Groovy!

so i see this was a ‘rolling’ start since i read complaints that the GTR had a rolling start

wow.

Famazing. Love seeing gas saving technique: shifting into 6th at 160+ mph :). The gas in Europe of higher octane. Cant get it in US, unless on racing circuits.

Yeah it def looked like he wasn’t pushing it either… I’d really like to see some of the C6R team drivers try a lap at it…

Nice Vid. Now if the one for the GTR spec was out, I want to hear how that sounds. Won’t sound like that V8 though.

After watching that it looks so funny, cause he doesn’t look like he is going 60-80 mph at all.

Nice as that is though, it kinda sucks that those air vents remind me of like an old Corolla or something plastic cheap.

This guy is not a smooth driver…. Kinda looks like how I would drive

RotaxKart: sometimes smooth is best reserved for billiard tables and pussies.

Anyone complaining about it being a rolling start (for the GTR) is an idiot. It says fastest lap, not fastest first lap. How do they think all fastest lap times on all race tracks are set?

And Rotax, he seemed pretty smooth, considering it’s a production car (looser steering) and moving at those speeds.

LOL at JohnnyCanuck. You forgot pudding, beer, and the freshly waxed ass of the ZR1 which is the end most are likely to see. Love the vid.

next time, I call shotgun!

oh my god. that looked like so much fun!!!!

Jim Mero (the driver) has a great job; driving cars at the ‘ring. However, he missed several apexes, braked too early, hit the rumble strip twice, and twice broke the back end loose. This severely slows your exit speed, and when you add up those mistakes, that is a LOT of time. If a smoother driver drove the same course, I bet they would shave 1.5 sec or more off the time. And, did the GTR do the ‘ring with racing slicks? If so, put slicks on the ZR1. Those street tires were screaming the whole way. Another 1.5 sec!

He almost botched it at the very end trying to beat that time. Now that is just like me, on Forza 2. lol. I couldn’t imagine that one 90 degree bend at 57mph, let alone taking a rolling left hander at 178mph in factory spec car. Awesome vid. There is definetly some time to be gained, which will still likely be enough to take out the V-spec without adding slicks.

yeah, that is not with slicks, but the standard factory spec tires. Put Jimmy (or is it Johnny?) O’Connel, Olivier B, Ron Fellows, or Jan Magnussen behind the wheel and it would be a much better time…

Jonnycat how often do you play Forza 2? My xbox took a crap and I have been without it for about a month now! Best game ever!

Now I see why NASCAR drivers dont test factory cars, left and left then another left and left again………..severly badass car congrats to anyone who gets it.

Needs a bit more downforce at highspeeds… but that corner exit power is just simply awesome.

=====>>yeah Forza2 is the best game ever! I was totally surprised in ‘06 when GT4 came out how they were STILL biased towards japaneze cars than american cars, as with the previous gran turismos. For example, all japanese cars are almost spittin’ image+performance of their real life counterparts, but i remember an SRT-4 topping out at like 132mph in 5th gear on that game. Forza on the other hand, ROCKS! Best game ever…

Looked like me playing Gran Turismo… seriously.

Thats a pretty sweet job, thats if you have the skill.

GM should sponsor Forza 3 and make that the opening video. Seriously, that was the most awesome thing I’ve ever seen. I’ve played the ‘ring several times on Forza 2 with some kick ass cars (my favorite for that track is the ‘68 Mustang will all upgrades), and he did things that amazed me. That’s a seriously long track (I think over 13 miles) and to memorize it well enough to run like that requires many, many hours of training. I’m sure these guys keep their skills up by playing Forza 2 so they can keep all the turns fresh in their minds.

This guy goes into the apexes way too early. He should take them a bit later so that he can straighten out and before he puts the horsepower to better use. That’s what I would do. But then again, he’s the one with the cooler job, not that mine isn’t cool…

awesome.

So what you’re saying, beatusmongous, is that he’s sticking it in too fast and not pulling out hard enough…

xyunya, the pump gas in europe is NOT of higher octane. it is calculated using a different system. M+S/2.

learn up before you pretend you know things

As many times as I’ve driven this in GT4, this guy still looks very brave on the high speed kinks (110+ mph). He did miss a few apexes but I was still pretty impressed with him and the car - its pickup from 75-120 or so was really impressive. Kudos to GM & Chevrolet. Looks like you can put this up with the Nissan GT-R and Porsche GT3 among the ranks of ridiculously competent sports cars.

**** dude anyone busting on his driving needs to realize he is driving a 600+ hp supercar at 150+ mph. it takes a pair to do it comparing his driving to a video game is like comparing a 3rd grader ****ty crayon drawing to a the Sistine chapel . not even the same league

when did left lane news start automatically bleeping words like ****, ****, balls, and ****

You wanna see real drivers drive the ring? http://renn.tv/download/

I thought Jim Mero was just complaining when he said that there was a strong headwind, but watching this 638 HP car top out at 177 down the straight…it must have been a pretty stiff wind after all.

Amazing and scary at the same time. 6500 rpm from a 7 liter v8 ? wow. He prabably had another 1000 left in the bag. He was a little all over the place though. Imagine this car with a turbo…….

http://www.lingenfelter.com/

http://www.lingenfelter.com/Lingenfelter2006ZO6TTBGB.htm

>>brassmonkey

The GT-R did the lap with the stock run-flat tires. As I’m sure the GT-R V-spec will.

Given the guy is driving 150+, if he had more seat time there is no reason why he cannot tap those apexes he missed. Someone said 1.5, I’d say more like 2-2.5. Needless to say the Nissan got beat…

I agree that he made a few mistakes, but still, he’s a great driver. A far better driver than anyone here on this board, by a long shot. It takes some big balls and serious skills to pull that time off in a car like that. I wouldn’t say he isn’t smooth either - while it sometimes looks like he’s jerking the wheel quickly, those are just quick corrections he’s making to keep the car on track. I rode shotgun with a semi-pro driver in a supercharged T-1 prepped ‘01 Z06, and his steering inputs were similar. And you would be amazed at how well these drivers keep the car right on a razor thin edge of grip - those quick steering corrections are all that keep the car from sliding off the track and spinning out.

While this guy was a great driver, I don’t think he’s the fastest GM has, so they’re sandbagging a bit. I still think almost any of the C6-R team drivers could get a better time. I’m sure GM is waiting for the GT-R V-spec time before bringing out their big gun drivers for the ZR-1. Pilot Sport Cup tires like Porsche uses for their ‘ring times would also shave some time. I’m sure this car is capable of mid 7:10’s.

I think it’s time Nissan starts doing videos of their GT-R runs on the ‘ring.

Nissan got beat eh? hmmm a third rank company from Japan does it with a 3.8 liter v6 and gm throws all it can into its car to beat it by 3 seconds with a 6.2 liter v8, close to double the displacement of nissan engine. real good comparison there. wonder what would happen if they really wanted to play and do it with a v8. lose the ignorance and wait for the V-spec my good man. real engineering is in doing more with less not more with more.

I think this speaks more for the chassis that pure HP. Power without control is nothing and Chevy kept it’s car on the road without AWD.

uhhh okay…as a matter of fact, on the ‘ring both power and chassis are equally important. there is a long stretch of straightway at the start/finish line in case you forgot where torque and hp can give you an upper hand. and as far as control is concerned, for the most experienced drivers that are used for this testing, its a wash given their experience in handling the worst tuned vehicles on this track, not to mention the chassis setup gets tuned specifically for the track before it is run.

Fast but it took alot of European tech and engineering to finally build a vette that can run with the big boys. Although when you consider the big power difference between the Nissan and the Vette, the nissans time is more impressive. I will wait for the spec V GTR which I’m sure will run circles around the ZR1 and be much more reliable. The current Z06 engines aren’t the most reliable engines.

Nissan’s times are from the V-spec not matter what they say. Every rag, who has driven another Gt-R since the 1st is saying how it’s a totally different machine.

441Zuke - the only thing resembling anything like a 3rd graders, is your grammar.

===>>441Zuke, play it before judging and you would see.

“I will wait for the spec V GTR which I’m sure will run circles around the ZR1 and be much more reliable. The current Z06 engines aren’t the most reliable engines.”

I can’t say anything about the LS7, seeing as I don’t own one.. But I haven’t heard anything bad about the LS7, except it’s an expensive engine…

Oh so now a Nissan is more reliable than a GM car too? Does anyone not remember the twin turbo Nissan Z32 engines that were in the 300ZX? Those engines spent more time in the shop then they did out on the road… very complicated engines… that 3.8L V6 is going to take way more abuse than a normally aspirated V8 will… So I highly doubt it will be any more reliable…

Need4speed as you can tell American Idiot and Trooper1 are newbies to the site. Typical foreign humping trolls, commenting on a awesome car and putting it down cause they will never own one. They probally drive Civics and Corollas and flip burgers at there local Mcdonalds while living with there parents still. American Idiot did not even mention AWD in the conversation when comparing the size and displacement of the engines, what a ****ing dumbass. Now imagine if the ZR1 did have all wheel drive. Quit talking about the V-spec, it’s not even out yet, ****sticks. Suck on some more jap dickie. There is only one word to describe the ZR1 haters, JEALOUS!

Nissan being more reliable? HAHAHAHA what a joke. Pooper1 You obviously don’t know **** about cars. The LS engines are known to be the most reliable of any performance sports car. The GT-R hasn’t even been out that long yet and you’re already talking smack about reliability, get the **** outta here faggot.

AmericanIdiot, I think GM is doing more with less in this instance. They’re relying on horsepower and a chassis, along with the aid of magnetic shocks. They’re not using an awd system, a dual clutch tranny, a stability system that supposedly can make Grandma Moses look like Michael Schumacher. I also believe that all the sophisticated electronics will prove to be unreliable, and a huge pain to fix. The less **** that can go wrong the better as far as I’m concerned. Although, people who can afford these cars probably aren’t worried about the repair bill.

people who say “the vette’s time isnt impressive because it has 600hp vs 480 on the Nissan” need to get a clue. the Nissan is AWD which automatically gives it a traction advantage. An AWD system such as the on on the GTR more than makes up for some of the hp difference between the GTR and ZR1. In addition, the Nissan is NOT making 480hp as has been reported in many places. Some people estimate it has close to 550hp based on what its putting down at the rear tires. In reality its probably closer to 500 but the bottom line is that Nissan is under reporting hp for some reason.

^^^ yeah, it depends on if there measuring these cars by Flywheel HP or Rear wheel HP. BIG DIFFERENCE!

I have a suspicion that some of the early “mules” for the GTR given out to the automotive press may have been “ringers” with a V spec tune. Some of the more recent comparisons have not been able to extract the same performance as those early tests. So, I don’t think power will be that much different than what has been seen already. However, there will be a very real difference with the weight. The fact that the Nissan is able to circle the ring that fast with 4000 lbs is nothing short of amazing.

Also, don’t knock the driver, he has more balls and skill than any of the wanna bes on here. Bunch of arm chair sittin, video game playing critics.

Could GM find a faster test driver to maximize the time? Sure. But, no matter the car, if you are circling the ring in less than 8 minutes, you are a phenominal driver and have a damn fast car. Just look at the ring times just under 8 min and it shows some pretty serious machinery being driven by professional drivers.

hmmm, to clarify I was not dismissing his skills but only noting how the Vette seemed to take a few lines that were very wide or seemed abnormal. If you look in a few places it looks like he is close to dropping wheels off. It is in these places that the AWD of the GTR shines. Likewise at the end when he hits 177 is where the Vettes power shines. Both cars are great but

I would not have hurt for this car to drift in a few places. This would have brought the tail around some of those turns faster and shaved up to another 10 seconds off the run.

Further, as Jazz (#52) pointed out, some of those lines were a bit wide. Again drifting would have helped that or using the car’s understeer or push to his advantage by turning earlier.

Not a bad run but its obvious that it could have been much better. The CORVETTE’s technical flexibility was not taken full advantage of where the GT-R35’s technology would rein in the car maybe too much.

I keep thinking a modest dose of buzzed driving might have helped as this driver was good but not brave or imaginative enough to push just a bit more.

Ok everyone… just spoke to one of my sources… the one who gave me the info on the Camaro.. yeah Z28 is definitely on hold. They are suspending the project as of right now… But that’s not also what he told me… GM’s been testing a ZR1 prototype @700hp! And I’ve seen this rumor on one other forums as well.. Well he/she said that GM is going to either make it standard on the last MY of the C6 ZR1 before the C7 debuts after 2010, or it’ll be an available factory warranted tune (probably after the GTR V-spec comes out) that part was my guess… I’ll post more info when I find out more!

Exactly, Global Lightning. Couldn’t have said it better myself. LOL.

Gawd, 179 MPH!

Why are people comparing this to a video game? Please get a life. Nobody gives a ****. Not real. Get out of your moms basement and apply for a drivers license, get a job, and move on.

Monte… I noticed people that hate video games actually have no skill or cordination. Sorry dude. Why do pilots train with simulators? Word on the streets is that F1 drivers also train with sims? Odd.

I’m sorry, I didn’t know all these people had plans to race at the ring. Send me your video cool guy.

The people who play the video game know more about this track and it’s nuances than you could ever know by simply watching a video or a race on tv. Unless you’ve driven the track in real life. At which point I’d call BS.

On a side note, I play on my own 52″ HD LCD, in my own house, a few steps away from both of my cars and my motor bike.

You probably still have trouble operating your new fangled Personal Computer with all this crazy new “Interweb” stuff eh?

jonnycat I’ve had computers in my house hold since the 80’s, and were one of the first in the community to even have the internet. And to rotaxkart, I never said I hate video games or that I’m bad at them. I used to play a lot of games when I was young, but like most adults I grew out of it. My point is that it’s pointless to compare videos of actual cars to fictional recreations.

So pointless, that drivers use it to familiarize themselves with a track they’ve never raced? It (they) are driving SIMULATORS, real physics, real track data, chassis flex, tire brand and compound, weight, gearing, exhaust tone. The physics are so good (on Forza2) at least, that people have been able to create drift cars by setting them up as they would a real car. The best part is the game was never designed to be used for drifting.

My only argument is that it not pointless to compare the two. Is it pointless to design earthquake proof buildings on computer first or should they just build them and hope for the best?

“Monte… I noticed people that hate video games actually have no skill or cordination. Sorry dude. Why do pilots train with simulators? Word on the streets is that F1 drivers also train with sims? Odd.”

The simulators that pilots or F1 drivers use to train are quite different than the simulation games you play on your Playstation or Xbox.

Both the pilots and F1 drivers’ simulators are exact recreations of the machines they’re learning how to fly and drive. They replicate how their real-world counterparts behave, look and feel. An F-22 pilot certainly isn’t going to be training on an Xbox 360 or PS3, so the comparisons are completely useless.

Or taking bong hits before they do it.

Everyone chill. Video games are tons of fun. i play forza 2 all the damn time, but it really isnt anything to real life. i dont really think these guys are comparing there skill on forza to the real drivers, they just know how hard it is on the game and usually its easier on a game then in real life. so i see it as them complimenting on the drivers skill. i know i drive my 430 a lot better on forza then i do in real life.

Forza is a monument of accuracy in both physics and tracks. Great for learning tracks without track time, but still nothing matches the ass in the seat and the pedal to the metal.

What I would like to see is Sabine Schmitz, “Queen of the ‘Ring” take this ‘Vette for the turn. Overall Winner of the ‘96 & ‘97 24 Hours of the ‘Ring, with an estimated total of 20,000+ laps there, she has knowledge as good as anyone on the planet as to really knowing the track, and the racing cred to walk the walk.

NEVER underestimate the value of smoothness on the course. Just ask Jackie Stewart about that. He used to give race/performance driving lessons, one of which was keeping a tennis ball in shallow dish mounted to the hood of the car. Seeing the speed he could do that at was AWESOME.