Nissan defends GT-R Nurburgring lap time

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Nissan defends GT-R Nurburgring lap time




Earlier this week we reported on accusations hurled by Porsche towards Nissan, accusing the Japanese carmaker of falsifying the blistering Nurburgring lap time of 7m 29s recorded for the GT-R back in May.

The accusations managed to reach the upper echelons of Nissan management, prompting representatives at this week’s Paris Motor Show to state emphatically that the times recorded for the GT-R around the Nurburgring were achieved "on absolutely standard tires which are available to customers in the showroom," and that any sort of slick tires were never used.

A Porsche chassis engineer took a standard GT-R bought in the United States with regular road tires, and tested it on the same day against a Porsche 911 GT2 and a Porsche 911 Turbo. According to Porsche, the GT-R posted a time of 7m 54s, with the 911 Turbo managing 7m 38s and the 911 GT2 getting down to 7m 34s.

Porsche's contention that the GT-R takes 7m 54s to lap the 'Ring adds a rather significant 25 seconds to the lap time recorded by Nissan's chief test driver Tochio Suzuki. Nissan stated that they were at a loss as to why Porsche was unable to replicate the GT-R's blistering time around the Nurburgring, putting it down to differences between the drivers.

Speaking with Drive, Nissan's European spokesman Neil Reeve stated that Nissan continues to "absolutely maintain (that) Tochio Suzuki pounded thousands of laps and got to know every inch of the Nurburgring and hence set that fabulous lap.”

Reeves went on to comment that it was "flattering that Porsche have bought themselves a GT-R and flown it to Germany" for testing, but that "the people who'd buy a GT-R or 911 Turbo are not the type of people to make a purchase like that lightly.” He also reaffirmed that the GT-R has beat the 911 Turbo during a number of independent tests for both acceleration and circuit lap times.