on DR
" Hold on to your handbags -Porsche has announced that it now understands how the Nissan GT-R, with less power than a GT2 and 200kg tubbier, manages to lap the Nordschleife quicker than the fastest Porsche currently in production.
According to an interview on carsguide.com.au, August Achleitner, the boss of the regular 997 programme, the advantage was down to, er, rubber.
Now this is the age-old problem with Nurburgring lap-times. There is no parity, and until Euro NCAP comes-up with a standardised Nurburgring-test, there is unlikely to be a level playing field. The speed of the circuit itself seems to change on an hourly basis, so when manufacturers begin to extract lap times that will form the basis of a global media campaign, it's not surprising that the list of 'variables' becomes extremely long -as they attempt to perfect their message.
Earlier this year, Nissan claimed a standard GT-R lapped the old circuit in 7min 29sec, and then posted a rather excellent video of Toshio Suzuki driving at some lick. Around this time, Porsche announced that Walter Rohrl had achieved 7min 32sec in a GT2 -but on the revised 997 launch earlier this summer, I struggled to get anyone from the company to talk on-the-record about the fact that a heavy Nissan was faster around Porsche's home test track than its own scud-missile. This was before a Corvette ZR1 popped-in a 7min 22sec effort, but I don't think anyone doubts the potential of a 600bhp plus, plastic bodied 2 seater. The GT-R's time, however, has industry chins wagging.
Well, now Herr Achleitner has piped up with some new evidence. Apparently Porsche recently took a GT-R, a Turbo and a GT2 to the 'Ring and whereas it managed to get very close to the claimed times for its own cars (7min38 and 7min34 respectively) the best its test driver could achieve in a showroom spec GT-R was a 7min 54sec. That's 25sec slower than the claimed time.
Now before we consider what this might tell us about the state of Nissan's definition of 'standard' or for that matter Porsche's paranoia, we should probably ask a more pertinent, general question. Namely, does anyone really give a [beep]? I mean once you learn a bit about the place, and what a very, very fast lap requires, you quickly begin to understand that these are among the most random markers of absolute performance to have been perpetuated since the advent of the 0-60mph time. Yes, they give you a very good indication of the car's complete performance potential, but the scope for naughty 'infringements' and the variability of drivers means they must be taken with a pinch of salt.
The Nissan deserves some manner of defence though. It is not possible to make any kind of accurate estimation of its actual performance by looking at its bare numbers, as our Silverstone lap on DR TV proves. Numbers mean nothing, it's the net available and useable performance that counts and, plucking some completely arbitrary figures out of the ether by way of example, if a GT2 can deploy 75 percent of its potential over a given lap, the figure for the GT-R must be in the 90s. Furthermore, the 'Ring isn't especially hard on brakes, and that's the one area in which -over multiple laps- the GT-R eventually comes unstuck "