Sorry if repost couln't find in search.
These were lap times at willow springs raceway:

Road & Track published these #s.
350Z: 1:40.06
BMW M3 SMG: 1:40.09
Z06: 1:36.50
Porsche911 Targa: 1:40.79
Heres a cool video for the newbies like me who might not have seen it in a search:
http://auto.joins.com/upboard/pds/pd...kubaBattle.asf

 

I wonder what the times would have been with Nismo Suspension, sway bars, and better tires?

That is how the track model should have come from the factory anyways. Nice if the Track was more less of a marketing gimmic and more of what the name implies.

No, Ihave not forgotten about the Brembos so pls, track owners dont get upset or defensive. I know most of you agree that you would have prefered NISMO S suspension and bigger sways with your car. You know it would not have cost them more to make it that way so why didnt they?

 

Mag drivers suck, I ran a 1:38.1 out there on street rubber, before the Nismo S-Tunes.

 

nice run!

 

Also, did the same person drive all four cars or did they have four drivers? The times can only compare if you can get the same person lined up in all four rides. Maybe we can find an M3, Z06, and 911 for raceboy to spin around the track one day after taking his Z out!

 

Really? That is disappointing (for them I mean). I do wonder about this. On the one hand day-to-day variations can account for differences in lap time of greater than about 2 seconds but on the other hand, this still seems weird.

It's not clear from the article who they had driving the cars for the timed laps (the article is by Kim Wolfkill but it mentions Andy Bornhop's comments after a few laps). I know Wolfkill is a good driver and should be able to wring out the true performance of these cars, I know very little about Bornhop and how good he is.

Raceboy, how much track experience do you have? I would be surprised if you were faster than Wolfkill (who has done a fair amount of pro racing) - but then again, I have no idea who you are, maybe you are... How many track days do you have? How many on Buttonwillow's big track?

Is there an optional chicane or something that could account for the discrepancy (I've never been to Buttonwillow)? I wish these guys would test on the east coast at the tracks that I am familiar with (Lime Rock, Summit Pt, Watkins Glen, Pocono, New Hampshire, etc) so that I could have a baseline understanding.

Btw, I'm not trying to knock your driving Raceboy but I don't know anything about you and I know a lot of people start thinking they are the world's best drivers after a season or two on a couple of tracks.

Jason

 

I'd have to agree with Jason, I don't see how raceboy could have gotten a time which was 2 seconds faster than in a magazine. Of course, the engine might simply become more power the more miles driven, or the conditions could have been extremely shitty. More likely they had a different track configuration (is that even possible on Streets of Willow?).

 

I have 15 years of karting experiene. I ran 2 full seasons of Barber FF West tour in the early 90's finishing 3rd in the championship my second year, even though I missed 2 of the 8 races due to funding. As far as on track miles on my Z, I would guesstimate that I have close to 2500 track miles on my Z at this time (about a fifth of the total miles) and that familiarity with the car means a lot, especially on a "*****" track like Big Willow (Big Willow does not change configuration). Now, one difference is that my Z probably weight 100lbs less than the one they tested, that would account for around 1 second a lap. We run on light fuel load, no passenger seat, no spare and tool.

I have come up against mag drivers many times, most of them are much more engineer than racecar driver. I ran head to head at Buttonwillow this year against our resident MY350Z SCCA national racer and was over 2 seconds a lap faster. The laptimes were online for everyone to see here. (I won't name any names to protect the guilty, but if you don't believe me, just use the search function.)

In the next month or so, I am getting a chance to drive one of the 350Z Rolex cup cars. I'll let you guys know how that one goes. That is all the info I can give you on that one, but I promise a full report as usual.

Here is my most recent 350Z result from Speedventures. Hang out a little in the racing forum of you want to know more about Speedventures, but basically we are a time trial club with national caliber drivers. We had a few Viper Comp Coupes at our last event, including the Winner from The Laguna Seca Speedvision race a few weeks ago. Just click on the link below and look at Buttonwillow 8/23. I am the T5 winner.

Speedventures Results

 

damn..so tite. when did u start karting, and where do u do it? i want my son to be like kimi raikkonen, starting karting at hella young age and all....lol!

 

Lucky for me, I grew up about 2 miles from the #1 karting school in the U.S. Jim Hall Kart Racing School. My dad was also a long time racer. You have 4 year olds racing now, it's sick.

 

Cool man, good to know that there are a few people here with real experience. I didn't mean to put you on the spot but I have had situations where I've argued on the net with people who claimed to have a lot of experience and didn't. I once got into a big argument with a guy who claimed to be a real "track racer". He didn't know who I was (nor I him) because of the internet's anonymity but it later turned out that he had been one of my novice students a few weeks before at a BMWCCA HPDE.

Jason