Car and Driver - 2024 Lightning Lap

[Fanatic]

https://www.caranddriver.com/features/a46575000/lightning-lap-2024/

 

[MCN1SMO]

Z NISMO barely bested the M2 but quite a ways off from the dark horse

 

[MCN1SMO]

400 degrees rear diff fluid is really hot. NISMO japan makes a very expensive cooler that reduces temps my 66 degrees.

VIR is my home track but ive never ran this grand course configuration only the full course. Im going to so some laps this year but have no intention of heating of the diff like that

 

[MCN1SMO]

quick slice of the Z NISMO vs similar times. not apples to apples comparison since its across different years but good enough for a general idea of performance

 

[iztrumental]

Sorry I posted the same vid in another thread and can't figure out how to delete it. Will a mod please delete for me?

Anyway, the dark horse tested cost way more than the Z Nismo. This is what I said to one of the "hater" comments.

Did you even watch the vid or you just looked at the results? The Dark Horse as-tested is $5,810.00 more than the as-tested Z Nismo. For that price difference, you can easily get Z tuned to 500HP at $4,250.00 via AMS performance. Get the performance trim with that tune and you have a track beast for less than competing base models for the same price.

 

[rocksandblues]

Sorry I posted the same vid in another thread and can't figure out how to delete it. Will a mod please delete for me?

Anyway, the dark horse tested cost way more than the Z Nismo. This is what I said to one of the "hater" comments.

Did you even watch the vid or you just looked at the results? The Dark Horse as-tested is $5,810.00 more than the as-tested Z Nismo. For that price difference, you can easily get Z tuned to 500HP at $4,250.00 via AMS performance. Get the performance trim with that tune and you have a track beast for less than competing base models for the same price.

Guess the same could be said for the Supra costing 10k less? Put 200tw tires on the Zupra like the Nismo and the gap would widen. Spend 10k in mods on the Zupra and the gap would get silly.

I am glad the Nismo is much better and track focused. Not sure how many will actually track? The rear diff heating up would concern me a bunch.

Bottom line, I am still really glad Toyota/Bmw, Ford, Nissan still make obtainable track toys

 

[iztrumental]

Guess the same could be said for the Supra costing 10k less? Put 200tw tires on the Zupra like the Nismo and the gap would widen. Spend 10k in mods on the Zupra and the gap would get silly.

I am glad the Nismo is much better and track focused. Not sure how many will actually track? The rear diff heating up would concern me a bunch.

Bottom line, I am still really glad Toyota/Bmw, Ford, Nissan still make obtainable track toys

Sure it can. I only made the argument for the sake of because the troll was comparing as if they were apples to apples when price wise they really weren’t.

 

[rocksandblues]

Sure it can. I only made the argument for the sake of because the troll was comparing as if they were apples to apples when price wise they really weren’t.

trolls everywhere... in every forum and FB group.
I don't drive a Nissan obviously but have been watching/involved because I am always looking for the next track toy. But I am a fan of any manufacturer who still has balls to make a real sports car these days!

No track time list can be perfect. For example, the M2 will go faster next time I'd bet $1000. But tires and driver make a huge difference on this particular list. Their Camaro time was slow- a real race car driver could go faster. But at that car's level there are 100 guys that could drive it up to its full potential. On a street car like the Supra, nismo, dark horse. 6 diff skilled or experienced track guys will post 6 diff times.

I am dying to run the Grand course this year- fingers crossed

 

[iztrumental]

trolls everywhere... in every forum and FB group.
I don't drive a Nissan obviously but have been watching/involved because I am always looking for the next track toy. But I am a fan of any manufacturer who still has balls to make a real sports car these days!

No track time list can be perfect. For example, the M2 will go faster next time I'd bet $1000. But tires and driver make a huge difference on this particular list. Their Camaro time was slow- a real race car driver could go faster. But at that car's level there are 100 guys that could drive it up to its full potential. On a street car like the Supra, nismo, dark horse. 6 diff skilled or experienced track guys will post 6 diff times.

I am dying to run the Grand course this year- fingers crossed

Hey respect for that. If you love cars, you love cars! Funny you mentioned the drivers because I was thinking the same. How many seconds is negligible? Driver skill? Track conditions? Etc etc. At the end of the day like you said, I’m also just glad these cars are being made and to Nissan’s credit, at least there’s 3 trims to choose from. Their price lines up with inflation. It’s not their fault that people’s salaries haven’t kept up.

 

[rocksandblues]

The grand course is over 4 miles. The exact same car- The difference between me and you would be 30-40 seconds The difference between me and the “magazine” drivers may be a second or two one way or another. So 2 different magazine “experts” could be 2-5 seconds apart too.
the difference between me and Randy Probst or a actual race car driver would be 5-10 seconds.

if they wanted a more equal list they would do something like Top gear where the Stig benchmarked everything. I would give the list more weight if it had the same professional driver in each car .02

edit:
Tires can make a 2 second difference on a 2 mile track. So maybe 4 seconds? Cool March weather over hot Virginia July/Aug summer day is easy 2-4 seconds

 

[MCN1SMO]

the diff fluid issue doesnt sounds great but I was glad there was no mention of fuel starvation

I think Im doing VIR again in a couple months. I first tracked back in VIR back in 2003/04 and to this day ive still have never done grand course.

 

[jdrxb9]

Well we waited a looong time, but this is a respectable result. (though it is a little sad that Nissan waited for the Nismo and still had the diff fluid issue)

At least it's in front of all the FWD's (which I'm still not sure the 'performance' would be).

And regarding driver differences - check out results from the last two years of SCCA runoffs - 3.27 mi full config (shorter), 3 days of qualifying (pick your best of 3 days of weather) - in SRF3 (spec class) last year, pole to mid-pack was ~3 sec. - pole to the back ~8 (!).
And on tires - the BRZ result from this year dropped 3.1 sec just by C&D swapping tires, pads and fluid.

All of that said, I still like LL and think it is worthwhile for very general comparisons.

 

[Fanatic]

I wonder what Nissan's response will be to the rear differential fluid issue. I would have thought they would have tested and tried beforehand.

 

[iztrumental]

 

[rocksandblues]

Not impressed with their skill thru uphill Esses. Lines so so. They need a pro to set all the times