370Z at Nurburgring

spearfish25

Track setup is clearly important. YouTube confirms this in the GT-R vs 370Z battle with the gtr only besting the z by a second or two on a short curvy course. The cts-v has 0.9g road holding while the Z is 0.98. Now the Nurburgring is the mother of all tracks as it incorporated almost every track element. How straight line acceleration competes with road holding isn't so clear. You can also compare braking as well where the Z also prevails. In the end, the Zs superior handling may mean a lot more than the caddy's hp.

Someone get a Z on the nurburgring already!

armensti

i completely agree. the new z is gonna do some damage

wstar

I love my Z, and the handling is great, but I think a stock Z isn't going to rank very high on the 'ring, it lacks the raw power for it.

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Phimosis

I'm thinking a stock Z would run around an 8:20 based on the times that other cars pull at the ring and how well the Z lines up against them at other tracks.

You can talk Sh*t about the CTS handling all day long, but it is a fast car, even through the corners.

Musashi

I agree..... Plus it will overheat. lol

molamann

Well the 350Z got a 8:26 back in 2003. ;[]

spearfish25

Let's focus on this statement. The 350Z automatic pulled an 8:26. Other cars aside, the 370Z is a superior car to that 350Z in every way. The real question is can the additional hp and road-holding of the 370Z buy 26 seconds? As the HACK noted, the 'ring' is a very long course where these upgrades on the 370Z may make a 26s improvement feasible.

The HACK

Um...Not really. It's going to take a lot of HP to make up 26 seconds on the 'Ring. I'd be VERY surprised if the 370Z breaks 8:15.

Let's take a very similar car on paper for example. The BMW MZ4 Roadster did a 8:15 on street tires:

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Same HP figures, the MZ4R is about 200 lbs lighter than the 370Z but probably suffers in the aerodynamics department, so we'll call that a wash. If I had to take a guess, the 370Z will probably come in somewhere just north of 8:15, probably 8:16-8:17 range. Anything lower than that would be a very big surprise.

HTP AutoWorks

370Z is not that superior to the 350z... sure maybe in interior trim but not performance wise. Its a drivers race between the two. If Nissan were pushing out 400+ hp to the wheels then maybe it could break into the 7s. But it doesnt so plan on a 8:15 or so. Anything more is a pipe dream.

Remember Nissan took a "stock... yeah right" GTR over there and ran a 7:29. Porsche took a stock one over there and couldnt get within 25 seconds of that time with a professional driver. So lets split the difference and say a stock GTR will do 7:45. You think a 370Z can get within 15 seconds of that car. LOL Not a chance. Hell Nissan wouldnt even allow that. its all about HP and the 370z just doesnt have enoguh to do 8s.

Edited by AK

AK370Z

No personal attacks please. The list on the top MAY NOT be the most updated list. Just wait until Nissan decides to run the Z at the ring. That's the ONLY way to figure out what this car will run. Every car responds in a different way in the ring.

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spearfish25

But the skidpad rating for the Z4 M is only 0.89 Gs (vs the 370Z's 0.98). You then have essentially the same car except for the 370Z having significantly better cornering ability. Given that significant difference, I'd put money on the 370Z trumping the Z4M.

Looking at that list again, a more interesting comparison is the Porsche Cayman S...a car that Nissan itself pitted the 370Z against. The Cayman S pulled an 8:11 lap time. So, I'd put the Z right in that range. Given that Cayman S's time, I agree that the stock 370Z probably couldn't 'best' 8 minutes.

Suffice to say though, our 370Zs are in good company...especially when we paid <$40k!

spearfish25

Yeah, i don't think it will beat the Cayman S either. I do think it will beat the Z4 M though. I'll bet on 8:13.

imag

Some of that's going to depend on the day and the driver, natch...

xDIEGOx

There's no way the 370Z will lap the 'ring in under 8 minutes. But I'm sure it will be a few seconds behind the Cayman.

Another thing, why hasn't Nissan taken the 370Z to the Nurburgring? The GTR was in 'ring heaven, why not the Z?

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ChrisSlicks

I'm sure they did take the 370Z to Nordschleife, the results just haven't been published or weren't favorable enough.