speed limiter like the other countries, we have a 156mph limiter.
Your guess is as good as mine, and yes they were driven by two nissan dealer’s but not lot boys.
If you guys have the time, here is a VERY VERY good read about the whole GTR controversy at the ring. It pretty much points out how gullible and caught up in the whole BS we are.
highlights:
there is no such thing as the production car record at the ring, as no times were achieved during any type of sanctioned competition.
sloppy stopwatches may take part in the quicker times (starting/finishing locations not being the same, etc.)
Chevy’s ZR1 had a roll cage, as likely did the GTR
a turbocharged car in the hands of the factory going after a record should be taken with a whole shaker of salt.
Porsche’s GTR time was very much in line with that of a professional racer (time of 7:50)
maybe most importantly: on a 14 mile long track, the conditions of the track and the weather will play a huge roll in time. Things like rubber getting washed off the track and stuff plays a huge role in traction… despite this, porsche achieved slightly faster times for their respective cars, a time over 20 seconds slower than what nissan reported for themselves.
my take on all this? that is that the nissan that ran the time was almost certainly modified. tricky japs
:kekegay:
I must be a n00b if you’re beating me by an entire post.
TOKYO — Nissan has officially refuted suggestions that cheating might have been involved during its testing of the 2009 Nissan GT-R at the Nürburgring Nordschleife this year. The carefully worded document from Tokyo responds to rumors that Porsche was unable to duplicate the GT-R’s 7:29 effort in its own testing of a car this summer.
The Nissan release notes that the GT-R set what was then a new lap record for production sports cars of 7:29 on April 17, 2008, during customary performance and durability testing. The car met production specifications in every way, had been equipped with production-specification Dunlop SP Sport 600 DSST CTT tires and had been driven by professional racing driver Toshio Suzuki. The car carried 110 pounds of data and video recording equipment. An official announcement was made in June.
Nissan notes that the test was observed by Best Motoring, a leading Japanese car magazine, and was conducted according to the Nürburgring test protocol for lap times established by Sport Auto, a leading German magazine. Nissan further says that it still has the tires used for the test.
The company says it’s aware that other automakers have purchased examples of the GT-R for evaluation. It notes, “Like all GT-R customers, we recommend than any automaker buying a GT-R follow the recommended run-in procedures, service schedules and maintenance to ensure the maximum performance from the car. In addition, we offer performance driving courses for prospective and current GT-R owners to help them get the best performance from their car. We would welcome the opportunity to help any manufacturer with understanding the full capabilities of the GT-R.”
Apparently this whole saga began last May, when a member of Porsche’s Nürburgring development team was overheard at a social establishment near the track rather loudly expressing his skepticism of the GT-R’s ability to surpass the Porsche 911 Turbo’s speed at the Nordschleife. Just a few weeks ago under similar circumstances in Verona, Italy, for the introduction of the Porsche 911 Targa, the same person repeated his thoughts in the company of members of the Australian press.
Our sources have since learned that Porsche purchased a GT-R in America soon after the car’s official introduction and quickly air-freighted it to Germany ($40,000 is usually the tab for such an exercise). Some time later, members of the Porsche crew at the Nürburgring brought the car to the Nissan development shop near the track and explained that they seemed to be having a little trouble with it. Kazutosi Mizuno, chief vehicle engineer and chief product specialist for the GT-R, happened to be there and — since all the Nürburgring development teams for various manufacturers are really one big family of friendly rivals — happily agreed to help them.
Porsche’s GT-R had something over 3,000 miles on the odometer. Its tires were in tatters. The brakes were terminally toasted. None of the fluids had been changed. Mizuno inquired whether the transmission had been recalibrated following the recommended 1,200-mile break-in procedure as specified in the owner’s manual. It had not. Mizuno provided new tires and new brakes, changed the fluids and recalibrated the transmission. And then he carefully explained the driving techniques that are required to help the GT-R do its best (as a former race engineer in charge of Nissan’s effort at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, he knows his stuff) and sent them on their way.
It seems Porsche was no more successful afterward, and now the testing season at the Nordschleife has concluded as winter weather approaches. Our Nissan sources tell us that the whole episode is highly humorous, especially as Porsche declines to describe its own testing protocol for Nordschleife laps. When spring arrives, we’ll see if there are any mysterious German students in Nissan’s performance driving schools for GT-R owners.
Inside Line says: Here’s more proof that high-performance cars can make even engineers from the world’s most sophisticated car companies act like scruffy teenagers in high-school auto shop.
— Kelly Toepke, News Editor
That has to be the worst pile of excuses on earth…
here’s a though, how about Nissan builds a car right?
Excellent point, I concur.
Another interesting read on the subject http://www.speedsportlife.com/2008/10/01/avoidable-contact-17-cheating-nissan-bitter-porsche/. For those bitching about “…all this ZR1/GTR/GT2/alphabet soup nonsense” this ought to shed a little light on it.
wow… its so out of control, i can barely read that.
I would say that modern engines really do need proper break in for optimal performance. This is something new to me that I just had first hand experience. Although my Z is not respectively within any caliber of the GTR; when I first purchased it, I was extremely dissapointed with the performance. The motor felt very tight and muffled. I posted online and talked with some Nissan Techs. and they mentioned around 15K is when the rated hp is truly discovered and wakes the car up. The car now has about 18K on it and I am NOW very pleased with the results. I could definitely see a performance motor not being broken in properly severly effecting the results without a doubt.
When I worked for BMW in 1998 I also recall how sluggish the “new” M3’s were in comparison to the ones that had some miles on them - I’m sure the same theory.
…now back to the BS…
It seems to be a car/pile of shit that has a transmission that can’t hold up (and cost like $20K to fix) and some overhyped times…whatever fuck that thing. I would like to see a (unbiased) pro driver pilot one of those and a Z06 back to back…and see what the times are…from what I read Chevy doesn’t even need to take the ZR1 out of the garage.