GM anxious to test the Corvette ZR1 around Nurburgring

[hightower99]

From what I gathered Jan and GM didnt really take the record run seriously as compared to other manufacturers. Some like Nissan take weeks and even months testing the car and trying to get the best time. Others like GM flew Jan in and within 4 laps set their record time and flew him out again to chase a win their their GT1 program. With the hype generated by the GTR and its run, im sure GM has seen the marketing value in setting a fast lap. Hopefully they dont half-arsed their ZR1 attempt.

I get sick of telling people this but Jan pretty much gave it 110% and his run was abit of a fluke. The reason that other manufacturers use more time running the 'Ring is because they are looking for a solid indicator by getting the fastest repeatable time. The don't have a need for a one-off fluke.

[baddabang]

Probably Jan Magnussen has said no after his frightening experience when hauling the Z06 around the ring?

Ah yes. This image comes to mind.

[henk4]

Ah yes. This image comes to mind.

which would also indicate that he had a free track....

[P4g4nite]

I get sick of telling people this but Jan pretty much gave it 110% and his run was abit of a fluke. The reason that other manufacturers use more time running the 'Ring is because they are looking for a solid indicator by getting the fastest repeatable time. The don't have a need for a one-off fluke.

I'm sorry, but WTF?
How on earth does a professional driver "fluke" a quick lap on a 20 something Km long track? Did he accidently string together 100 freakishly quick corners and recieve an exceptionally strong tail wind down the straight?
Not everyone is Walter Rohl but he did 7:42 in the GT3 so that proves what the car is capable of. Same goes for the Corvette.

[monaroCountry]

I get sick of telling people this but Jan pretty much gave it 110% and his run was abit of a fluke. The reason that other manufacturers use more time running the 'Ring is because they are looking for a solid indicator by getting the fastest repeatable time. The don't have a need for a one-off fluke.

Theres absolutely no fluke in Jan's time, he is a great driver after all but for a long track like the ring...........its always the case that the more times you circulate the better your time will be (to a degree). This is why there are only a handful of ring experts including Horst von Saurma and Walter Roehrl, and this is why Nissan took so long and spent so much $$$$$ around the ring.

[h22a]

Whats with all this talk of only 4 laps of the ring for the Z06, BS. Whats your problem with Nissan anyway Monaro C?

[hightower99]

I'm sorry, but WTF?
How on earth does a professional driver "fluke" a quick lap on a 20 something Km long track? Did he accidently string together 100 freakishly quick corners and recieve an exceptionally strong tail wind down the straight?
Not everyone is Walter Rohl but he did 7:42 in the GT3 so that proves what the car is capable of. Same goes for the Corvette.

By fluke I mean he was going so fast that it was a fluke he didn't crash. Several times the car lost contact with the track completely (all 4 wheels in the air), and several times he came within a few cm of what would be certain death. I doubt if anyone will ever be able to repeat the time Jan did in a stock Z06.

He made it clear that he went all out and way beyond his own comfort zone which is saying something because he is comfortable jumping from one racing class to another over the course of a week.

It's a fluke because the way he was driving he should have crashed and died. It was basically his skill that was keeping him on the track because he was exceeding what the Z06 is capable of.

Theres absolutely no fluke in Jan's time, he is a great driver after all but for a long track like the ring...........its always the case that the more times you circulate the better your time will be (to a degree). This is why there are only a handful of ring experts including Horst von Saurma and Walter Roehrl, and this is why Nissan took so long and spent so much $$$$$ around the ring.

He was driving well past the abilities of the Z06... He even said himself that he was lucky he didn't die. Also Jan drove the Z06 solely for a fast time. Nissan actually uses the track to tune the chassis and suspension, that is why they where there so much. You make it sound like Nissan just wanted the fastest time possible and spent alot of time there just for that... That is wrong.

Also Jan used the whole day before the record attempt training with a C5 Z06 and a C6 corvette... On the day he only had the track from 7-8 in the morning so he had to go for it from the start... On the fourth round he got the 7:42.9.

[-What-]

...He was exceeding what the Z06 is capable of.

He was driving well past the abilities of the Z06...

You have to appreciate your bias dude. Some real foolish garbage you spittin. Unless Jan was a mutant and added his own energy into the powertrain to increase power, he did not drive the Z06 "beyond its abilities". What are you saying? Are you saying he drove the car faster than what the car is capable of being driven? How did he do that?

Dude...

You weren't there to witness the "centimeters of death" during the drive so you've taken the description of the ride that Jan gave you and twisted it to something beyond foolish. Even if YOU WERE there there is no way a non-supernatural "being" could pilot a vehicle to perform beyond the vehicle's capabilities...because if the vehicle did it, then apparently it is within its capabilities.

Also Jan drove the Z06 solely for a fast time. Nissan actually uses the track to tune the chassis and suspension, that is why they where there so much. You make it sound like Nissan just wanted the fastest time possible...

Another dummy statement. Chevrolet has their own test track to tune their cars so they don't need to fly across the world to "tune" at the Ring. Don't be foolish, Nissan's time wasn't just a "product of normal developement"...Nissan tuned their car to achieve the FASTEST TIME POSSIBLE AT THE RING. If anything, NISSAN'S RING TIMES should be "beyond the ability of the production car" because no one aside from Nissan knows if the suspension settings for those RING GTRs have the same settings as the production vehicles.

I get sick of telling people this but Jan pretty much gave it 110% and his run was abit of a fluke. The reason that other manufacturers use more time running the 'Ring is because they are looking for a solid indicator by getting the fastest repeatable time. The don't have a need for a one-off fluke.

Ok, I want to figure out how you think...

Do you think the Lexus LF-A will consistently lap the "ring" in 7:24? The GTR in 7:30-something? Do you think the drivers of these car achieved these times driving at less than 100%? Cruising perhaps? Do you think they averaged out all of their laps and posted that instead of their fastest lap?

They don't need a one-off fluke...right.
Do you think manufactures post these "fastest laps" for...what? They don't use them for advertisement? If manufactures beside Chevrolet don't need these one-off flukes, why post times at all? Did you see PAGANIS "attack" at the "ring". Oh boy...talk about going all out. Removing mirrors, taping down shit, lowering tire pressure...etc....but I'm sure the driver was only giving it 87%....

You doubt the Z06s time because the driver documented and over-dramatized the drive. If every manufacturer let you in on what it took to achieve their "ring" times you'd be doubting all cars. But of course they'll all say..."we could have gone faster..."...and of course you'll believe them.

[henk4]

Don't be foolish, Nissan's time wasn't just a "product of normal developement"...Nissan tuned their car to achieve the FASTEST TIME POSSIBLE AT THE RING.

Unless you have solid evidence to back up this statement, your contribution does not exceed the level of the post you are trying to critisize...

[monaroCountry]

hightower99 there are only a few section of the ring where a car like the vette can get airborne (its not a heavy pig like some other ring hero), the majority of the track would need more prep work and driver familiarity with both the track and the car being driven. Im sure that as good a driver Jan is, the ZO6 is a totally different beast from his C6R race car.

Achieving a time of 7:42 with the old suspension setup in 2005/6 is an excellent achievement. The Porsche 911turbo achieved a 7:40 time yet in the majority of the test on other tracks the vette has it easily beaten. Im sure that the ZO6 will beat the porky GTR, this upcoming ZR1 is on a totally different field.

[monaroCountry]

Unless you have solid evidence to back up this statement, your contribution does not exceed the level of the post you are trying to critisize...

Believe it or not you can get a better tune on a different track. For most, the ring is just there for bragging rights.

[hightower99]

You have to appreciate your bias dude. Some real foolish garbage you spittin. Unless Jan was a mutant and added his own energy into the powertrain to increase power, he did not drive the Z06 "beyond its abilities". What are you saying? Are you saying he drove the car faster than what the car is capable of being driven? How did he do that?

... wow... I hope you know what I meant. I meant that he was driving well beyond what you would expect of almost anyone else. The majority of drivers let off the gas when driving over the steep crests so that the car doesn't leap into the air, as this is much more safe.

You weren't there to witness the "centimeters of death" during the drive so you've taken the description of the ride that Jan gave you and twisted it to something beyond foolish. Even if YOU WERE there there is no way a non-supernatural "being" could pilot a vehicle to perform beyond the vehicle's capabilities...because if the vehicle did it, then apparently it is within its capabilities.

Again he drove it well past his own comfort zone which says alot.

Another dummy statement. Chevrolet has their own test track to tune their cars so they don't need to fly across the world to "tune" at the Ring. Don't be foolish, Nissan's time wasn't just a "product of normal developement"...Nissan tuned their car to achieve the FASTEST TIME POSSIBLE AT THE RING. If anything, NISSAN'S RING TIMES should be "beyond the ability of the production car" because no one aside from Nissan knows if the suspension settings for those RING GTRs have the same settings as the production vehicles.

so you don't think Nissan has it's own test track? Nissan chose to tune at the ring because it is a very good place to tune the chassis and suspension to handle diverse conditions.

Do you think the Lexus LF-A will consistently lap the "ring" in 7:24? The GTR in 7:30-something? Do you think the drivers of these car achieved these times driving at less than 100%? Cruising perhaps? Do you think they averaged out all of their laps and posted that instead of their fastest lap?

No I don't think that the LF-A will consistantly run 7:24 but if that is what Lexus says then it should be able to run faster than 7:35 times without getting a professional race driver to drive beyond his/her comfort zone. I believe the GT-R can do 7:45 or lower times without giving 11/10ths. The fastest time is from a single fastest lap but they don't go 110% just to get the fastest time, it is normally a time achieved during testing.

You doubt the Z06s time because the driver documented and over-dramatized the drive. If every manufacturer let you in on what it took to achieve their "ring" times you'd be doubting all cars. But of course they'll all say..."we could have gone faster..."...and of course you'll believe them.

I don't doubt the time. He did run it in 7:42.9 I just don't think that anyone will be able to run a stock C6 Z06 that fast (i believe it's repeatable times are around 7:45).

[henk4]

Believe it or not you can get a better tune on a different track. For most, the ring is just there for bragging rights.

the Ring for most is there to adjust and fine tune the suspension on a car....why do you think so many camouflaged prototypes are spied each working day on the Ring?

[culver]

There are a number of other good tracks around the world which could be used for tuning. Near GM there are Mid-Ohio and Road America which are both really really good tracks. I'm certain Japan also has some great roads that can be used for testing cars. I do think the ring is used in part for PR reasons. I'm certain they may get tuning info from the runs but that tuning could be done somewhere else.

[henk4]

There are a number of other good tracks around the world which could be used for tuning. Near GM there are Mid-Ohio and Road America which are both really really good tracks. I'm certain Japan also has some great roads that can be used for testing cars. I do think the ring is used in part for PR reasons. I'm certain they may get tuning info from the runs but that tuning could be done somewhere else.

The German industry is a very keen user of Road America and Suzuka