Video: Nissan GT-R pitted against F3 racer... in the wet
Nissan GT-R vs. Formula 3 racer – Click above to watch video after the jump
People love running the Nissan GT-R against anything else they can think of... as long as it has four wheels, it must be compared to the Japanese coupe. We've read countless stories of Godzilla taking on cars far above its power grade and price range, yet the stories and videos keep popping up. To be honest, we would compare the turbocharged Nissan to a Wal-Mart shopping cart if it meant we could score some more heavily-bolstered seat time. Autocar seems to agree with this notion, because they lined up a Nissan GT-R, a Formula 3 racecar and a rain-soaked racetrack.
Steve Sutcliffe of Autocar managed to talk himself behind the wheel of a Red Bull Formula 3 racer, and he ran it for a few laps around a wet track. He set his best time, then jumped into the GT-R. Did he manage to better his time in the purpose-built racer? See for yourself by checking out the video after the jump.
[Source: Autocar via YouTube]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Ph4r 6:31PM (11/12/2010)
57s to 68s
Reply
Sik68 7:21PM (11/12/2010)
You lost me, but I'm intrigued.
HotRodzNKustoms 6:46PM (11/12/2010)
If he managed a 11 second gap, imagine how much faster a top pro F3 driver would lay down on the same day!
Reply
marspeed8 7:04PM (11/12/2010)
I bet a top pro would have anywhere from 2-4 seconds on him, which is a hell of a lot around a circuit that short.
Tourian 1:49PM (11/13/2010)
I agree with you, but it may also be true that the GT-R's time could be improved by Nissan's ace test driver.
But I think the F3 car would overall widen the gap.
Sik68 7:19PM (11/12/2010)
I never tire of Autocar's reviews, but this time they did a dis-service to both vehicles by attempting a comparison with no foundation. The whole segment felt, ahem, a bit watered down.
They could have done great stuff with some stand-alone reviews of each car!
My favorite autocar review of all time is still the McLaren F1 GTR
Reply
BigDumbFace 7:27AM (11/13/2010)
I think silly comparos are when you can tell that the 'review' is just the journalist trying to live out one of his fantasies, and they brought the camera along so he gets paid for it.
I think its silly, but I'd probably do it too if I could get away with it. Lucky bstrds!
Jeff Glucker 12:47PM (11/13/2010)
@BigDumbFace: Exactly.
...and we would have agreed to do it as well. It seems to be more of a "just to do it" type review.
xtremeimport 7:29PM (11/12/2010)
whats that thing on the side of the F3 car?
the little black thing that says volkswagon..
Reply
LBuzzer 8:05PM (11/12/2010)
Induction. (Instead of over the driver's head like in F1)
Little hole is the restrictor.
ReverendOlaf 8:08PM (11/12/2010)
Airbox or rather an air tube as an intake (not in the roll hoop like F1, and it's similar to some Lemans prototypes). Plus it's a great spot for ads.
Hyundai Hacker 8:47PM (11/12/2010)
Missile launcher.
:-D
BRUNO TULLIANI 7:43PM (11/12/2010)
Wow, what a match! All wheel drive vs rear wheel drive in the rain! I did not watch the video and won't either.
Reply
MarcO 2:41AM (11/13/2010)
Thanks for sharing (we all needed to know that, certainly), and doing so while being so hilariously sure of the outcome... Hilarious given the result of the video comparison, that is.
AuroraPilot 3.5 7:57PM (11/12/2010)
What??
You mean a purpose built, single seat race car was faster around a track than a passenger car? No WAY!!
Colored me stunned....not.
Reply
B-rock 11:40PM (11/12/2010)
What was the point of this?
Reply
nagmashot 2:03AM (11/13/2010)
fun....
BigDumbFace 7:26AM (11/13/2010)
This is kinda like Top Gear driving the old Renault F1 racer around the track.
Sure, it did it in less than 1 minute, while the fastest of all passenger cars, the Bugatti SuperSport is still over 1:16. So an even bigger gap than what we saw here.
And then, they took down the F1 racer lap for the obvious reason... its not really a 'car' in the sense that it does not transport people from point A to point B, but rather moves from point A to point A repeatedly as fast as possible. Its not street legal.
Reply
RX-Elise 1:29PM (11/13/2010)
Not suprising. Any purpose built race car should blow away a road car easily. I was at an autocross last year. Vipers, Lotuses, Z06s, GT-Rs, 911 GT3s. You name it. The fastest time of the day? A 20 year old Formula Ford single seater with a 90 HP Pinto engine.
Reply
Noz 4:46AM (11/14/2010)
God these journalists seriously are running out of things to do..fking waste of time.
Reply