follow up article on the GT-R vs Veyron race
On the airstrip:
"If a stationary Veyron really can run down a McLaren that's got a 130mph jump on it, this should be a breeze. So here comes the GT-R and, hell, it's moving. I press down harder on the brake pedal and gently load up the W16 power station at my back. It wheezes and rumbles like a 747 taxiing for take-off.
Almost too soon the GT-R streaks across in front of the Veyron's windscreen and spears onto the straight, its loaded tyres pulling a haze of dust from the road. I bury the accelerator. The Veyron chokes, gulps and for what seems an age, but is probably just a second, does nothing. This isn't entirely unexpected. Without the help of launch control, Veyrons have been known to bog down. More breathing space for the Nissan.
the Veyron cuts loose like no other supercar or hypercar on earth. It's as if it's being pushed from behind by a monumental shockwave of energy, the sort you might imagine having been generated by a strategically sited nuclear bomb. After just 12 seconds we're doing 150mph. Four seconds later it's 170mph, the shove in the back still palpable. The GT-R is now only the length of a football field ahead but the rate at which we're closing it down is visibly slowing. As the GT-R clicks up 175mph, we come past at 202mph, absolutely straight and stable, and there's still plenty of room to brake without a hint of drama.
Harry and I are frankly amazed the GT-R took so much catching; at one point, we weren't even sure we would. But then it was a proper handicapped drag race involving distance covered and not just elapsed time to a particular speed. Respect to the GT-R but, believe me, the way the Veyron made ground was awesome.
We finish off our morning with a few straight, side-by-side drag races and, predictably, the Veyron wastes the Nissan by such a ludicrous margin it's hard not to laugh."
On the road:
"some pretty stark contrasts are laid bare as I take the wheel for our drive to the beach at Porthmadog: the vastly loftier seating position, the much heavier and more feel-full steering and the incomparably better ride. Generally, it's the more comfortable, relaxing car.
It's deceptive, though, the GT-R. It gives a convincing impression of being a docile pooch much of the time, but show it a fast, challenging road – one with open sight-lines and decent straights but defined by its tortured serpentine nature – and it becomes the attack dog from hell. Such a road occurs on the route to our overnight hotel.
frankly fearful of being chased by the fastest supercar the world has ever seen, I run to the Nissan, hit the start button and give it the full beans up to and through the first bend. It buys me about 200 metres. Then it's simply a matter of driving as if I'm being chased by a madman wielding an AK-47. There is no car I know of that is better for acting out this imaginary scenario than the GT-R. You could be driving in a state of utter terror, feeding purely off reactions and adrenalin, and the GT-R will translate it into stunning speed across the ground. It minimises mistakes, rewards aggression and commitment, makes you better than you are. More than that, it makes you feel better than your are.
I'm staggered at the sustained speed, the instant, lag-free urge, the way the chassis ignores the road's humps, dips, kinks and cambers, carrying absurd pace through the trickiest of bends with complete equanimity. Yet, at any moment, I'm expecting to feel the warmth of the Veyron's headlight beams on the back of my neck. It never comes; the Bugatti never closes that initial 200-metre gap.
on the right road, and if you're prepared to drive it to within an inch of its life, the Nissan GT-R will look after yours and cover the ground so rapidly that it bows to no supercar, not even the mighty Veyron."
http://www.evo.co.uk/carreviews/carg...ti_veyron.html |
