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2008 One Lap of America: We Race a Nissan GT-R
If you’ve been following the web chatter about the 2009 Nissan GT-R, you probably already know that the long-awaited Japanese supercoupe made its U.S. race track debut during last week’s One Lap of America competition.

And if you know that, you may also know that the GT-R finished 11th overall, in a field of 72 entrants.

This has led to a lot of dialogue in the blogosphere, much of it along the lines of “if this car is so hot, why’d it only finish 11th? Why didn’t it win the whole thing?”

As the pilot during the weeklong trek—the 25th renewal of this unique American motorsports classic—I can tell you that, yes, the 480-hp GT-R is a very hot ride, and, yes, it should have placed higher.

Details in a minute. But for them to make sense, a word on how One Lap works.

Dating to 1984, One Lap of America is the street-legal sequel to the old Cannonball Run, which was decidedly not street legal.

Both events were created by Car and Driver alumnus Brock Yates, and both emphasize extreme driving. But in the One Lap version, all the max driving—which is the basis for all the scoring—takes place on race tracks.

Scoring is based on the NASCAR system. The top car in each run gets the maximum points, which this year was 360, a figure that was based on the total number of entries. The next car gets five fewer, and so on down the line.

The 25th anniversary run started and finished on the Tire Rack skidpad in South Bend, Indiana, and covered over 4000 miles in between, visiting eight motorsports facilities for 17 timed events, most of them on road-racing circuits.

And, as always, the event drew some serious tuner cars: a pair of Mongoose prototypes, replicas of the mid-engined Chevy GTP racers from the 1980s; a factory Dodge Viper ACR entry, massaged by Texas tuner John Hennessey; a turbocharged Corvette Z06; a 700-hp turbo Acura NSX; a new Dodge Challenger SRT8; a Ford GT; and a highly developed Porsche 911 Turbo that has carried Mark DaVia to the One Lap championship five years straight—and that only hits the highlights.

There were also three other Z06 Corvettes, a trio of Porsche 911 GT3s, assorted BMW M3s, a slightly older Dodge Viper, and an Ultralite roadster—inspired by the old Lotus Super Seven—that was amazingly quick on tight courses. Read Article



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montyz81montyz81 - 5/13/2008 4:37:02 PM
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That answers allot. Seems it user error was not considered when everyone panned this car for finishing 11th. Good article!

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Need4SpeedNeed4Speed - 5/13/2008 5:05:28 PM
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So the author states driver error kept him out of the top 10. Am I the only one rational enough to see that maybe the other drivers experienced "driver error" as well. Maybe "driver error" on part of the other drivers is what got him to 11th instead of 12th, 13th or 15th. What race is run where every other driver was perfect except you. I would have appreciated this article more if the author didn't start giving excuses why he could have made it to the top 10! Next time then get a better driver!

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auto001auto001 - 5/13/2008 5:11:47 PM
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dream on, that's your wishful thinking talking :)


NeoReaperNeoReaper - 5/13/2008 6:01:12 PM
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i completely agree with you on this one. he even states that in one of the races a buncha ppl got lost, its not like he was the only one. and ofcourse rain is great for all other race cars aside from a car with stock factory tires with awd rite?


Need4SpeedNeed4Speed - 5/14/2008 6:50:24 AM
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Wishful thinking is Nisaan fanboys thinking this car could have broken the top 10...without excuses!


TataPowerTataPower - 5/13/2008 7:18:01 PM
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Read closer and you'll find that the GT-R is the only car that is bone stock. All the other participants are heavily modified tuner specials. Stock vs. stock those other cars had no chance after all.

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NeoReaperNeoReaper - 5/13/2008 10:40:43 PM
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i realize that the GT-R is basically the only car thats bone stock, but you have to realize that this race does not call for bone stock vehicles and the person who wrote this article is basically complaining about all these other stupid things and come up with dumb excuses for why it did poorly. your the one that should really read closer.


S30GTRS30GTR - 5/14/2008 12:45:11 AM
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the almighty gtr did not do poorly. it ended up in one of the top spots and in stock form is what people are trying to say. lets wait until it can run in race form. only than can we say that it did poor, but only if it does. i symply doubt it will do poor.


Agent63Agent63 - 5/14/2008 3:47:54 AMView My AgentSpace
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What's really bone stock? How do you know that Nissan didn't hire a bunch of tuners to tune their GT-R up to spec and just branded the parts "Nissan" ? You don't know that. None of us do for that matter. The Vette, Viper, etc could have came stock 700hp stock supercharged and no one would have said anything about that.

Life isn't that simple. Don't think that Nissan didn't cut corners to make it as fast as it is right now. IT IS Japanese after all, and we know they love to tune their cars. Stock or not I'm sure aftermarket performance enhancing part manufacturers have been called up to help.


EL34EL34 - 5/13/2008 10:44:22 PM
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Isn't it a fact most of the performance parts of the GT-R are after market and the only Nissan parts are the interior and exterior?

:-/

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NeoReaperNeoReaper - 5/13/2008 10:48:47 PM
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actually i think the front of the car is clearly lift from an evo X to be quite honest so i cant really give them total credit for exterior either


S30GTRS30GTR - 5/14/2008 12:48:29 AM
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not even close guys. as far as i know, the only non-nissan parts are the shocks and springs which were produced by lotus. everything else like it or not is NISSAN.


EL34EL34 - 5/14/2008 10:07:06 AM
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How about the breaks?


Htay7500Htay7500 - 5/14/2008 7:52:18 PM
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"Isn't it a fact most of the performance parts of the 911 and z06 are after market and the only porsche and chevy parts are the interior and exterior?"

well in this test, yes.


993Turbo993Turbo - 5/14/2008 7:23:50 AM
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Notice the 911 turbo finished first five years straight?

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_43LE_43LE - 5/14/2008 11:09:39 PM
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Someone's insecure!

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