It was over 100F ambient today and we had a track day... I ended up instructing the whole time and never got a chance to drive the Liz
The good news is that I had a lot of seat time with my two students and thir cars...
I instructed Gt-R in intermediate and a 997 911TT in novice. That 911 had a few mods done to it and was making 550whp according to the owner. Good god, it was fast in straight line. Made the GT-R look slow...
The GT-R driver just wasn't picking up the lines I was trying to get him to do, so I took the wheel for a session. It was sorta fun to drive...sorta... After about two laps, I got the hang of it and was letting her hang out as much as the traction control would let me in "race" mode. It understeers, the brakes are mushy, and the stock tires pretty fair... Despite all that, I ran the snot out of the car until the tranny stopped responding to the input from the flappy paddles. I would try to down shift and the indicator just blinked and then UP shifted
The student flipped the play station like screen over to the gauges that showed the tranny and engine oil temps and they were both pegged in the hotter than hell section
. As it turns out, the computer forced the tranny into high gear to keep the revs down until the fluids cooled off... I think I made 6-7 laps or so before I cooked her. Those GT-Rs are OK, but I think I'll stick with smaller and light. In comparison, I thought the much lighter and smaller 911TT seemed like a much more proper track car--- realizing that TTs are far cry from GT3s
So ya, the GT-R seems like it's more GT than R--- in stock form anyway. I wonder what aftermarket bits and pieces are available for it to help with the heat. I would imagine that many advanced drivers have had to battle heat with the car once they start pushing it
Just thought I would share...
Another case of Lotus Rules!
TP