Nissan GT-R Sets Unofficial 7:26.7 On Nurburgring

These days, the standard of measurement for automotive performance supremacy is the Nurburgring. Anyone who's anyone tests their wares out on the approximately 14-mile track in Germany, and lap times are equivalent to bragging rights.  And when it comes to bragging rights, the fight between Nissan and Porsche (as well as Dodge and Chevrolet) just continues to escalate.

Nissan's ring-slayer, the GT-R, has just posted an unofficial lap time of 7:26.7 on the ring, which puts it only four-tenths behind the lap time of the 638bhp Corvette ZR-1, and well ahead of the 7:40 set by the new Porsche 911 GT3.  Porsche, of course, disagrees- they claim that the best time they were able to acheive with their own personal GT-R was a 7:56, which is practically a year in race-track time.

While the lap-time king is still the Radical SR8, it's time of 6:55 is highly controversial because of the questionable "road-worthy" nature of the car.  As far as hones-to-god road going cars, the Dodge Viper SRT-10 ACR is the undisputed king, with a video-confirmed lap time of 7:22.  The previous best time for the all-wheel-drive 480bhp GT-R was a 7:27.6.

I personally think arguing over tenths of a second on a fourteen mile track is pretty pointless - there are almost unlimited variables that can effect a time, including temperature, weather, tire condition, specific engine output variances, etc.  But this newest lap time is monsterous - consider that a Ferrari Enzo set a fastest lap time of 7:25.3, and the GT-R weighs 400lbs more and has almost 200 less bhp.

We'll have to wait until Nissan publishes a lap time for their track-ready big gun, the GT-R Spec V.  Stay tuned for that!

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