sport auto Supertest: Ford GT

Awesome.

 

it is fast.but honestly...when i look at that lap time i can't help thinking that this shows once again that GM are a bunch of liars.the GT could be 4-5 seconds faster with another driver but that would still be 5 seconds slower than the Z06.on top that the Nurburgring suits the Ford better(more powerful engine,better aerodynamics,...).the GT is faster than the Z06.i don't think that anyone here will say the opposite.

 

The Z06 spent how much more development time at the ring compared to the GT?

The Z06 also has more suspension travel than the GT and is lighter.

 

there is no specific setup for the Nurburgring.it is too big and there are too many different sections.there are very fast and very slow corners,huge sraights,bumpy corners...

cars with less suspensiion travel were faster than the GT.
u think aerodynamics is more important.the Ford generates more downforce than the corvette and there are many corners where aerodynamics plays a huge role.look at the speeds of Schwedenkreuz,Tiergarten,Pflanzgarten,Fuechsroehre or Flugplatz.the base corvette wasn't known for its aerodynamical efficiency: http://www.supercars.net/Pics?vpf2=y&gID=0&fID=0&tID=46738&mID=1340640&l=a
while the corvette had 50kg of lift at the front the GT has 40kg of downforce.i'm not saying that the z06 will have the same aerodynamical results but it will not generate that much downforce.

 

Yes, of course developement on the ring does nothing to improve the time around the ring.

 

and how many times has GM's driver been driving the C6 around the ring now?

 

They spent months there.

 

Damn that car is a beast, but I wish it was in English.

 

when I saw this thread my post was going to be my speculation of how many posts it would take till this thread was about the z06 ....my guess was 14 ..but it turns out it was 1

I think the z06 time is completely feasible compared to the ford ...development time there alone give it an obvious advantage over the Ford.

 

a fast car is fast everywhere.

btw many cars that hadn't been tested on the Nur are among the fastest in their class.the renault mégane,the radical or the donkervoort.
and why are manufacturers testing their cars on the Nur,when the purpose of the testing isn't to setup the car so that it is fast everywhere?to make fast only for the Sport Auto readers?
and if the manufacturer isn't testing on the Nur,does it mean that the car was setup to suit one particular track only?

 

Ya your right, the Ring is such a popular track to test and tune cars because the ring has every kind of turn or corner you will ever face on any track or road, which is a good move to the corvette team for doing so much testing on ring making the Z06 such a good track car.

 

It is faster yes, but I would still take a Z06.

 

So a fast car is fast everywhere. Everything says that the CCR should beat the CGT, but it barely beat a GT3 RS its first time around.

Also explain why the FGT beats the F430 by 3 seconds around the ring, while the F430 spanks the FGT around the Hockenheim by almost 2 seconds.

What other cars in the radical class are slower, other than the donkervoort and other radicals?

A good ring set up does not make it fast everywhere. Very smooth tracks like Hockenhiem or Ferrari's test track, but it is a good general set up.

 

"there is no specific setup for the Nurburgring.it is too big and there are too many different sections.there are very fast and very slow corners,huge sraights,bumpy corners..."

So I suppose that Nurburgring setup offered by Koenigsegg is just a gimmick? And that they actually *lied* when they said they set up their car specifically for the 'Ring?
Porsche finished a $123M Leipzig plant that includes an FIA-certified test track well over a year ago. Yet they still test their cars at the Nurburgring. Too much time on their hands?
Is there some reason why Honda engineers felt they needed to equip their NSX-R with different gear ratios for the Nurburgring?
How is it that the SRT-10 Viper, despite packing almost 100 more horses than the old Viper and equipped with ABS, is slower at the 'Ring, yet it does much better at the shorter, smoother Hockenheim club circuit?
By your assertion, you're saying that there *is* a specific setup for the 'Ring: a car set up for a short, billiard table-smooth autocross course isn't necessarily going to perform just as well at the 'Ring, without some modifications.

BMW claimed the M5 lapped in 7:52. Does the Sport Auto test time automatically mean BMW are liars? No. It just means that in *their* testing, under *those* conditions, with *their* driver (who probably had dozens if not hundreds of laps at the 'Ring in that particular car), they were able to set one single lap with that time. It doesn't mean they're "liars" at all, unless I have some kind of proof they fabricated the time. Which I don't. Do you?

Just to give you an idea of how important the variable of the driver is, Motorcyclist Magazine ran a comparo between the C5 Z06 and a Suzuki GSX-R1000 at Willow Springs Raceway's big track, with Kevin Schwantz as the driver of both. He lapped in 1:34.2 in the Z06. Later, C5-R racer Andy Pilgrim set a 1:30.6 at that same track also in a C5 Z06. Edmunds.com recently ran a track test with the C6 Z06, SRT-10 Coupe, and Ford GT at this same track, and the results were:
SRT-10 Coupe: 1:33.30
Z06: 1:33.04
GT: 1:32.45
So, by your reasoning, we should automatically totally disregard Pilgrim's years of racing Corvettes and simply assume that he is lying. For how else could a C5 Z06 outlap not only the C6 Z06, but also beat the Ford GT by almost 2 seconds as well?
Best Motoring drivers, on this same course, only managed a 1:37.01 with the Ford GT...