2010 Porsche 911 GT3 has new ‘Ring time
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Porsche took its second generation 997 GT3 out on the Nürburgring with their test driver Walter Röhrl.
Unofficially, Röhrl set a lap time of 7 minutes 40 seconds. Besting the previous ‘Ring time by 2-seconds. That’s just 2-seconds off of the current 997 911 Turbo.
According to Motor Trend, Andreas Preuninger, Porsche’s Project Manager High Performance Cars said that if Walter Röhrl had driven the way he normally drives, he would have probably been 2 seconds faster than what he was… That’s very impressive. That would be the same 7:38 lap time as the 911 Turbo currently offered.
As most know Walter Röhrl is a world renowned professional Rallye driver holding two championship titles and being voted the best Rallye driver in history.
Nissan recently retested their 2009 GT-R to see if they had made it any faster, and according to them they did. The 2008 model was well praised for doing a Nürburgring lap time of 7:29. The 09 lapped the ‘Ring in 7:27.56. That’s incredibly impressive. Porsche does still claim that the U.S. spec GT-R they tested couldn’t best 7:54. Which seems about right, with the weight disadvantage of the GT-R.
There have been a lot of critics of the Nissan’s lap time. I’ve been one of them. I loved the GT-R when it first came out, but when it did come out and seem to beat everything around it and became a cult icon within 3 days, I didn’t like that. You see, I tend to favor the cars that people always have typical criticisms of. Every fast and the furious geek loves the Nissan GT-R simply because it’s fast and easy… It only comes in an automatic, is all-wheel drive and has a PlayStation 3 style computer system. But, I’d rather have the R34 GT-R that takes real driver skill to play with.
Call me a crazy critic all you want, but the driving pleasure you get from a 911 will always be better than any Japanese car, save for the Acura/Honda NSX. Which in my opinion is probably the finest car I’ve ever driven, and certainly one of the finest I’ll ever drive! Unless I drive a McLaren F1, I doubt I’ll believe a car is more driver oriented. Even most Porsches.
Plain and simple, though, in order to solve the which is faster question, why not have Nissan’s *ace* GT-R driver go up against Walter Röhrl? Or, better yet, why not have Röhrl drive both cars and get a true lap time from both? He’s one of the official time testers for any car brought to the Nürburgring along with being Porsche’s cheif test driver. On the same day Walter also took an F430 Scuderia around the famous track to set a 7:45. Impressive for a Ferrari on a German track. Also, it just goes to show that you can have an F1 tranny all you want, Walter Röhrl can still kick your ass with a traditional Porsche manual transmission. Give ‘em hell, Walt!
But, back to the GT3. What a monster! It looks great and goes even better. The last model was fantastic. This one is just flat out phenominal. I can’t wait to see an official time.
Source: Autoblog via Motor Trend
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The author of this article is WAY to opinionated. Report the facts, let the public decide what we think is better or not. This isn’t your personal blog.
Wait, you don’t like my opinion, so you comment with an opinion of your own? What if I or someone else like you doesn’t like your opinion? Odd how that circle works, isn’t it? If you don’t like my opinion, there are plenty of others out there who don’t know how to have one. I don’t know their site names, because no one really respects them. But, I’m sure you can Google them…
I’m pretty sure your job description says to report the news. It is clear that you are very biased against Porsche. That may be or may not be so. However, when you report the news to the greater public you leave your own bias and prejudice out of the way. Common sense and journalism 101. Articles like yours are very painful to read knowing the fact that this is a respected internet source for cars.
I’m sure you wouldn’t want to watch the news anymore if the media attacked your favorite political candidate. My opinion does not matter. I’m just one of the thousands and millions of subscribers of GlobalMotors that will come upon this article and read it, you on the other hand have a much complex task. That is why you need to keep your personal thoughts out of this and focus on the task at hand which is to REPORT the news.
josh, you are opinionated with this topic, but like you said its an opinion. these sites arent just for facts, its about enticing comments and more opinions from others. good job on the article.
and i also believe that true driving is with a manual trans, not the flappy paddles.
cheers mate
Anonymous: My job description actually says to write articles and blogs that report the news with a valued opinion. No, I’m biased toward Porsche, not against. I’m biased against the Nissan GT-R. I love Porsche! That’s actually not true. Turn on any major news channel and they all have their own opinion based shows… I’m the opinion base for GlobalMotors. I report all of the facts. In fact, show me one point where I didn’t use facts and then use an opinion. It’s not common sense and journalism 101. I’m not a journalist, I’m a writer. Big difference. Go ahead, tell me what you think their differences are, too. If my articles are so painful, why are you reading them? Why are you commenting on them? How do you know I don’t own the website? GlobalMotors is a fantastic source for automotive news, but it’s also a website like any other that has writers with opinions. Read any automotive blog out there, 9 out of 10 of them have an opinion in each article. It’s a fact.
I actually enjoy watching the news with opinions. I hate when people just report the news. Because most of those people who are reporting without a so called opinion are full of it. They are adding little hints here and there to show what their opinion is. I guess you’re just too oblivious to see them. Listen to the way they say things and their undertones.
That’s where you’re even more wrong! Your opinion matters just as much as mine does. That’s why it’s an opinion. Everyone has their own. And each opinion, as long as it’s not based around hurting someone or something, is just as valuable as the opposite one.
Where in the article did I not REPORT the news? I reported all of the facts, and then added some of my personal insight. Have you ever driven a GT-R? A 911 GT3? An Acura/Honda NSX? If you haven’t, then you, like many others, are looking to my opinion to help you understand the car. I always say, don’t just take my word for it, though. Find as many sources as you can and form your own opinion. But, my opinion will help you form a good basis of knowledge with other sources, as well.
Also, Argument Based Research. Backing up your opinion with two facts and using one fact to go against your opinion. That’s what I did.
Simon,
Cheers, buddy. Thank you for saying such a good true statement. I love my opinions, they get me in trouble, haha. I don’t mind the flappy paddles if you’re a racing driver. That I can understand. Some of those cars have so much power that it would be damn near impossible to use the car to its full potential without them. But, what I do hate that is gone is the clutch. Why not have a clutch and some flappy paddles? The Mercedes-Benz CLK-GTR had that… Why not have a sequential gearbox with a clutch? That makes things easier, too. But, when it comes down to it, a true manual transmission is always the way to go.
As I tell my friends and my brothers, as a man, you should always have the same amount of pedals for as many legs as you have..three…
Good day, buddy.
I believe as well that simply pushing a pedal as hard as you can does not compare to the skill and timing you need with manual gear.
Sophia, that’s a perfect way of putting it! I love the way you think. A woman who drives a manual is the hottest woman on earth, in my book.
I do agree about the cars not needing humans to drive them anymore
Unfortunately in the end it is Porsche who has to respond.
It is their reputation and if they are comfortable with Nissan outperforming them, then we can’t do anything about this.
Technology, especially with industrial spying is not unique to anyone anymore especially if you take apart your competitors car when you can acquire them and Nissan did this. There should be no surprise to the performance as we are seeing. SO the german technology vs Japanese technology is not really accurate, it seems.
What is so surprising is the price. Without extensive and expensive motorsport involvement, the Ring is being used a both a marketing and engineering statement by and for Nissan.
Much of the Nissans edge is electronic (AWD/Gearbox) and Porsche is going to have to respond to push it’s envelope towards being more competitive through more of the electronic wizadry. Only do we want to buy a car a human is not requires to drive?
Without this electronic, Nissan would not have been able to do what they are able to do. The car is heavy and still able to do what it is doing. ELECTRONICS.
Nissan is not inventing, they are readapting, refining and reusing technology in the GTR.
Porsche’s history has always invented and redefined the automotive progression and we can see with this Nissan approach, price can be lower and existing electronics reintroduced and refined into a marketing package with an engineering result.
The Nissan GTR is a marketed solution and adpatation of existing engineering. How long did it take to develop after modeling the 911?
Gear box failure, marketing cost cutting reason, effecting engineering.
Again we see the marketing influence of the GTR.
Porsche are overengineered, everyone know this as their focus is engineering and technological progression. Now they have to enter marketing into their equation.
Marketing 101, never lower your price. Porsches will never lower their price and Nissan will never get what Porsche commands.
This is a marketing and engineering balance.
In the end it is Porsche who has to respond and for us to realize no matte what we think, results speak for themselves and Nissan’s results when there are being truthful(ahem) have spoke for themselves.
This will push Porsche as well as Nissan to be better and in the end it benefits us as the technology will filter into our road cars ..