2009 MT Best Drivers Car - Nismo Z Featured
 

Interesting article. The driver IS a professional.

What stood out for me was this..

Nonetheless, the 135i is a quick car -- it lapped Laguna 0.5 second quicker than the more powerful, higher-finishing Nismo 370Z

I remember on the Top Gear Australian track the standard Z managed to outpace the 135, so I thought this was interesting.

Nismo finished higher than the 135 due to its chassis dynamics, but I am fairly surprised it could not get around Laguna Seca faster than the 1

Link directly to the portion on the Nismo Z

2010 Nissan Nismo 370Z - Motor Trend

Scroll to bottom and click different pages for the other participants.

Interesting indeed.

I am pretty much seing Nismo being slower then base or touring on all the tests I have seen. I have not tested a nismo yet.

I am a Z guy and am not trying to :stirthepot:

Def don't want this to turn into a 6 page thread locked down due to daddy bought me my first 3 series crowd, but what is going on here?

Has there been anything definitive indicating the Nismo is markedly faster around a track than a standard Z?

You could complain about looks of the Nismo 350 and the same power output, but it's track prowess was never in doubt.

Is it the chasis setup and Laguna Seca?

Love to hear thoughts

I wonder what the body package of the Nismo does to the aerodynamic drag as well as speed due to increased downforce.

Someone needs to dyno them and see if they are really producing anymore ponys.. also is there any difference in tires between the 2. I know the nismo has 285 out back but what brand are they?

I personally think the Nismo 370 is more of a show car than a track car this time around. It will be attracting a different demographic from the Nismo 350. You had to really want track performance to put up with the erratic design of the Nismo 350....bc many people thought it was just plain ugly.

The Nismo 370, while not being that pretty either, is bound to find its way into more homes as it is much easier on the eye. Nissan has its priorities as does any good business.

Almost every performance problem I've seen with the NISMO could be traced to bad tires. Slower off the line but decent trap speeds, terrible skid pad tests that just make no sense with bigger tires, etc. Either that or everyone is still leaving the shipping pads in the coilovers when they test the car. :D

Interesting outcome

The biggest advantage the NISMO 350Z has that they left off the 370z was seam body welds. That increases the structural integrity so much that it really helps handling. It's sad they left this off the 370z and it's showing in lots of it's tests.