Porsche is claiming that there is no way that the GTR they used had the same tires. We don't know which version they bought. We can only assume that they apparently bought it with the basic tire (like a lot of people will) instead of the optional ones.

I don't think anything else would make up for such a large time difference.

 

Whether the hardware failures are as a result of driver abuse or not... it's immaterial as Nissan have pitched this car at Porsche by claiming quickest numbers... but if the cars are as fragile as some reports then it's gonna bite Nissan big time.

I'd rather spend $18K on a Porsche transmission than fork out that much on a premium Datsun's unit!

 

I’m not sure what you are trying to say???

There is no “basic” tire. There are three sets of tires available for the GT-R at the customer’s choice.

1. The cold weather package gets you Z-rated Dunlop all-season tires, or

2. Bridgestone RE070R high-performance run-flat summer tires, or

3. Dunlop SP Sport 600 DSST high-performance run-flat summer tires.

All tires are nitrogen-filled at the factory. All choices are no-cost; it’s simply up to the buyer to decide which tires he wants.

I’m sure that there is some very slight performance differences between the sets, especially between the all-season tires and the two types of summer tires but I’m sure that is not what Porsche is basing their accusations on and I would hope they would be smart enough not to order the all-season tires for their testing.

The article quoted the Porsche spokesman as saying “What we can imagine with this Nissan is they used other tires," says August Achleitner, the man in charge of the 911 program.”

Clearly, they are suggesting that something VERY different than the standard production model tires were used and now Nissan has said they absolutely did not use any other tires but the Dunlop tires that are available on the car.

 

Driver abuse is immaterial?

So if someone goes out and abuses the **** out of a Z06 and the tyranny explodes and some who hate Corvette's start to claim it's Chevy's fault for not building a more bullet-proof tyranny...the fact that it was a driver abusing the car won't matter?

 

I'm hoping that at least one of the magazines will get a group of cars together at a big racetrack like the Nurburgring and invite manufacturers to send their own pro drivers in a big test. Porsche 911, Nissan GT-R, Chevrolet Corvette ZR1, Ferrari 430 Scuderia, Dodge Viper ACR, and anybody else who wants to compete.

And with 9 out of 29 wins, the Toyota Camry is doing better than anybody else in the Sprint Cup series this year.
And the Corvette has really kicked *** in ALMS over the past 8 years in GT1.
How much does the SuperGT GT-R have in common with the street version of the GT-R?

 

If you regard track/drag racing as 'driver abuse' then it's a bit of a poor attempt at surpassing the standards of Porsche cars, which are renowned for their durability at stock car racing events around the globe.

What I'm suggesting is that if Nissan are pitching their GTR against the likes of Porsche by claiming quickest times, then they are also trying to convince would-be Porsche buyers that Nissan have developed a better mousetrap for considerably less $$$... which is definitely not the case if the reports of breakages are merely as a result of running the car for its intended purpose - flat chat at the racetrack.

Now do you understand the regurgitated version?

 

You certainly didn’t make that distinction before.

Regardless of what I consider to be “abuse”, track use of a street-legal vehicle is abuse – read the fine print of warranty coverage for any “performance” vehicle you choose and I think you’ll see manufacturers agree.

And reputation aside, I’ve seen plenty of broken Porsches at track events (along with plenty of broken Corvettes and Nissans and BMWs and any other nameplate you can think of).

Manufacturers do not build their vehicles for Joe or Suzie to take it to the drag-strip or local oval every weekend…of course they know people will do that but that is not the purpose of a street-legal, mass produced vehicle nor are they build for that kind of use.

I take my vehicles to the track but when something breaks, I don’t expect Nissan (or GM) to pony-up for the repair.

 

Any change that Nissan used shaved OEM tires? I don't know if that would account for a 30 second difference over an 8-minute run, but it could be a significant portion of that difference. Also, what were the alignment specs on the two cars? "As-delivered" and "optimized within factory specs" and "optimized within the mechanical limits of the suspension" might all return different results.

My point is that there's optimization that could have been performed by Nissan and not by Porsche, and this then becomes a question of how one defines "off the showroom floor".

 

Nissan still has not addressed the power issue. If the GT-R really accelerates at the same rate as the ZR1 on the long straight of the 'Ring, something smells fishy...

It's quite possible/probable in my mind that they left the tires bone stock (so pics don't reveal any cheating) but maybe turned up the wick on the boost by a few psi...

That would be hard to detect with a camera...

 

In the latest issues of Car and Driver, Aaron Robinson discusses the four or five different GT-Rs that the magazine has tested, and how each have had different levels of prototype and production ECU calibration. This was readily apparent in both acceleration times and dyno numbers. I'm guessing that Nissan's 'ring (ringer?) car had pre-production code, and yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if perhaps it was a bit healthier than the final calibration release.

I suspect that Nissan should come away with the lesson that it's better to undercommit and overdeliver.

 

I'm really enjoying this thread! Robert you keep flailing at those windmills buddy! I think it is pretty clear now that Datsun attempted to pass off a modified car as stock. All the kings horses and all the kings men are not going to put the Datsun GTR ring time back together again.

 

Well you are right…it’s readily apparent to those who hate Nissan as you, in previous posts, have made it abundantly clear that you do or those who just hate anything "Asian".

As I said above, those with closed minds will never believe anything that doesn’t fit their already formed opinion.

 

just remember that can go both ways.

 

Shaved tires? Who knows.

Nor do we know what Porsche really did or didn't do in preparing the car they purchased compared to what Nissan did or didn't do.

I suppose this is the reason why they run racing "seasons" rather than deciding everything on just one race...how many times have you or I taken our vehicle to a Solo2 event and even with everything set up the "same" and on the same course, had vastly better or worse days than "normal"?

There are simply too many variables to base everything on one day or one week or one track of testing which is why I said a few posts agon; only time will really tell the story.

As for hte difference in cars tested; keep in mind that most of the testing had to have been done with other than production vehicles and probably vehicels that had been put through thr wringer (the units I saw had gone through a lifetime of use in just a few months because they had be "tested" so much).

 

Yes it can but if you look at my posts here I think you'll see I've much more willing to accept Nissan's possible failings than others have show a willingness to accept Nissan's possible successes.