2013 Car and Driver Lightning Lap
 

Full List by Times
Ferrari 458 - 2.49.9
Lexus LFA - 2.55.1
Chevy Camaro ZL1 - 2.57.5
Merc C63 Black Series - 2.58.0
Porsche 911 S - 2.58.9
Ford Shelby GT500 - 3.00.6
Chevy Camaro SS 1LE - 3.01.5
Jaguar XKR-S - 3.02.1
Porsche Boxster S - 3.04.2
Audi RS5 - 3.04.3
BMW M6 - 3.04.7
BMW M5 - 3.05.2
Audi S6 - 3.09.8
BMW 335i sedan - 3.13.2
Hyundai Genesis 3.8 R - 3.13.9
Dodge Charger Pursuit - 3.17.8
Subaru BRZ - 3.18.6
Ford Focus St - 3.21.4
Chevy Caprice PPV - 3.23.0
Fiat 500 Abarth - 3.27.3


What are your guys' thoughts on these lap times?
I feel like this event every year shows a lot of upsets! Such as a Boxster S beating a 2013 M6??
Check out this link too: Lightning Lap 2012 - - Car and Driver
For example, a Cayman R beat a 911 Turbo??

Any other upsets you guys see?

Such a fail that the 370Z is .5 seconds quicker than a 350Z

But I'm happy the ISF beat the M3, which is a surprise, but I have one, so happy me!


EDIT... Same exact time, lol

i always follow this as i do a good amount of tracking up at VIR (full course not the grand course like the test) so I looked at this a few weeks ago and my thoughts were the two things for the 2013 group... #1 the LFA did about what i would have guessed and that #2 damn ferrari must have brought out one of their special 458s for the test lol. that car pulling a 2:49 and beating a Zr1 time that was on Michelin cup tires just seems crazy. I would have pegged the car to be around 2:52-2:53 based on how it usually stacks up in other tests like this.

other thought was the ZL1 camaro had a solid time i would have guessed it right at or just squeezing in under the 3 min mark

I agree on the Ferrari thing. You can never trust a single Ferrari lap time from a car magazine with all their cheating. Poor car magazines have to go along with it though or they can't drive a Ferrari again!

Seriously! Wtf!! Just doesn't make sense to me..

SS 1LE

Talk about underrated.

My 09 CTS-V still beats the new M6, that's what I like. Go look at the list as tabulated from 2008 to include all times up to 2013.

Makes me want a Mustang 5.0...I got the 370z because I liked the feel of it better, but dang..

you should be able to get better time just by getting grippier tires, no?

Wow, 370 failed hard... Sigh. Might as well just buy the 5.0 now. :shakes head:

:stirthepot:

I don't know if you're talking about the 370 v 350

Or ISF v M3. Lol


The ISF IS a slower car around a track, so I'm amazed it got by in the same time actually

My thoughts.

Lap times don't really matter to me, especially in a mag. I read the article on print. "meh"

Anyone notice the 3.13.8 for the gencoupe R-spec & 3.17.5 for the infiniti Gcoupe sport???
Not good.

I think the 370z sport needs to be on here. It's 150lbs lighter, the 9/10 staggers are perfect for track vs the 9.5/10.5 borderline overkill for taking corners. And the sport Z should be equipped with RE-11's. Since Nissan keeps hiking the prices on the Z for almost no reason. The least they coulda done was upgrade the stock tires.
Z suspension is easily improved cheaply. Unfortunately though. That can't be done for the lightning lap. The Z potential is much higher than whats on paper here. The Nismo is overkill for this type of tracking.

I'm still amazing at the V6 mustang coming in a half second behind the 370z

The Focus ST was robbed I tell ya! :mad:


Seriously, they were doing early trial runs the first day and ran over the key fob. They couldn't run on game day so they posted one of the "Get to know the car" laps from the day before. ST normally will be a bit faster than the BRZ and slower than the Gen Coupe. ST owners are up in arms! :mad: :D

As am I. And my unbiased opinion The z seems like it ran slower than it should (maybe brake fade :rolleyes:)

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At least they gave the car an oil cooler.

Can you imagine the mess if it had posted a 4 minute lap?

:eek: :rofl2: this forum would be in protest.

My other surprise is the st. Because when inside line put the focus st vs the frs, the st was significantly faster on their autox run.

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it must not have helped. I did almost 5mph quicker than them down the straight

There's a lot of cars making and not making lap times that seems speculative imho. It's like the cars of choice did better than cars with the advantage, if you know what I mean. C&D either likes to get drunk before they drive the lightning lap. Or there's some "intentional" lack of effort in the driving of SOME these cars.

:shakes head:

As noted above, they ran over the key fob the day before the lap times and just posted an earlier shake-out run. Even they say they feel like the could trim a lot of time off it. My response...Why post a sub-par run if you didn't test it like the rest of the cars? Kinda hinky. :icon14:

Yeah I've heard about the Ferrari "test" cars, such a b1tch move. I want to see them test the McLaren MP4-12C, it should be in or around the top 5.

Car and Driver said this in 2009
 

Z vs 135 vx Rx8 and Solstice---

--Z-Power Prodigy

The 370Z lacked the Mazda’s light touch and finesse, but its combination of grip, agility, and V-6 power made it the undisputed king of the racetrack.

But ample power and a serious sports-car skill set trump those concerns. As does aggressive styling that looks even more purposeful than that of the 350Z. Add a gorgeous interior that maintains the fighter-cockpit feel of the 350 but with much better materials. Improved storage, including the addition of a glove box. Seats rivaling the BMW’s for support and comfort.

It’s a package that’s hard to resist, particularly with the lowest base price in this group and an as-tested ticket that includes a gotta-have array of goodies. The best sports car on the planet for the money? Damn right--

First Place

I read a quick review of the Z for 2013 on C&D online - You would think its the worst car Nissan makes now lol!! Schizo.

It was doctored to give the FRS a win. :stirthepot:

Boils down to my original comment.

"Anyone notice the 3.13.8 for the gencoupe R-spec & 3.17.5 for the infiniti Gcoupe sport???
Not good.

I think the 370z sport needs to be on here. It's 150lbs lighter, the 9/10 staggers are perfect for track vs the 9.5/10.5 borderline overkill for taking corners. And the sport Z should be equipped with RE-11's. Since Nissan keeps hiking the prices on the Z for almost no reason. The least they coulda done was upgrade the stock tires.
Z suspension is easily improved cheaply. Unfortunately though. That can't be done for the lightning lap. The Z potential is much higher than whats on paper here. The Nismo is overkill for this type of tracking."

The nismo just has too much bracing and BS for a car with 350hp. The sport is where it's at. Eibach and swift would have increased Z times by a few seconds.

My car was 5mph faster going into turn 1 than they did, all I did was upgrade the tires.

There is no such thing as overkill when it comes to tire, IMO. Get the widest tire you can on the thing. That's why all the dedicated track guys are running as wide a tire as they possibly can... maximum grip.

The NISMO should be faster than a Sport on a road course. More tire and more rigid. And at a track like VIR the aero enhancements will help. The NISMO generates 150lbs of downforce at 75 mph, which is not insignificant at VIR.

Key word is "should" But I don't see anyone taking the pepsi challenge on that test. I think it hasn't been done cuz putting them side by side would destroy Nismo sales.

In this case, I'm pretty certain it would be faster. That 150+lbs of downforce alone is going to help pick up time over the Sport through the climbing esses and downhill run to Oak Tree, and in the off-camber section through Hog-Pen.

More like no one's cared enough to do it.

Thought out post. Either way, I'd like to see the difference regardless. But the sport has to be swayed springed and aligned

Modded vs. stock really makes no sense. It would be a useless comparison, IMO. It's common knowledge that you can mod a Sport to outperform the NISMO. Especially since the 370Z NISMO is not really anything special (no seam-welded chassis like the 350 NISMO.)

Wait...can I use my Z for the comparison then? I have a few upgrades....

The 15hp helps down the two long straights

i dont thin k $800 in improvements vs $9000 in upgrades is that big a deal...

You talkin like im throwingin robispec'd KW's and SPL everything. Gimmie a break dude.

What in the world gave you that idea?

All I said is there is no point comparing a modded car to a stock one. It doesn't make much sense. Like I said, it's common knowledge that one can mod a base 370 to outperform the NISMO model. It's easy. No point in comparing the two, IMO.

Well cuz most people want to spend the either $9500 difference from a base to nismo model... OR THE $7000 difference from a base sport to a nismo, to out perform it.
I'm sayin', i'll take the pepsi challenge with springs and sways and alignment. which is under $1,000 in mods. I don't even call that a mod. I call it fixing a factory defect.

No breathing mods, No tunes... no 18 extra hp... no kw's... none o that shyt...Just the sway and springs.

Looking at the general results of the 7 lightning lap events, it seems somehow weird to me that they have tested the 370z only once.

There are other cars that have been tested more times.


Link:
Lightning Lap 2013: Hot Cars, Hot Track, Hot Laps - - Car and Driver



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