There has been quite an interesting back and forth going on between the backwards engineered German sports car builder Porsche and the Japanese automaker Nissan concerning both car builder’s flagship vehicle’s time lapping a certain 12.9 mile long loop.
Nissan had announced in April that the GT-R had set a new lap record on the Nurburgring with a lap time of 7 minutes and 29 seconds back on April 17, 2008. After a bit of bad sportsmanship Nissan’s test driver piloted the GT-R around the green Hell in 7 minutes and 26 seconds on April 23rd of this year, besting the Carrera GT super car’s Nordschleif lap time of 7 minutes and 28 seconds.
After the most recent attempt at conquering the Ring, Porsche sent a 2010 911 Turbo to conquer the 73 turn race course with the hidden hope that they would be able to put a dent in the GT-R’s Nurburgring legacy. The new turbo is a much more refined performance machine coming with improved fuel economy, a lower curb weight and even more power.
Under the rear deck lid, Porsche is now using a twin turbocharged 3.8 Liter direct gasoline injected flat six engine that delivers a maximum output of 500 HP and when combined with the German automaker’s new seven speed PDK gearbox can sprint from 0 to 60 MPH in only 3.4 seconds and reach a top speed of 194 mph.
So with quicker acceleration, a higher top speed and improved chassis dynamics the new 911 Turbo had no problem shaving 10 seconds off of its previous lap time, however 7 minutes and 39 seconds is still a long ways off from the Nissan’s current record.
With a more hard core GT-R SpecV on the way, the German engineers still have their work cut out for themselves.
