ArthurY

Does anyone know and give us a link to the official lap time of the RX-8 on the Nurburgring driven by a professional race car driver?

I saw a few threads on this site about it but it wasn't done by a pro-driver and funded by an organization. There're many quite costly prep that goes into preparing the car and driver for such a benchmark run.

Rotarctica

Time to unleash The Stig!

tmak26b

Get me a car and a plane ticket, I will go drive it. I am no Schumacher, but I am pretty confident about setting a decent benchmark. People think you need a lot to get the car ready. In reality, you really don't have to do much. A well engineered automobile should be able to take the abuse on the track. I have been using my Z to track lap records in 4 different tracks, I am trying to expand constantly.

Bart!

Go try it in Gran Turismo 4

elysium19

iTrader: (1)

First: Yes, I am really interested to know this as well, professional drver, stock RX-8. I bet it fares quite well.

Second: Gran Turismo 4. I've sort of become obsessed with this.... Best time is 7:51 (the "race" course with the taditional start/finish, not the "tourist" setup currently at the ring which eliminates the main straight), after probably 4 hours or so of practicing. Logitech force-feedback wheel/pedals help a lot. As far as I've heard, times in the game are ~10% faster than times in real life....so....take that as you will. Also, it's a lot easier to drive all-out on the 'ring when you don't have to worry about dying nor destroying an 8 ;-)

SayNoToPistons

iTrader: (8)

The new Nissan GTR runs the ring in 7:38, no way the RX8 will get into the 7's stock.



Probably more like 56:25...



j/k lol =D .

Ike

https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...rburgring+RX-8

I still say probably around 8:40-8:45 for a stock RX-8.

RX-8Newb

to the tard that thinks he can set a fast time around around a track that is 21km long having never been there, you are an idiot if you think you could set a good time. That track is so scary fast that you would never push the car to the limits. I should know because i have raced (and by raced i mean hauled as much *** as i though i could safely do without running off the track and losing it) my car around that track when i lived in germany. People race on the track for years and still say they are not 100% on that track so good luck.

delhi

There's no official 'Ring lap time for the rx-8 like one can find for GTR, various Porsches etc...
If anything it laps the Top Gear track the same amount of time as the E46 M3. Driven by the same driver. Some say he runs a cockroach farm, some say his head is interchangeable. But all I know is.... he is called The Stig.

velociti

iTrader: (1)

right. that track favored the 8. the m3 would own on the straights with it's motor at the nurburgring. and when they tested the m3 on top gear i want to say it was a little wet out, but they didn't count it as a wet lap. so i don't think those times are entirely reflective of the m3's potential...

delhi

and the Nurburgring numbers' are better comparison for each car's prowess considering the differing times of the year it was done by different drivers after X amount of practice laps etc etc?

fmzambon

Well, here's a video of my (virtual, unfortunately) STOCK Rx-8 on the Ring in GT4.

LINK

This is definitely a "lower bound" for the best possible real world lap time...

RWatters

iTrader: (5)

Read up on Top Gear and the Stig. It's known by most that the driver behind the Stig changes so the credibility of the times completely goes out the window if you ask me.

The RX-8 would be pretty damn slow at the 'Ring because a huge bit of the track is composed of straight lines, and the RX-8 sucks on those. The 350Z and M3 would have no problem walking away from the RX-8 on it as far as I'm concerned.

Sorry guys, but unless you're on a very tight and small track the RX-8 is going to get the hurt put on it by cars with more power. Yes it will catch up in the corners, but once you get back on the straights it's "buh bye!"

delhi

Is this anecdotal or facts? Do you know?

fmzambon

WHAT????? how does 170 corners sound???

That's about a corner every 123 meters, or 400 feet roughly. Where the hell do you see that "huge straight bit"? Is it the long straight? That's just about the only long real straight at the ring that comes to mind now. All the rest is corners, corners and corners again.

tajabaho1

I'm not great on the 'ring facts and stuff, but from what I've seen (from GT4) I saw only 1 straight........the rest are mothafudging turns man.....which is partly the reason why I have never finished it even in GT4.........I died halfway through......

RWatters

iTrader: (5)

Considering the mystery behind The Stig, I think you'd be hard-pressed to find a person who has physically seen it or has the full-on proof you want.

It has been discussed in the past that different Stig drivers have been used. For example, it's known that the Stig used to drive the Renault F1 car was actually Renault's F1 test driver at the time and not the one they'd normally use.

Honestly it's all theory, but most of the die-hard fans I know of don't believe that a single person drives the cars on Top Gear, and even then you can't hold the times credible given that it's done at different times under different conditions. With that said I retract my previous statement and will say that it's all speculation. My apologies on that.

RWatters

iTrader: (5)

There are plenty of sections at the 'Ring that are flat-out sections, which are exactly what I was talking about. Even in the RX-8 it would be very easy to see speeds in the 100mph+ and 120-130mph range on multiple portions of the track. A track that large with areas that allow speeds that high will naturally cause the RX-8 to struggle given that it is down on power in comparison to cars like the 350Z, BMW M3, etc. which are the cars the RX-8 is typically compared to thanks to Top Gear.

If you want another comparison that was done on the RX-8 look up the Lightning Lap by Car and Driver. It's done on VIR which is another big "power" track. Here are the times from all of the cars that Car and Driver has ran and put into the RX-8's pricing category:

You put the RX-8 on a bigger track that needs horsepower and the RX-8 will suffer. I'm not going to argue that the car does great for what it offers, but the car is just going to fall farther and farther behind the more and more a straightaway is involved.

tajabaho1

I hate the truth

delhi

Yes, like driving through Nebraska....
I wonder why folks are so enamored with Tail of the Dragon since it's so curvy.

So its anecdotal from heresay. And it also proves that Nurburgring lap numbers are about as credible as the Miss World Pageant to measure female beauty. You do know that some mfg put in race tires for their 'Ring runs right?

RWatters

iTrader: (5)

I don't take any of the lap times to heart, especially 'Ring times since there are an insane amount of variables (open/closed track, wet sections, how "trustworthy" the source is, and those are just a small percentage of them). In general I think the cars the RX-8 is compared to (350Z and M3, once again, thanks to Top Gear) will be faster thanks to having a lot more power to push them along, though.

Race tires, "special" tunes (engine, suspension), professional drivers. To say those cars are "stock" quite the stretch of one's imagination. You do a decent time there (in any form), though, and you can feed it to people these days with a spoon and they'll eat it right up no questions asked.

fmzambon

Sure there are flat out sections, but these are mainly composed of fast sweepers, not straights. And in this scenario, you can have as much power as you want, and you won't be able to go faster, period. Think about Pflanzgarten (spelling...), a set of fast sweepers to take at near full throttle (at least the last part): If a car does not have enough grip, it'll never be faster than a slightly less powerful car that can safely take the turn at full throttle. Or think about Flugplatz: full throttle even there, but a car with too little grip and too much power here is a recipe for a crash, should the entry be too ambitious.
The same thing can be said for Tiergarten and Mutkurve, at least.
Just try this: since it's not practical to buy a real car, mod it and go to the ring only for a test, let's use a simulator (say GT4 or anything else). Just try and buy an rx-8 and add all possible power mods. Then check how faster than stock you can lap on the ring. My bet is that the new lap won't be that much better.

On a final note, I can't say anything about the lap times you posted since I don't know that particular track.

RX-8Newb

i cant believe you are using a video game for comparisons lol. If you have not been there and raced on it in REAL life then you can make all the "educated guesses" you want that is all they are until you take your car out there. So until someone hires a race car driver to race their 8 on a closed track without having to stop to go through the tolls and complete a real lap under ideal conditions then it is all speculation.

fmzambon

Sure you can't use a video game to get any significant data. However, the Ring is NOT a power circuit, both in the real world and in GT4. If the absolute lap times in GT4 are too far off, the relative lap times (stock vs modded) shouldn't be that wrong.
This is my point.

rollerbldes

I'm pretty sure with such a long track the driver is what matters the most.