I've never had the privledge of doing the OLOA but a friend here did so in 20055...it's very much a team effort; a test of the drivers' ability, the car's ability, the entire team...in other words, you can have the "best" (however one wants to define best) car in the world and still get your hat handed to you.

Point being...far too many factors to ever say it's "the car" or "the drivers" or the "fill in the blank".

I'm also wonder where the GT-R being used in this year's event came from since they are not being sold in the U.S. yet??? Somebody would have to bring the car in illegally.

 

What would you know? The Nissan is the best car of all time!!!

Ok, seriously. It wouldn't surprise me one bit if Nissan's times were bogus to some degree. With all the hype that has built up around this car, and the public's infatuation with the ring, I could see Nissan doing anything to shave seconds off. I bet the GTR is a wicked fast car, and it seems to be faster than the Vette on many racecourses, but Nissan has done a good job of passing the koolade out to all fo the fanboys around the world. Rob Nasheville seems to have drank his.

 

As a blanket statement, AWD can be a big advantage. One need look no further than to the Audi when it dominated TransAM racing as but an example.

Here's my personal take of FWD, RWD, AWD.

I prefer driving RWD cars. I prefer RWD motorsports.

AWD is, by nature, being controlled by input other than the driver to a much larger degree than RWD as torque is being sent for and aft by the computer's determination and not be exactly what the driver wants.

I don't have personal interest in owning an AWD car. It's heavier, more complex, costlier to purchase, far more costly to repair.

I think it's nice option for a truck or SUV unless you need to do things where a low range 4x4 is still the king for that sort of situation..

Call me a "purist" as a compliment or an insult. AWD just doesn't offer enough in the plus column for me in a high performance car... and using the parking brake to rotate a car through a very tight turn < which Rallye drivers do with regularity > isn't something that I have an interest in learning.

 

Viper still winning on the road courses in One Lap--even in the wet. Had 45 seconds on it at TMS (6:44 vs 7:30). Lots of other cars in front of the GTR as well.

 

Well, I can say that the rally guys are no longer dependent just on parking-brake antics to rotate the car. If you combine AWD with active center and rear diffs (either electronic LSDs or full-out torque vectoring setups), you're now operating in a whole 'nother world of vehicle dynamics.

 

Glad you point that out Eric. I just don't follow the Rallye technical stuff, although I do respect the car controll skills involved. They are some of the best drivers on the planet!

Electronic diffs are VERY cool pieces. I particularly like the unit Ferrari has for the 430 Scuderia which is supposedly an evolution of their E-Diff. A friend of mine is the floor manager for Ferrari at the major autoshows. I managed to get up close and personal with the 2 Scuderias they had for the LA unveil. Very, very much like the 430 Challenge cars... Michelotto touches everywhere. Quite a Z06 type approach which my freind agreed with... < he's a big Z06 fan as well >

It's amazing what you can do when you "turn up" the money.. I still think GM has a better approach when it comes to turning up the value!

 

I've said it before and I'll say it again, the cars need to be there on the same day, same conditions, and run the SAME LAP configuration. Nissan can beat the Z06 and even the ZR1 for that matter, but I'd like to see that it was, in fact, done accurately .

I'm not trying to wave the flag on Nissan, but there have been major inconsistancies in their "claims" (I won't call them "official" reports ) since the beginning. Like the whole debacle over exactly what "cut slick" tires was supposed to mean?!

I don't care if the 7:38 or 7:29 runs weren't "official" ..... they ARE being reported as Nissan's "claim". The whole auto enthusiast community is lapping it up. When it's clear that they're not playing by the same rules, I have to wonder WHY???

... can they not win it legitimately?????

 

Now it's confirmed that the GTR ran on cut slicks for the ring, not stock tires!!!

The GTR ran on cut tires! Not factory tires!!! Here is a direct quote from GTR chief engineer Kazutoshi Mizuno :

'We used cut slick tyres' said Mizuno.

http://www.pistonheads.com/news/defa...?storyId=17066

 

Also more data, possibly hearsay, but supported by the fact that the GT-R is getting slaughtered in One Lap by *lots and lots of cars*, from Porsche to Z06 to Viper:

From 6speedonline:

I have spoken to one of the R&T editors, who was kind enough to take the time to discuss the provenance of the GT-Rs used in testing. That conversation relates to this thread as follows: Nissan provided 3 GT-Rs for testing to the automotive press. A white, a silver, and a Black one. The black one was damaged somehow and was kept in reserve for parts. All three cars are US spec, but are definitely pre-production, and are classified as "engineering test cars", which is the only way they are legal for registration and operation on US roads. Once their lifecycle is done (90 days), they go to the crusher. This explains the caveats by C&D, and MT regarding the performance, and the extraordinary dyno result produced by the silver car.

That SAME silver car, with Michigan plates, is the one now competing in the One Lap. It is therefore NOT a production car, and if the dyno is any indication, is making a lot more power than the production car's certified 480.

I agree with Wanderer Z06 that this has no real bearing on the OneLap since it's a run-what-you-brung race, but the GT-R fanboys have been claiming all along that a production GT-R is outperforming the stock Z06s and that is simply not true.

The R&T editor also said that this car is causing a major ruckus in the auto press and that some mags are rethinking their testing procedures with respect to manufacturer-supplied vehicles. Automobile reportedly declined to test the Nissan at this time because the cars supplied were not production cars. Expect that trend to be followed by others henceforward, he said.

 

Shockingly I'm not surprised! If you're going to stop the timer 700 ft before the start/finish point why not use slicks too.
The worst part is that this car didn't need stunning Ring times for sales or extra hype. It had all that and a cult following w/o ever posting Ring times or going after the 911 Turbo. Dare I say this car and it's Ring performance is exposed....

Note, I would like to know what type of tires the 911 Turbo and Z06 used.

 

That "news" came out several months ago . Find the thread started by Russ99TA all about this stupid car ..... it was discussed/debated quite a bit already .

I love how everyone who questions any data about the GT-R is labelled as a "GM nut-hugger" and accused of not being able to admit that there's another car that perhaps has one-upped the "almighty" Corvette.

But the truth of the matter is, most people, myself included, are not saying the GT-R can't do it, but we'd just like accurate, reliable, un-biased data.

So far, nobody has data which is accurate enough for my likings . Running a shorter lap, with a running start doesn't compare well to a longer lap with a standing start. And running "cut-slick tires" certainly changes EVERYTHING too. But I think I've said all that before already .

Hate to say "I told ya so" .

Now let's wait for something more concrete to come in. Hell, if Nissan won't run a "proper" lap, why doesn't GM go out there and repeat Nissan's BS lap and see what the 'Vettes do .

 

The z used run craps. The 911 when it switched from it's stock tire to a PS2 shaved off 8 seconds from it's time.

 

The GTR may not have used cut slicks. Some people are saying that the "cut slick tires" got confused in the translation. Just wanted to add for accuracy.

 

I keep on hearing from you about this less-than-stellar OLOA performance by the GT-R, but without any acknowledgement that the driver of this vehicle might be the problem.

Eh, whatever makes you feel good.

 

So is this to be taken as they used slicks or racing tires w/o any cuts made in them?