Ring Record stirs up Controversy between Nissan and Porsche
Ever since Nissan thrashed its new GT-R around the Nurburgring Nordschleife and beat its arch rival, the Porsche 911 (997) GT2, there has been some sort of controversy haunting the records.
Sources say that a certain Porsche engineer claimed that the 7 minute 29 second time that the GT-R posted around the ‘Ring was achieved using race-spec slicks instead of regular street-spec tires.
As we all know, slicks prove to be much better than street tires when it comes to clocking times around a track. They provide unmatched grip and improve the handling immensely.
Porsche had not been able to match or even come close to the times clocked with a US-spec GT-R that it had purchased. The allegations of ‘cheating’ made the Japanese carmaker turn red in the face, which had earlier made a hue and cry about beating Porsche’s flagship.
When approached by Nissan’s PR chief, Porsche turned a deaf ear and a blind eye to the issue. Nissan claimed, in a detailed statement that they had issued, that they had used Dunlop street tires for its record lap. Porsche is looking to make a renewed attempt while Nissan is looking to retort with the upcoming V-spec GT-R that would apparently smoke the competition and leave them high and dry.
Source: Overdrive Monthly
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Nissan is not going to take the SpecV to the ring, although they are going to take the Series II GT-R. They have made some changes for the Series II car, that should make it a little bit faster. A new compound Dunlop, and some spring/valving changes.
http://www.2009gtr.com/2008/11/nissan-going-back-to-nurburgring-with.html
The thing is, not only did the GTR beat the 911 on N-Ring, it did so with plenty of independent tests from famous car magazines.
The GTR too posted a faster time on Top Gear’s test track, a track that’s too short to give advantage to a 1740kg, 480hp car; even if its ‘excellent’ handling could shave off a couple of milliseconds off every corner likewise of Nurburgring. This meant, the GTR is faster.