You ever hit a dragstrip? It’s still a track, but regardless, if you hit a 12.999 second 1/4-mile, it’s still a 12-second quarter mile. Peace

Keep trying Nissan. Maybe someday you can get to play with the big dogs (Viper ACR and ZR-1).

I would like to see what time a Koennigsegg CCX-R would run on the ‘ring. 2,600 lbs. and 1,018 hp must be able to tear that track up!

Until recently, what US car maker tested their vehicles on the ring? GM now is proud of what the ZR-1 did, as well as tested their Cobalt SS there and CTS-V as well.

Before that, well, someone else can fill that in.

Among the fans and enthusiasts such tracks will never lose its glamor. But it is among the people who matter much more: the people who will be buying these machines that popularity takes a distant second seat to relevance.

No doubt you have strong feelings about this issue, I am rather neutral, and others really do not care if the car that want can do a lap at Nurburgring in under 7:30 or the Top Gear track (a decommissioned airstrip) in under 1:30, or some other track at a suitably break neck speed. This if they never take the car to that speed. Like buying a bad-@$$ gun and never shooting it or more accurately the most powerful computer money can buy to surf the web.

To those that matter, Nurburgring will sink in relevance after the fervor subsides over the handful of cars that most people will never see in real life except at a car show.

Whether you agree of not that fact is you are a fan and I respect that as long as you respect that I’m not biting my nails waiting for the next run time. While it is important as a gauge of the car’s ability, what good does it do me if I never buy or see one?

personally i prefer the Top Gear approach to testing cars , the same driver takes the cars on the track in the same conditions , or at least as the weather allows.
the conditions on the Ring always change , the track gets constantly improved , made smoother , bumps removed , corners get more grip , the track becomes faster and the cars tested more recently have always an advantage over cars tested a while ago.

“the Ring will sink back into relative obscurity” , when was the track in relative obscurity for any car enthusiast ?

That’s because you are not allowed to make a full lap, you are required to stop right before you make a lap. This is normal for most people, so you basically time it accordingly to the bridge. Read up about it, say wikipedia if you dare.

“Normal ticket buyers on these tourist days cannot quite complete a full lap of the 20.8 km (13 mile) Nordschleife, which is bypassing the modern GP-Strecke, as they are required to slow down and pass through a 200-metre (220 yd) “pit lane” section where the toll gates are installed. Since 2006, season ticket holders only can pass mobile toll gates on the track itself, in order to reduce the length of queues at the fixed barriers.

Drivers interested in lap times (a dangerous thing to worry about, as running stop watches are frequently found in crashed vehicles) often time themselves from the first bridge after the barriers to the last gantry before the exit. In the event of an accident, the local police are known to make note of any timing devices present (stopwatches, etc.) in the police report.”

Nurburgring, is a test track, in this context, and should not be the “be all end all” place to determine automotive performance worth. Any other function the track services is secondary to the issue at hand.

When I say “just a test track” I mean “not the center of the automotive world”. “Center of the Automotive world” is not true and a huge overstatement, but illustrates the need to put things back into some perspective.

In this context, the Nurburgring should return to being “just a test track”. Unless you put some hard and fast rules behind those lap times, these track times are just more bar room brawls, and online flame wars looking for a place to happen and thusly serve no useful purpose.

Some of the videos of the cars running their laps, including NISSAN’s with their GT-R35, look suspect.

Most of the cars are not even running a full lap, and just dump into the garage area at the first opening without clearing the start/finish line first. Further if these times are to be taken as canon, then a proper officiating body or at least fast and hard rules must be set to cover what must be done, what must happen, and whether or not one car can rightfully compare against another.

Seriously, there is a reason why the sedans are not classed against the coupes. It would have to go further to account for drivetrain, FWD or RWD or AWD, Power rating (The stories of how the GT-R35 is dyno’ed at much more than the given specs is a matter of concern. A car that is not or can not be accurately represented may have to be disallowed for comparison), Strict definition of a “sports car” or “performance car” (Sports car = no back seat? So A Porsche 911 is a Performance car?), and other criteria.

Also it would kind of sad if cars started being built solely to ace the ring, they would all start becoming too much alike. I like the wild variation of high performance and sports cars.

As with anything, the Ring will sink back into relative obscurity when the GT-R35 starts to fade in a year or two, or when people really stop caring so much about a score that means nothing overall. It’ll go back to being a just a test track, especially if and when someone opts to build a track just as or more challenging than Nurburgring.

At any rate it would be interesting if we had a serious “Car Olympics”. you take high performance cars and set them to complete various feats of speed, agility, endurance, and so on. Screw interior quality, and whether or not the car is a fan favorite. Just see who is overall the best.

That would be good programming…

I still do not trust Nissan. Until they let an outside source dyno and weigh the car before testing and check the tires I will not consider their lap times. I even believe the not very publicly released ZR1 time of 7:22. And Dodge could lower their time if they were smart from the beginning and geared the Viper ACR much lower.