Get in the ’Ring

Nissan has responded angrily to Porsche’s claims that it faked its astonishing GT-R Nurburgring lap time, and has suggested that Porsche’s test drivers need to ‘get a bit quicker’.

Back in May, Nissan reported that its production GT-R had lapped the Nurburgring Nordschleife in an near-unbelievable 7m29s in the hands of its test driver Tochio Suzuki: a full three seconds quicker than a Porsche GT2, and one of the fastest-ever production times on the ‘Ring.

Despite video evidence, Porsche was sceptical, and last month claimed that Nissan posted the quicker times because the GT-R was running semi-slick race tyres. Which would mean it wasn’t production-spec.

In fact, Porsche went as far as buying a US-spec GT-R – worth $77,000 – and shipping it out to the ‘Ring along with a 911 Turbo and a 911 GT2. In the hands of a Porsche test driver, the GT-R posted a time of 7m 54s, with the Turbo clocking 7m38s and the GT2 managing 7m34s.

Nissan’s top brass are rather cheesed off that Porsche’s top brass are calling them fibbers, and have emphatically stated that the GT-R was on production rubber.

Nissan’s European spokesman Neil Reeve said in Paris that they were at a loss to explain why Porsche couldn’t replicate Nissan’s own lap time.

He said that Nissan was ‘flattered’ that Porsche had bought themselves a GT-R and flown it to Germany, but reaffirmed that the GT-R has beaten the 911 Turbo in a number of independent tests.

And Nissan has also released a photo of the actual tyres used for the test, plus a second Nurburgring video as evidence of its claims. Even better, Nissan has offered free training for the Porsche test drivers if they want to attempt another lap in the GT-R.

Reckon we’ve heard the last of this? Us neither. There’s only one way to settle this.

The Stig.

Enough said.