Impressive, but now let the new super vette have another go around.

I am duly impressed. I drool. But, when I look closer, I don't lust in the way I do for an Elise or Seven or original Mini Cooper (for some reason all of my objects of lust this morning are British). I wonder if fifteen years from now, we will look back and say, "that was this first car that truly made a skilled driver into a secondary speed accessory."

I don't mean to say that on my first attack I am confident I'd even make it round the 'ring in under ten minutes; I just feel that car manufactures seem to be trying to remove the driver from the equation. And somehow that adds up to less for me, despite the impressive performance numbers.

So yes, I lust for this car. But I think my lust falls in the same category as a 60 inch flat screen to play Forza on. Auto related gadget lust, but not auto lust.

I don't count the Zonda as a real car. Godzilla for the win.

"accessible to anyone, anytime and anywhere?" man, i wish i was somebody.
sometime.
somewhere.

@reefer: I have a feeling that this is just the beginning of one-upping each other... before long Chevy Silverados will be bragging about their lap times at the 'Ring.

Maybe "accessible relative to a Zonda" or "accessible relative to The Well of Souls."

The Nurburgring needs to add a special infield mini-track with a scaled-down version of a town. The test run would include mandatory trips to "work", leaving the car sitting in the sun for 10 hours, then getting in and using the A/C and making runs to Whole Foods (mandatory 5-minute pit stop), the daycare center (which includes loading time for two 30# bags of sand into the back seat), and then a test commute where the car is forced to do 0-60 twenty times in a row, as quickly as possible.

Then I will be impressed. And I will feel I have a real comparison, not this nebulous green hell stuff.

Hopefully with the economy and oil prices going this way, ill be able to pick up a pre-loved GT-R in two years for 25k! (wish. . . .)

Not even King Ghidorah the three-headed dragon would even dare to try and bed this Godzilla, and instead he and the other dragons are holding community circle jerks around photos and video clips of the mighty Godzilla GT-R.

@Schm is not particularly sure what he is ranting about. . .: I'm pretty sure "loving" a GT-R involves driving it so hard that steel starts to warp. I'd look for something else on the used market.

7:29 around the 'Ring. Great. It costs a buttload of money and goes 32 times faster than the speed limit, takes the turns fast enough to frappe your inner ear and detaches your retinas when you clamp the stoppers. Can I use it for anything? Is it a good choice for tooling over to McD's, will it fit both kids in the back, is it fun to drive for months and years without requiring a fifth mortgage for the special rose-scented synthetic motor oil, or is going to be the ultimate vehicular Jewish mother-in-law - forever better than me, always a step smarter, more demanding than I can deliver?

I know a lot of enthusiasts hate the Camry and Accord for being mobility appliances, but that's what a guy like me drives. I need two back seats and decent fuel mileage. Once in a long while I'm touring through the Smokies or Frozen Head State Park and the road becomes a twisty dappled-sunlight fantasy - the accelerator goes down and the shifter gets some attention. But the rest of the time, a car like the GT-R is an utter waste of time and steel for me - and virtually everyone else.

Cars like that should be relegated to places the Bondurant School. Then they'd get enough use, in the right environment, to validate building them.

anyone else on this forum ever run the ring? and if so what was the car and the time?

@mcryder:

Do GT4 lap times count?

@Elhigh: Sounds like we have similar ideas. Yours more eloquent, though!

@Elhigh: Uhhh... this is a car for enthusiasts, and last I checked we were on Jalopnik and not Consumer Reports. So a 'ring lap time is a very interesting piece of information, and this car is a very valid enthusiast car.

@Airport_Whiskey:

we should keep it real, i bet there are a lot of good times in gt4, but it would be interesting to see what readers did in real time.

@mcryder: Good question. I'd love to a QOTD about everyone's first time on a track.

Cars, these days, are like the new fangled golf-ball drivers of vehicles. Twist a screw here and correct an oversteer there. Push a button there and compensate taking the wrong line by adding more grip or changing the rear diff. Eventually, I hope we're going to see a backlash in vehicular society for something FAR less complex. Maybe this is just my inner caterham talking, I don't know. That being said, I do love freak show cars.

I eagerly await this car being power lapped by the Stig. I suspect it will give good old Jezza the same amount of astonishment as the Prodrive P2 did. Like the P2, this car does things that it "shouldn't" be able to.

@SwatLax:

lets do it. mine was 13.54 in a diesel 2006 rental c class on snows. one of the last runs before it closed that day. never played gt4, but I'm told it would have helped.

As much as I love the performance and exotica that is high end Japanese hardware I just don't have a passion for the actual cars (as a general rule). They just seem kind of cold or humorless or sterile or something. Calculated maybe. I don't know.

If I was going to drop that kind of dough, which isn't likely, I'd still have to go with a Vette. It's not an image thing, it's more of a character thing. Personal preference.

You know, if I was dreaming. Hell I'd settle for a good running Yugo (like there was such a thing).

@Elhigh: Your here for what again?

@Elhigh: What you said about Camrys and Accords, I still feel that way about this. Even Camrys and Accords perform nowadays, they just don't appeal to me. They have ironed out all the warts and I don't even want to drive it.

But I love Oldsmobiles so don't listen to me. I need to be weird.

@Elhigh: I appreciate the sentiment and I hear you; I drive a WRX wagon, which I find to be a nice compromise. And while I love older BMWs, I can't see myself ever buying any of their current offerings. I'm never going to buy a Godzilla, but I'm still interested in it. I don't like the conspicuous consumption aspect, but nonetheless it's fun to see and read about and maybe one day take out for a spin.

But I can't be bothered with all the penis measuring of half a second here or there and what were the conditions but but but humidity but but but temperature but but but stock tires whatthefuckever! Give me a decent YouTube video with some hot engine noise and I could not care less about one second faster 'round the 'Ring.

@acarr260: I took my '92 Silverado around the Ring about 11 or 12 years ago when I was stationed in Germany. I don't remember the time*, but the only way I could have had more fun was to do the lap pantsless.

*I do remember it wasn't too bad though, the truck was/is lowered a bit on Eibach springs with fat swaybars and fat (for the time) tires.

GM tested the Trailblazer SS on the ring as well.

@mcryder: *raises hand*

When I lived in Germany from 2002-2005 I took various rental (non track prepped) cars around:
- Opel Speedster ~100 laps (favorite car. Rented from a very trusting eastern german Opel dealer 3 times :)
- BMW 116i ~50 laps (low power but precise)
- VW Beetle Cabrio diesel (most fun w/ 3 helmeted passengers) ~25 laps
- Smart Roadster Coupe ~75 laps (brilliant)
- BMW Z4 2.2L ~40 laps (surprisingly good)
- Alfa 156 2L wagon ~25 laps (not a track car)
- BMW 528i (first laps in 1998, good 'Ring trainer)
- Merc SLK 2L (even with auto trans good fun)
- BMW 320d wagon (great torque)

I didn't time myself much (a good number of the people who crash are timing themselves, hmmmm.....), but wristwatch checking with the Speedster showed a low 9 minute BTG time (during 'tourist' laps the main straight is split up so the accepted times are "Bridge to Gantry", figure on adding ~25 seconds for the straigh so the GTR is a low 7 minute BTG which is inconceivable to me) time.

Without a full cage and 6 point belts low 9's high 8's is about as quick as I'd want to drive.

A few friends and I did have a "Smoadster Time Challenge" - my best was 9:40 in this 80hp mini-Elise, the winner was a VLR race driver who took one around in 9:24. He barely touched the brakes on the whole lap, and took Schwedenkreuz corner (a popular place to die) at least 10mph faster than me. It was kind of like Sabine's 10:10 Van lap - afterwards he said that was as fast as he could go, and never timed himself in a Smoadster again.

Now, as a passenger I've lapped in the low 8's in a supercharged, lightened Opel Speedster, Manthey tuned 996 GT3 w/ ~440hp, and a high 7 minute capable fully tuned 3rd gen RX7 w/ >400hp. These guys were VERY committed, very good drivers, and knew every bump and dip of the 'Ring (I just know which way it goes and a few different lines after ~225 laps).

[s180.photobucket.com]

some vids
[video.google.com]

@Elhigh: Maybe you should start your own fascist country and only allow the sale of family sedans. That way, you don't have to worry about these scary cars that offend your sensibilities.

Can I try?

Cheat Codes Enabled?

@danio3834: Apparently it's a real simple one R-R-R.

@Ash, Pillar of Decorum: @Elhigh:

I completely concur. Living in the twisties has proven to me that I can have just as much fun with a Honda Fit, Scion xD or Nissan Versa with a decent set of rubber, shocks, springs & swar bar. And my trip around the ring was by ring taxi.

Technically it's very impressive, but the bodywork just doesn't do it for me. Just haven't much like the look of this beast from day one.

Now, if I had Glickenhaus money and could have Pinninfarina rebody one, we may be on to something...

@dculberson: @MagnificentBastard: I'm here for the same reason you guys are: I love cars.
I just can't love a car that is vehicular God Mode. Okay, it rules everything. Great. Where's the challenge when it was designed from the outset to be the most remarkable car you can drive? Show me instead the one that makes more concessions to real-world usage and is still stunning, then I'll be impressed.

@devilock138: Lick my boots when you say that. The car doesn't offend my sensibilities as much as people buying them and then wasting them on public streets.

accords and camry(ies)...sounds like testing modern kitchenware at the ring instead...give me a gtr....godzilla rocks

I love this ongoing Nurburgring competition. Also, when I watch Top Gear I'm leaping out of my chair with excitement while the Stig is doing a hot lap in a car I like. Then I go back to daydreaming about having a 5-speed Panther or supercharged 4.6 Lincoln LS or Mazdaspeed Protege.

Like attending Goodwood, F1 at Spa (just so I can see/hear someone take Eau Rouge flat out and someone else lift), and Pebble, driving the Ring is on my "life" list.

I'm also tempted to book Sabine's Ring Taxi, but am scared that I will literally crap myself.

I immediately thought of this:

"ZR1 Chief Engineer Tadge Juechter is noted as saying the ZR1 will beat any production car's track record anywhere in the world..."

The General better deliver.

@Elhigh: You're stating that this car is unjustified because it is too capable and in the same breath stating that an Accord or Camry is a better choice for your trips to McD's. Which is it, you love cars or you love your McD's? I'd lick your boots, but they're probably covered in a partially gelatinated non-dairy gum-based beverage.

Al - there's no time like the present (well, except that the next-to worthless US dollar means you'll pay around $30 per lap just on lap ticket and gas...).

'Ring taxi laps are awesome (especially in the wet), but you don't have to spend ~$100 for a fun, fast lap.
Let me know when you go over there and I'll hook you up for some passenger laps with friends who live nearby.
Bring a helmet.

@danio3834: Up, up, down, down, left, right, left right, B, A.

God mode already comes unlocked on this car. But maybe if I remembered the code for Infinite Gasoline, I'd warm up to it more.

@devilock138: No way - I took enough chemistry to know what's in those shakes. Stay away if you value you your innards.

The car itself isn't unjustified. It's just ridiculous. Like NASCAR, I just don't see the point of it. It may have had relevance at one time, but now...it just begs the question, "Who needs this thing?"

The answer is, nobody. So what's the point?

If my inexhaustible supply of pragmatism leaves you similarly scratching your head at my inability to "get it," then I think we're going to have to agree to disagree.

@reefer:

And lets have the new GT-R V-spec have another run when its finished as well.

@SubyDrew:

I think the thing people miss about the GT-R (and similar systems) is that it doesn't replace the driver. The ATTESA system isn't a driver replacement like traction control, it's a tool. It's an incredibly good tool, which means that it makes ordinary people much faster than normal. But if you can use it well--like a professional driver--you can go faster still.

With the GT-R's technology you can do things that would otherwise be impossible. It isn't about (solely) compensation.

With that said:

JESUS GOD this thing is fast. Unbelievable. Even the Zonda F isn't really a street car, so the GT-R is pretty much faster than anything in its class.

And they're making a V-spec cranked up version, too.

You know... i think the ZR-1 is cooked. I don't see how it can possibly compete with this.

@Nurburgringer:

I did the math on the 'Ring and it's more like $50-100 per lap (depending on what kind of car you drive), all things considered. (Including guesses at things like "will you crash and total the car".)

Quite expensive :(

@Elhigh:

Nobody "needs it", not really.

But then, probably 95% of our cars are not cars we need. Who needs a restored Lincoln? Who needs an El Camino?

This whole website is devoted to things that we do not need, and "need" only enters into it rarely.

I think the only modern car that we really "need" is the Tesla Roadster :)

@bzr - Pinko Commie Bastard Edition: I need that code for infinite gasoline.

I wonder if a "Car Shark" cartridge will fit into my Suburban to unlock that one?

When I was finishing up high school I had the opportunity to work in a small garage that catered to a mix of German marques: primarily BMW and Mercedes, but with a few Porsches.

The Porsche owners were in