Car and Driver releases this year's Lightning Lap results

I wonder about the year to year lap times. Were the older models tested at the same time as the newer or are they just the times reported from the last test? Did conditions change enough from year to year to make a difference.

FYI, I haven't read the article so I have no idea if these are valid questions.

NickD wrote: In reply to alfadriver: I just meant that compared to the old-fashioned pushrod LS7, which was a pretty traditional old-school engine, the GT350 engine is pretty advanced.

To be fair, LS7 has titanium rods and intake valves, hollow sodium filled exhaust valves and revs to 7000 despite having 7.0L of displacement. Also factory CNC head porting.

turtl631 wrote:

NickD wrote: In reply to alfadriver: I just meant that compared to the old-fashioned pushrod LS7, which was a pretty traditional old-school engine, the GT350 engine is pretty advanced.

To be fair, LS7 has titanium rods and intake valves, hollow sodium filled exhaust valves and revs to 7000 despite having 7.0L of displacement. Also factory CNC head porting.

no no no.... the LS engine is just old. Geesh, don't you read the internets?

Tom_Spangler wrote:

jstein77 wrote: I got a kick out of the line that said that the proper driving technique was to toss it into the turns and mash the throttle to hold a power slide all the way around the corner. If this weekend's autocross was on a parking lot, I'd try that, but I'm not sure I want to risk that on the narrow go-kart track at Daytona. Next event, I will.

I haven't read the article yet, did they mention any issues with overheating the rear diff like Vorshlag did?

It really needs to be broken in a bit (around 2000 miles apparently):

http://www.focusrs.org/forum/9-focus-rs-discussions/20801-2016-rs-track-car-fast-but-flaws-real.html

Bobzilla wrote:

turtl631 wrote:

NickD wrote: In reply to alfadriver: I just meant that compared to the old-fashioned pushrod LS7, which was a pretty traditional old-school engine, the GT350 engine is pretty advanced.

To be fair, LS7 has titanium rods and intake valves, hollow sodium filled exhaust valves and revs to 7000 despite having 7.0L of displacement. Also factory CNC head porting.

no no no.... the LS engine is just old. Geesh, don't you read the internets?

I know that the LS7 has some pretty sweet engineering and exotic materials, but compared to the GT350R engine (does that thing have a name?), it's fairly traditional.

In reply to NickD:

I think it's called Voodoo.

Petrolburner wrote: In reply to NickD: I think it's called Voodoo.

Correct

In reply to NickD:

DOHC is actually an older design than pushrods.

.

alfadriver wrote: Dumb question- why is a flat plane V8 crazy?

Due to the inherent 2nd order vibrations of a 5.2L flat plane V8 being roughly equivalent to a nearly 3.7L inline-4 , the fact that Ford did this without balance shafts in a production car IS rather 'crazy'...Or if nothing else, at least the engine mounts must be!

It all seems like a pretty pointless comparison when it, for the most part, comes down to tires?

I mean, how irrelevant are the older times when they're willing to put on crazy TW tires. You'd have to level the playing field a bit to get interesting numbers.

I'll admit, I'm always rooting for the Viper in these comparisons... ;)

Robbie wrote:

jstein77 wrote:

Fueled by Caffeine wrote: Tesla.. ohh man.. How they stunk it up.

It's a 5000+ lb. 4-door luxury car that just happens to be really fast for a 1/4 of a mile, but it was never intended for road course work. That doesn't mean it isn't a great car - it is.

Its not even in the top ten for "heaviest metal lapped", which means to me it is less than 4313...

They must have left it off, the "minimum weight" is 4608lbs. The p85d is right at 5k.... They're heavy.

z31maniac wrote:

Knurled wrote: So the rear diff doesn't overheat if you drive the car like a Focus RS instead of like a Subaru.

Probably more like it doesn't overheat when you don't have a NASA TT multiple champion behind the wheel getting 10/10ths out of the car vs journalists?

Possibly. Or it could entirely be that the electronics require a different driving style. You wouldn't drive a SAAB 99 Turbo like you'd drive a Porsche 930. You COULD, and you could be driving it at 10/10ths for that driving style, but you wouldn't be the fastest way around.

NickD wrote: In reply to alfadriver: I just meant that compared to the old-fashioned pushrod LS7, which was a pretty traditional old-school engine, the GT350 engine is pretty advanced.

What's advanced about the GT350 engine? It's retro in a lot of ways. The only thing it has in favor of the LS7 is variable cam timing, which the LS7 doesn't really need because it has displacement on its side.

The LS7 is all over the Ford engine as far as materials and construction are concerned. It's also a more modern pushrod design, which allows a lighter and more compact engine for the same power level in a vee engine compared to the old DOHC setup from the twenties. The only engine more compact is a flathead, but that gives up a lot with respect to effective valve curtain area and chamber shape, so pushrod engines are the best compromise.

The following list represents a spread of 45 seconds... per lap:

2006 Mazda MX-5 03:29.3
2006 Mazda RX-8 03:19.0
2010 Mitsubishi Evo 03:10.6
2007 Audi R8 03:04.6
2006 Ford GT 03:00.7
2016 Cadillac ATS-V 02:59.8
2016 Cadillac CTS-V 02:56.8
2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray 02:53.8
2015 Nissan GT-R NISMO 02:49.4
2017 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport 02:47.1
2015 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 02:44.6

Tire tech is certainly pushing lap times down, but still... those Caddy's and C7 Vettes are damn fast.