Chris Harris takes on Ferrari on US website....in a big way

[david_b]

Great Pretender said:

DR also compared the GTR against the E90 M3 and a 997 C2S in a straight line drag.

Even with it's significant power deficit, the C2S out-sprinted the Nissan.

You may be talking about a different test, but Chris Harris did a comparison between the GTR, 911GT3 (not a C2S) and M3 for Autocar. The test was deliberately done as a one-off attempt to make it similar to what an owner might typically be able to do.

I somehow doubt that the C2S would be any faster than the GT3...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvjruvMDivI

[Racefan_uk]

Why is it that Jalopnik never works for me on whatever browser I try and view it on. Slow and rarely loads properly. Weird.

[Great Pretender]

david_b said:

Great Pretender said:

DR also compared the GTR against the E90 M3 and a 997 C2S in a straight line drag.

Even with it's significant power deficit, the C2S out-sprinted the Nissan.

You may be talking about a different test, but Chris Harris did a comparison between the GTR, 911GT3 (not a C2S) and M3 for Autocar. The test was deliberately done as a one-off attempt to make it similar to what an owner might typically be able to do.

I somehow doubt that the C2S would be any faster than the GT3...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvjruvMDivI

That's not the test I was talking about. It was a DR test featuring the M3 saloon, 997 C2S and a GTR.

I'm 99% sure of this.

[Trommel]

Great Pretender said:

It was a DR test featuring the M3 saloon, 997 C2S and a GTR.

I'm 99% sure of this.

It was GT-R, PDK Carrera 2, V8V and R8.

Edit - there's also an Autocar video with Harris where the GT-R destroys the M3 coupe and GT3 in a one-attempt 0-100 run.

Edited by Trommel on Thursday 17th February 22:13

[david_b]

Trommel said:

It was GT-R, PDK Carrera 2, V8V and R8.

Edit - there's also an Autocar video with Harris where the GT-R destroys the M3 coupe and GT3 in a one-attempt 0-100 run.

Edited by Trommel on Thursday 17th February 22:13

The Autocar one is the youtube link I posted above That DR video is here: http://blip.tv/file/3062156

Not really particularly conclusive - the 911 is marginally ahead at the end of the straight line test, but their recorded acceleration figures actually show it's slower for 0-100 and 1/4 mile. It was significantly slower on-track as well.

Having seen a couple of bog standard GTR's at Goodwood last year (the GRRC Spring Sprint), I'm really not surprised by how quick they are despite their apparent weight and power. They were driven by normal blokes (GRRC members I presume), and the only thing quicker on the day was a full-on 911 GT3Cup racing car. That's vs. Lotus 2-Elevens, Audi R8s, Radicals, Caterhams of every sort (results here if anyone cares). Clearly driver dependant to some extent, but an awesome demonstration of just how capable they are.

No Ferraris there (factory supported or otherwise ) for comparison unfortunately!

[Mark34bn]

Most of the DR videos are on youtube, here's the GTR vs GT2 Nurburgring comparison.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jq1UZzJk6mw
I can't recall a GTR vs M3 one, there was an M3 vs C63 vs ISF road & track test.

[j123]

Whats really sad is that all those nice DR articles are now gone. Now Harris and Meaden are back to writing what amounts to ad copy for evo.
At least give us access to the DR articles for goodness #$. j

[Mark34bn]

'Ere you go

http://driversrepublic.blip.tv/file/3070370/

Every vid DR made (as far as I'm aware)

[andyps]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Not sure, but if you follow Chris Harris on Twitter (harrismonkey) you will see that he is not enamoured with skiddmark, it obviously wasn't an amicable ending to DR!!

[adycav]

Interesting piece in The Telegraph today.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/news/8368343/R...

[Waugh-terfall]

adycav said:

Interesting piece in The Telegraph today.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/news/8368343/R...

Ooh, written by a friends Dad

I can't wait to read a 458 v MP4 test in Evo, after Harris' outburst

[monthefish]

adycav said:

Interesting piece in The Telegraph today.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/news/8368343/R...

article said:

But there’s a great deal of difference between sound preparation and what the racing world knows as “blueprinting”, in which a car’s every component is checked and reassembled by hand to the best possible manufacturing tolerance

I disagree. I think there's a very fine line between sound preparation and ensuring that all parts are those from the best part of the tolerance spectrum.


There's a great deal of difference, however, between the above two practices, and using modified/tuned parts on a vehicle (that is supposed to be 'standard') to achieve better performance.

[Pesty]

“For most Ferrari owners,” he says, “these things are not important. I think that Chris has done more harm to himself than Ferrari.”

hmmmm

[Rude-boy]

The car is dropped off at the location agreed and returned to the agreed location on the date agreed.

All specifications must be available to any customer, such as tyres used.

During the time the car is in the care of the journalist the car company is welcome to follow and, if requested assist, but otherwise hands off.

Whilst the car is in the hands of the car company they may prepare it as they see fit, but if they get caught out taking the mickey then should be prepared to take the flack.

[Alfanatic]

The Telegraph article said:

<Ferrari> also claims that the correct preparation of its cars for high-speed track tests is a safety issue and that it takes this responsibility seriously.

I wonder why it doesn't take the safety of its highly valued but arguably less experienced owners as seriously and have a support team follow them around whenever they take their Ferrari on track. Or is that service an option for owners but a requirement for journalists?

[tank slapper]

That must be why they also put pressure on their customers not to let journalists use their cars. Obviously they are only concerned with safety.

[Emeye]

Pesty said:

“For most Ferrari owners,” he says, “these things are not important. I think that Chris has done more harm to himself than Ferrari.”

hmmmm

Horse's head in his bed?

[Pesty]

Thats what I was thinking

[havoc]

Pesty said:

“For most Ferrari owners,” he says, “these things are not important. I think that Chris has done more harm to himself than Ferrari.”

hmmmm

"Most (new) Ferrari owners are more bothered by image and statistics than by whether they've actually got the 'best' car. They won't care what one journo thinks as long as their peers at the Golf Club are still jealous."

[andyps]

havoc said:

"Most (new) Ferrari owners are more bothered by image and statistics than by whether they've actually got the 'best' car. They won't care what one journo thinks as long as their peers at the Golf Club are still jealous."

I guess though, at the end of the line there will be people, whether owners or peers at the golf club who will have been influenced by the ramblings of journalists such as Harris (and even/especially Clarkson) and therefore if the cars driven by those journalists are more perfect specimens than the average customer gets it will help the reviews and therefore the image.

The contention that it relates to safety is a very dangerous one for Ferrari to take, there must be a number of Ferrari buyers who do take their cars on track days and, in the wonderfully litigious world we now have, could well claim that the lack of a factory support crew was the reason for their accident and then sue. On the basis Ferrari feel it important for the journalists to have their car set up specifically, it could be argued it is unsafe to not have that support.

What has been really interesting over recent weeks has been the number of reports about the new McLaren which are based on drives of prototypes - how often have Ferrari made their prototypes available for so many journalists?