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View Full Version : Porsche accuses Nissan of cheating at Nurburgring



Sudesh
30-09-2008, 06:38 PM
http://carsguide.news.com.au/site/motoring-news/story/porsche_accuses_nissan_of_cheating_at_nurburgring/

Porsche has accused Nissan of cheating in the GT-R's record bid at the Nurburgring racetrack.

Porsche has just run its own back-to-back tests with the Japanese company's GT-R supercar and says it could not get within 25 seconds of Nissan's claimed record time of seven minutes 29 seconds in April.
It also found its 911 Turbo and GT2 were both quicker than the GT-R.
"This wonder car with 7:29 could not have been a regular series production car," says August Achleitner, the 911 product chief for Porsche, speaking to the CARSguide at the Australian press preview of the latest 911 Cabrio.
"For us, it's not clear how this time is possible. What we can imagine with this Nissan is they used other tyres."
He believes the time achieved by Nissan with ex-Formula One driver Toshio Suzuki would only be possible with a semi-slick race-style tyre.
Achleitner says Porsche took a standard GT-R, running on regular road tyres, and ran it around the Nurburgring within two hours of its own cars, on the same day with exactly the same weather conditions.
He says there was no tweaking of any kind and the GT2 and Turbo both ran on regular Porsche road tyres, the Michelin Sport Cup.
"We bought the car in the US. We drove a GT-R with new tyres," he says.
Achleitner was initially protective of the exact lap times, which were run during a program when Porsche also compared its upcoming four-door Panamera with a range of potential rivals.
But he eventually revealed his team clocked the GT-R at 7 minutes 54 seconds, with the 911 Turbo managing 7:38 and the GT2 getting down to 7:34.
The laps were not run by Porsche's usual hot-lap specialist, former world rally champion and race winner Walter Rohrl, but one of the company's chassis development engineers who is an expert on the Nurburgring.
Achleitner says the back-to-back comparison was run because Porsche was concerned by Nissan's claims for the GT-R, which is heavier than the 911 with similar power.
"The Nissan is a good car. I don't want to make anything bad with my words," he says.
"It's a very consistent car. But this car is about 20 kilos heavier than the Turbo . . ."
In the end, Porsche believes its testing has achieved the right lap times for the Skyline GT-R and benchmarked it against its own 911 heroes in the right context.
"For us it has been clearly the result. This technical puzzle now fits together. With the other numbers we had problems to understand it," he says.

http://carsguide.news.com.au/site/motoring-news/story/porsche_accuses_nissan_of_cheating_at_nurburgring/

simonprelude
30-09-2008, 08:43 PM
Very interesting, will watch this with interest.

TheSebringOne
30-09-2008, 11:47 PM
Watch out, theres a hand bag fight brewing up!! :D

According to Evo, the Maser MC12 is the new lap holder at 7.24.29, until the Caparo T1 aims for Bellof's all time record on 6.11 second next year!

simonprelude
01-10-2008, 08:00 AM
According to Evo, the Maser MC12 is the new lap holder at 7.24.29, until the Caparo T1 aims for Bellof's all time record on 6.11 second next year!

They'll use the topgear cop out that it's not a road car ;)

TheSebringOne
01-10-2008, 08:16 PM
Maybe fit a suspension raise up system to get over speed bumps and that will pass the TG sleeping policeman's rule!

Lankstarr
02-10-2008, 05:42 AM
Claws out from Porsche:laugh:

They must have been pretty pi55ed when the GT-R times were announced! If it was due to different tyres then couldn't Nissan just offer them as an option and retain the record? Assuming they're semi enough to be road legal.

Even with those times the fact that the GT2 costs double what the GT-R does still embarasses Porsche I think. They should be worried about the new NSX:laugh:

L*

simonprelude
02-10-2008, 06:59 AM
They must have been pretty pi55ed when the GT-R times were announced! If it was due to different tyres then couldn't Nissan just offer them as an option and retain the record? Assuming they're semi enough to be road legal.

They're a no cost option already ;)

I'm wondering if the US spec car is different to get around the emissions and the lower grade fuel ??

JQD84983
02-10-2008, 08:06 PM
Can't help but feel there is some wounded pride here.

If Porscher are correct it still makes that 20 odd seconds cost more than £2K each. And I still reckon the GTR is faster with the novice.

Plus i think Autocar beat the Porsche back to back with the GTr on the track fair and square.

Senninha
03-10-2008, 09:43 AM
They're a no cost option already ;)

I'm wondering if the US spec car is different to get around the emissions and the lower grade fuel ??

Same thing crossed my mind ... I would of preferred them to use a Euro spec GTR. Also, the US spec would NOT include the RE070's as they cannot be legally used in the US, hence wouldn't even be a no cost option.

Summary is that less sticky tyres, combined with restricted US emmissions and there goes most of the 20 seconds. Still doesn't overcome £45k!!

regards, Paul

AR
03-10-2008, 04:00 PM
I don't really care about times, if I had the funds I would get the GT2. Nevermind the brand, just look at the engineering and the looks. Subjective, but looks are important when it comes to cars, otherwise we all will be driving ugly cars with powerful engines, and the Japanese have produced a fair amount of them!

Sudesh
09-10-2008, 05:38 PM
http://www.pistonheads.com/news/default.asp?storyId=18785

Nissan has this morning issued a lengthy statement rebuking claims by rival carmaker Porsche that its GT-R lap times of the Nurburgring were false. The Japanese manufacturer is clearly angry at accusations that it cheated and has made a thinly veiled suggestion that the people over in Stuttgart don’t know how to drive. Porsche claimed that it had acquired a US-spec GT-R but was unable to get anywhere near Nissan’s reported lap time of the ‘Ring.

Today’s press release by Nissan made its thoughts on the matter clear: ‘…we offer performance driving courses for prospective and current GT-R owners to help them get the best performance from their car. We would welcome the opportunity to help any auto manufacturer with understanding the full capabilities of the GT-R.’ Nissan also goes into great detail about how ‘production specification vehicles with production specification tyres’ have been used for all testing, including the ‘Ring attempt.
‘For the April 2008 test [the 7.29 lap time], the GT-R carried an additional 50kg of weight due to the Marelli data recorder and video camera equipment. In addition, the test was witnessed by ‘Best Motoring’ magazine from Japan who reported the test in their July 2008 issue, which included a DVD program of the session,’ read the statement.
Nissan says it offers two tyre choices for the GT-R - Bridgestone POTENZA RE070R and Dunlop SP SPORT 600 DSST CTT - and for the tests conducted at the Nurburgring where the lap times of 7:38 and 7:29 were recorded, the Dunlop tyres were used.
Kazutoshi Mizuno, Chief Vehicle Engineer and Chief Product Specialist for GT-R, said: ‘We have used circuits like the Nurburgring and Sendai extensively during the development of the GT-R. The fastest lap-time was never the objective but a simple parameter for us to measure the GT-R in a consistent way against other world class supercars.
'Testing a car with specialized parts such as unique tyres or suspension has no meaning for us. The GT-R was designed from the start to be a supercar that could be driven anywhere, anytime and by anyone. For us, testing the car in standard production specification is far more relevant than creating a one-off vehicle that our customers cannot buy.

TheSebringOne
09-10-2008, 09:32 PM
Ding Dong, round 2, over to you Porsche! :beatdown:

QuietJim
28-10-2008, 02:04 PM
Issue 8 of iMotor (online) has a daft little game where you can sort it out once and for all:

http://dennis.cerosmedia.com/1Z48ff15e9a884f012.cde/page/18

20.429 to beat...