But while McLaren's first modern production-car efforts were bullet fast down an open road, they left something to be desired in the handling-balance department, tending to understeer into oblivion at the edge of adhesion. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m considering a GT350, but never track it. The lap goes from the "bridge" to the "gantry" (currently carrying Audi sponsorship.)[20]. They had more Cadillacs than Italian cars. Each car uses the same screaming 5.2-liter overhead-cam V-8, good for 526 horsepower and 429 lb-ft of torque, and its flat-plane crank architecture ensures it is one of the best automotive soundtracks available to the public. If you had any doubt about Toyota's sports car, we're here to tell you: This is the real deal. Like an engine cooling circuit, once the air is bled out and assuming the system has no leaks, you no longer need to re-bleed the system. Randy Pobst is a true talent at MotorTrend. But the 'Ring, through being communal and open to all, encourages a pointless scrabble for comparative lap times that isn't helping you or me. It offers more capability than 99% of owners will/could ever use. I know the type of owners you’re talking about but they exist (in spirit–not necessarily body–if you know what I mean ) with many marques. Then again, I suppose most were bought for ‘bragging rights’ rather than to truly test the capabilities (or lack thereof) of this car and spend most of their time washing and waxing and maybe giving her a good rev now and again to impress the local kids…. When he called me an hijo de puta, I finally turned around and said to him in Spanish that he would be a dead hijo de puta if he said one more thing about either of us. I wouldn’t pay $15K for it. What strikes me is how wrapped up they get over the awards bestowed by auto rags. But the best part is, both GT350s are easier than ever to drive, their improvements refining the overall experience while upping their capability level—and somehow, if anything, reducing the intimidation factor. Yes, yes, and yes. Subaru WRX STI Type RA NBR claims Nürburgring sedan record with 6:57.5 lap: Top Gear - Series 6, Episode 7: Bridge to Gantry. But other then that yeah the ZO6 has most of the issues. Dead reliable? Images. The fastest-ever street car around Laguna Seca left us breathless. But its steering feel is distant and synthetic, the suspension sometimes struggles to keep pace with the engine's performance, and the agility afforded by the rear-steer system makes the back end twitchy. The Nürburgring is a 150,000 person capacity motorsports complex located in the town of Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.It features a Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a much longer Nordschleife "North loop" track which was built in the 1920s around the village and medieval castle of Nürburg in the Eifel mountains. Like its Chevrolet Camaro rival, Ford's Mustang has not always been the enthusiast's choice for corner carving. In a post on Corvette Forum (via MotorAuthority), Corvette chief engineer Tadge Juechter explained just why the 650 horsepower, LT1-powered Corvette Z06 was unable to finish the test. RCM DMV Grenzlandrennen (30.9.2014)", "46. It feels glued to the road, absolutely predictable, and that fabulous V-8 revs forever. An absolute hoot when blasting exhaust notes with your friends, doing stoplight-to-stoplight drags, impressing/appalling neighbors with apocalyptic burnouts, and driving a sweeping country road at 70 percent. Test was run by Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Sciences using Nokian Z G2 high performance road tyres. Old isn’t always better. Tell me there’s no other Retro-grouch here, I guess, but this IS another example of my opinion that it’s still Naturally Aspirated for the Win! I’m your turbo lover BDT, you’re right it isn’t a normal procedure! So MotorTrend and C&D are the “Walmarts”, although I think MotorTrend has the larger internet presence. I can’t remember this ever happening before, but it did. Don't think twice about it: This is the best driver's car Hyundai has built to-date. New entries require an original, uncut on-board video, showing the lap and the timing from start to finish. One track, one lap, one lap time – the lap record on the Nürburgring is the ultimate achievement for all manufacturers championing sporty driving. Cheap consumables? Sending a car to Motor Trend that was crashed and then prep’ed by your “B” team? I still have the original 1500 CC bottom end and a seriously modified MGA 1622 cylinder hear so it breathes better plus a Weber 34ICH carby with hand massged jets ~ it goes pretty well , I’m told it’s fun to watch me going up and down the canyons on three wheels . the BMWs are mostly modded. If younwat to runs consistently on track and not break the bank, a lotus is hard to beat, faster though the corners than the others, and definitively slower ont he straights unless heavily modded. Built by Richard Vanags at P3 Unlimited for Fast Bikes Magazine. Lowest price, lightest weight, higher performance. Farah owns a heavily modified ’98 coupe so I don’t see how you can paint all C5s based on his experience. Seems like a reasonable explanation. Amazing front-end bite, with tons of max g in corners and easy modulation of cornering attitude with the throttle.” (GM), 3rd Place: 2009 Mazda MX-5 Miata Motor Trend says, “The Miata, really in a league of its own in this contest, was rated more so in light of other roadsters (think Solstice, S2000) as opposed to, say, the ZR1.” (Mazda), 2nd Place: 2009 Audi R8 Motor Trend says, “Therein lies the beauty of the R8: It’s exotic yet uncomplicated, high-tech but low maintenance, a dream car that can double as a daily driver, a boulevard cruiser that can switch to a track ace.” (Audi), 1st Place: 2009 Porsche Cayman S PDK Motor Trend says, “Probably more than any other car here, including the R8, this one feels like an extension of your neural synapses.” (Porsche), 10 A rough google search gave me these numbers: Car And Driver: 1.2M as of 12/2014 They are probably trying to figure out how to add a Z08 package or something else so they can charge even more money, they just don’t care. Electrical connectors under the hood are usually secured by locking tabs that basically require manual intervention to remove. The 488 Pista is no exception, and that's also no surprise when you consider how capable the standard 488 GTB is. In the buff book tests I’ve read only once has a ZO6 completed the test with out a mechanical failure or issue. Most to run track have upgrade brake lines and suspension. Two for me, reimbursement for the payments I made and for a rental car, and one check going to my finance company to pay the car off. I know they want to push out content, but you shouldn’t force it out like a Taco Bell turd. Like the M2 Competition, the SS 1LE is no lightweight at 3,685 pounds, but it still finds its way around corners at breakneck pace. Lamborghini conducted test, full roll cage, Pirelli P Zero Trofeo R. Porsche conducted test. Better run for cover. Practicality be damned, the driving experience is what we relish most, and is what we look for more than anything when we ponder throwing down our own (imaginary) cubic dollars in search of the ultimate four-wheeled rush. It will often look fully seated when you look at the body but if the tab hasn’t broke over the ramp the ramp will tend to push the connector back out over time. Drove my psycho-bitch ex G.F. crazy for some reason . It was over 30 years ago but wasn’t GM the manufacturer that could massage pre-production mules of the Citation so well that they could convince the buff books that the Citation was the Second Coming? The Cayman tolerates, and at times even rewards, aggressive inputs; the Supra prefers calm steering action to get the most out of it, as its rear end will dance through corners if you're too aggressive on the wheel. If you want to check out the comparison for yourself, here you go. If nothing else, it reminds me that I am still full of a lot of life, even after all these years and all my adventures and misadventures. The alignment was fine. I guess I’m more comfortable working on those cars. Willow Springs - 215 lap times , 3.9 km / 2.4 miles Circuit of the Americas - 183 lap times , 5.5 km / 3.4 miles Virginia International Raceway Grand East Course (pre 01/2014) - 128 lap times , … When you bring your halo-of-halo sports cars to a competition to sort out the “Best Driver’s Car”, you definitely want to give it a new set of brake pads, make sure all the electrical connections are seated properly, and maybe — just maybe — not send a car that was offed in a previous comparison test. Daily life with this function-over-form supercar would be hell: It's temperamental and has an uninspiring around-town engine note and rickety ride. And it drives tidy. You, Jack and a few other friends I have made here on TTAC are some of the finest people I have gotten to know in my entire life. TTAC is my sin of choice. 700 bhp (522 kW; 710 PS), 531 lb⋅ft (720 N⋅m). I’ve heard enough on Matt Farah’s C5 to know I never want one. Unfortunately, the connector was seated enough that the pump and engine worked fine in all the pre-test driving done before trucking the car across the country to Motor Trend in California. Do these awards/tests have any effect on car sales? Which is what Tadge went to lengths to explain. Stop right there… I decide how it “should be” driven. They dont want to allow people to beat on their cars like they are nothing. Honestly, I have no idea why people buy Z06s over Stingrays, I have a healthy mix of both new Stingrays and new Z06s in my neighborhood and surrounding neighborhoods and they all pretty much go the same place and are driven by the same people, 50 year old plus physicians, attorneys or guys in finance whose offices are about 5 to 10 miles away and I’ve yet to see any of them break the speed limit. Thus armed, the Veloster N ("N" for "Nürburgring") is a joy to drive hard, with a slick six-speed manual shifter, good chassis feel, and a wide range of adjustability at your fingertips for the suspension, steering, diff, and engine. Most powerful? Guinness World Records was reported to require a minimum of 30[22] and other lists within Wikipedia require at least 25 road legal cars built. The magazine also runs a challenge for the fastest lap time driven with a car that is road legal (TÜV) and registered in Germany. This is a list of lap times achieved by various vehicles on the Nürburgring (Nordschleife). Of street based cars, i see a lot of Loti Vettes and Porche. Manufacturers, especially those of sports cars, conduct their own timing runs and publish these for varying purposes. Some lap times are even claimed to have been done during tourist driving sessions. This was done the day before the Z06 was run on track by Randy Pobst and had absolutely no bearing on the results of the test. Log onto Bimmerfest. Jaguar conducted test, Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 R tyres, two-seat Track Package. I have had my share of psycho ex-GF’s, seemed to attract them like a magnet at one point in my life. Finally fell head over heels for the most hardcore case I had ever encountered, and fortunately for me, the feeling was mutual. This was the first time under ten minutes recorded by an electric car. At least MT told it like it was. 0-60 in 3.9, top speed of 190+, and 1.08g on a skidpad. Lap record for a production, Car equipped with roll cage. Electric vehicle lap record and lowest energy consumption at 24.7, 700 PS (515 kW; 690 hp) / 1,470 kg (3,240 lb), Street-legal, Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 R, OEM, 1,360 PS (1,000 kW; 1,341 hp) / 1,735 kg (3,825 lb), 750 PS (552 kW; 740 hp) / 1,070 kg (2,360 lb) Dry, 730 PS (537 kW; 720 hp) / 1,345 kg (2,965 lb) Dry, 640 hp (477 kW; 649 PS) / 1,500 kg (3,300 lb) Dry, Nissan conducted test. Looking for real brand apologists?