Wednesday 15th November 2017

The fastest Super GT Motegi lap: Time For Tea?

There are pole laps and then there are pole laps, as the GT-R GT500 proves...

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Hands up who first learnt about a Nissan GT-R on Gran Turismo? Thought so. And Super GT touring cars? Yep, us too. It also opened our eyes to all manner of Japanese tracks that our Western minds were ignorant to; we'd have seen Suzuka or Fuji on F1, but not in as many formats as GT did, and in later games we had Tsukuba and Honda's amazing Motegi complex that features here.

In fact, this video features all three: a Nissan GT-R, in Super GT spec, at Motegi. No regular video, either, but the fastest ever Super GT lap of Motegi. Ronnie Quintarelli's qualifying lap last weekend of 1:36.316 was a second faster than the Lexus he shared the front row with, and a tenth ahead of the old record.

The video is, as you might expect, an incredible watch. Don't forget that, despite now using four-cylinder engines, GT500 cars are lighter and more powerful than GT3 cars - with 600hp and a c. 1,000kg kerbweight. The way this GT-R accelerates and, just as amazingly, brakes, is mind-boggling, the car seemingly controlled by forces beyond anything as mundane as aerodynamics. And, as is always the way with these pesky pro drivers, Quintarelli makes it all look fantastically easy.

In a result that won't surprise anybody, the Italian and his teammate Tsugio Matsuda won the race at Motegi; they finished the season two points behind championship winners Ryo Hirakawa and Nick Cassidy. A few more drives like that should see to a title victory next year!

 

[Source: Super GT]

 

[sidesauce]

That's simply ridiculous. Well done that man!

[big_rob_sydney]

As much as I'm a fan of the GTR (and I grew up watching them crushing all opposition in Australian Group A touring car racing), I would actually ask, how much does this car have in common with the road car?

As insane as it is, to me its just another carbon bodied silhouette with a host of trick racing bits, far removed from its "donor".

Great vehicle, highly fit for purpose, but road-going GTR? Not a chance.

[Neith]

big_rob_sydney said:

As much as I'm a fan of the GTR (and I grew up watching them crushing all opposition in Australian Group A touring car racing), I would actually ask, how much does this car have in common with the road car?

As insane as it is, to me its just another carbon bodied silhouette with a host of trick racing bits, far removed from its "donor".

Great vehicle, highly fit for purpose, but road-going GTR? Not a chance.

All of the GT500 cars are essentially silhouette racers; I believe they share a common chassis with DTM cars in Germany. The difference being that GT500 cars actually run around 650hp and (according to Nismo) run similar lap times to privateer LMP1 cars from a few years ago. They now run a 2 litre 4 cylinder turbo, but somehow manage to sound good.

Then you have GT300, which is a strange mix of FIA GT3 cars, JAF cars and 'Mother Chassis' cars which all share the same chassis but have silhouette bodies based on a variety of different cars (GT86, Evora, Mark X and even two Prius). GT300 run around 400-450hp. GT300 use allsorts of different engines (the Prius is a 4 litre V8 hybrid straight from an old LMP1 car and the Subaru BRZ uses a WRC Impreza boxer engine).

Was great to see the Motul Autech GT-R finally take a victory this season, but painful to finish 2 points from the championship. What hurts more is that Nismo had an unsafe pit release at Suzuka which earned them a drivethrough penalty, as well as a poor tyre choice in another wet race. If either of those hadn't have happened, Nissan would've likely taken the championship.

[spikyone]

big_rob_sydney said:

As much as I'm a fan of the GTR (and I grew up watching them crushing all opposition in Australian Group A touring car racing), I would actually ask, how much does this car have in common with the road car?

As insane as it is, to me its just another carbon bodied silhouette with a host of trick racing bits, far removed from its "donor".

Great vehicle, highly fit for purpose, but road-going GTR? Not a chance.

As Neith said, they are indeed silhouette racers, although whilst they share some commonality with DTM regulations they do not share a chassis. I don't see anywhere in the article that suggests these are road-based cars, so it's a little churlish to criticise them for that. And those Group A cars bore little relation to a road car, albeit that they didn't have the aero package of Super GT. The Group A Nissans were still running 600bhp+.

I have to say that video is incredible. To see a 4-pot turbo delivering that performance and making that noise is mind-blowing. And despite all the aero they still produce some stunning wheel-to-wheel racing.

BTW I can't believe this article is titled "the fatest ever...". Everyone knows that if you're trying to appeal to the sort of youth that spend all day playing video games, "fat" should be spelled "phat".

[Neith]

spikyone said:

As Neith said, they are indeed silhouette racers, although whilst they share some commonality with DTM regulations they do not share a chassis.

Didn't realise that; it was always implied on the Nismo livestreams that they did share one but they may have just meant they're similar. I know there is definitely some interest in further collaboration between Super GT and DTM (DTM cars appeared at Motegi for warmup lap and some Super GT cars were at the last DTM race).

I would thoroughly recommend Super GT to anyone who likes this though, the racing is amazing at times (and generally if GT500 is quiet, something's happening in GT300!)

It's worth watching just for the Hatsune Miku liveried GT300 AMG If anyone watches Hot Version/Best Motoring you'll probably recognise a few drivers as well (Max Orido drives a GT300 Huracan and Nob Taniguchi drives the aforementioned itasha AMG).

[Matt Bird]

spikyone said:

big_rob_sydney said:

As much as I'm a fan of the GTR (and I grew up watching them crushing all opposition in Australian Group A touring car racing), I would actually ask, how much does this car have in common with the road car?

As insane as it is, to me its just another carbon bodied silhouette with a host of trick racing bits, far removed from its "donor".

Great vehicle, highly fit for purpose, but road-going GTR? Not a chance.

As Neith said, they are indeed silhouette racers, although whilst they share some commonality with DTM regulations they do not share a chassis. I don't see anywhere in the article that suggests these are road-based cars, so it's a little churlish to criticise them for that. And those Group A cars bore little relation to a road car, albeit that they didn't have the aero package of Super GT. The Group A Nissans were still running 600bhp+.

I have to say that video is incredible. To see a 4-pot turbo delivering that performance and making that noise is mind-blowing. And despite all the aero they still produce some stunning wheel-to-wheel racing.

BTW I can't believe this article is titled "the fatest ever...". Everyone knows that if you're trying to appeal to the sort of youth that spend all day playing video games, "fat" should be spelled "phat".

Argh, you got me - apologies! Should be sorted now.


Matt

[Cobrakai]

Neith said:

What hurts more is that Nismo had an unsafe pit release at Suzuka which earned them a drivethrough penalty, as well as a poor tyre choice in another wet race. If either of those hadn't have happened, Nissan would've likely taken the championship.

From what I recall the poor tyre choice was the Calsonic (Blue car) that made that choice not the Nismo (red car) at Sugo. Jan Mardenborough went 2 laps down on slicks int the wet. I remember screaming at the TV in disbelief that the team didn't bring him in sooner. Nissan didn't have the best season, only winning the last race of the season at Motegi.

[GroundEffect]

I didn't realise until recently the GT500 cars had gotten so fast. They used to be 480PS!

Reference to the comments about about shared components with DTM, I read this article a while back that says they do indeed share a common tub.

http://www.racecar-engineering.com/cars/nissan-gt-...

"Chassis" doesn't exist in car terms that people seem to misbelieve. Chassis in the automotive world = brakes, steering and suspension. What you're referring to is the tub/body/monocoque depending on type.

[Neith]

Cobrakai said:

From what I recall the poor tyre choice was the Calsonic (Blue car) that made that choice not the Nismo (red car) at Sugo. Jan Mardenborough went 2 laps down on slicks int the wet. I remember screaming at the TV in disbelief that the team didn't bring him in sooner. Nissan didn't have the best season, only winning the last race of the season at Motegi.

The Calsonic car did at Sugo; the Motul Autech GT-R did at Thailand. It started on slicks but the track was saturated for longer than they expected and they fell down the positions.

[dapprman]

spikyone said:

As Neith said, they are indeed silhouette racers, although whilst they share some commonality with DTM regulations they do not share a chassis. I don't see anywhere in the article that suggests these are road-based cars, so it's a little churlish to criticise them for that. And those Group A cars bore little relation to a road car, albeit that they didn't have the aero package of Super GT. The Group A Nissans were still running 600bhp+.

Regulations have changed then since Motors TV dropped showing the races (and it became nigh on impossible to watch them over here). Back then they had to use the road chassis (though could be tweaked) and steel brake disks, the engine also had to be related, though could be modified - hence the turbo NSXs and the Supra using the production NA engine as a basis not the turbo.

Really miss being able to watch the races - if anyone knows a way of doing it in the UK then I'd be interested to know.

[DanielSan]

dapprman said:

Regulations have changed then since Motors TV dropped showing the races (and it became nigh on impossible to watch them over here). Back then they had to use the road chassis (though could be tweaked) and steel brake disks, the engine also had to be related, though could be modified - hence the turbo NSXs and the Supra using the production NA engine as a basis not the turbo.

Really miss being able to watch the races - if anyone knows a way of doing it in the UK then I'd be interested to know.

Nissan’s Nismo YouTube channel shows full races live and are available to watch on there any time after

[dapprman]

Cheers for that.

[mcholeboy_59]

GroundEffect said:

I didn't realise until recently the GT500 cars had gotten so fast. They used to be 480PS!

Reference to the comments about about shared components with DTM, I read this article a while back that says they do indeed share a common tub.

http://www.racecar-engineering.com/cars/nissan-gt-...

"Chassis" doesn't exist in car terms that people seem to misbelieve. Chassis in the automotive world = brakes, steering and suspension. What you're referring to is the tub/body/monocoque depending on type.

I noticed that too... up till 2009ish the GT500s were 500bhp (or near) And in the mid 2000s they were doing quite a lot to aero rules aswell to stop them from getting too fast.. I wonder why the decided to take them to over 600bhp...