Lightning Lap

[Arizona Vipers]

Car and Driver ran the Ford GT at VIR and ran 2.43.0 in one day. They said they think they would be a couple seconds faster with 3 days there like they do with the Lightning Lap every year.
https://www.caranddriver.com/features/lightning-lap-115-we-lap-the-ford-gt-at-vir-feature
The ACR won it in 2016 with a 2.44.4 2nd all time (at the time) only to the mighty P1.
https://www.caranddriver.com/features/dodge-viper-acr-at-lightning-lap-2016-feature
Too bad none of us will ever actually see a GT on the track. LOL

What tires are on the GT? Does anyone know off hand?

[Scott_in_fl]

Probably some specially designed Goodyear Eagle. That's typical Ford, and this coming from a Ford fan with lots of experience with Ford products.

[13COBRA]

Car and Driver ran the Ford GT at VIR and ran 2.43.0 in one day. They said they think they would be a couple seconds faster with 3 days there like they do with the Lightning Lap every year.
https://www.caranddriver.com/features/lightning-lap-115-we-lap-the-ford-gt-at-vir-feature
The ACR won it in 2016 with a 2.44.4 2nd all time (at the time) only to the mighty P1.
https://www.caranddriver.com/features/dodge-viper-acr-at-lightning-lap-2016-feature
Too bad none of us will ever actually see a GT on the track. LOL

What tires are on the GT? Does anyone know off hand?

Same day, a few hours earlier, the GT ran a 2:38.62.


Road and Track (http://www.roadandtrack.com/new-cars/a15884757/ford-gt-lap-record-vir-viper-acr/)



Probably some specially designed Goodyear Eagle. That's typical Ford, and this coming from a Ford fan with lots of experience with Ford products.


245/35R20 and 325/30R20 on Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2s.

[ForTehNguyen]

Yea the GT got it with Billy Johnson driving. Chris Winkler did the ACR in 2:40.XX after hte lighting lap

[13COBRA]

Yea the GT got it with Billy Johnson driving. Chris Winkler did the ACR in 2:40.XX after hte lighting lap

Yep! I can't imagine the GT with better sized tires.

[swexlin]

Just goes to show how quickly a world champ goes to "has-been" status. Love the ACR, but time marches forward....

[Arizona Vipers]

Yep! I can't imagine the GT with better sized tires.

All the rear/mid engine supercars run small front tires. Ferrari, Porsche, McClarens all run 235 to 265 fronts. Without a heavy motor up front they can run small tires and not understeer. Saves a lot of rotating, unsprung mass and helps drag coefficient etc.
Even the mighty GT2RS that ran the 6.47 ring time was on 245's.

[Arizona Vipers]

Just goes to show how quickly a world champ goes to "has-been" status. Love the ACR, but time marches forward....

I wouldn't call the ACR a has been, lol, remember it's a fraction of the price of these cars. Plus it actually gets tracked by it's owners.
Anytime I see an exotic at the track they are always SLOW driven by timid owners scared to crash it. They do it once, get smoked by bimmers and Miata's and never come back :smilielol:

[swexlin]

Agree, has been is harsh! I guess I mean that you can't stay on top for very long - something better will always come along!

[serpent]

Pick your poison, I imagine the ACR is easier to drive fast with all its downforce.
The Ford GT being mid engine will take some getting used to for the average driver.

These two cars a closely matched if you look at the numbers, close enough in weight (maybe 100lbs max), and power is right there, 647hp/550tq GT vs 645hp/600tq Viper.
One has so much down force it tops out at 177mph, while the other tops out at 216mph.

Who cares if you never see it at the track, never see P1's, 675LT's, LaFerrari's, 720s' either!

[str5010]

ACR had that record nearly three years, not bad. Hopefully Ford will post some video/telemetry too.

[str5010]

Nevermind, GM just went 2:37.25 in an auto ZR1 and 2:39.77 in a manual.

[SSGNRDZ_28]

http://www.roadandtrack.com/new-cars/a15947346/2019-chevrolet-corvette-zr1-vir-lap-record/

[Arizona Vipers]

Nevermind, GM just went 2:37.25 in an auto ZR1 and 2:39.77 in a manual.

The ZR1 could possibly dethrone the GT2 RS Ring time. Chevy wants even the lowly Camaro to be sub 7 minutes- http://www.thedrive.com/sheetmetal/17964/lead-chevy-camaro-engineer-wants-a-sub-7-minute-nurburgring-lap
I'm sure the upcoming Z28.

[ForTehNguyen]

the ZR1 had harnesses, those can make appreciable differences in laptimes. Billy Johnson's runs were casually testing it

[13COBRA]

the ZR1 had harnesses, those can make appreciable differences in laptimes. Billy Johnson's runs were casually testing it

Agreed.

And being out there testing with a full crew...not just screwing around.

[ForTehNguyen]

so they weren't trying for a laptime, but they had harnesses and a harness bar. Then at the same time they were touting its factory settings

got it

[TA Two Oh]

http://www.roadandtrack.com/new-cars/a15947346/2019-chevrolet-corvette-zr1-vir-lap-record/

Wow!!! That ZR1 is a monster! Impressive. It'll be interesting to get feedback from owners that track theirs. It sounds like Chevy worked hard to fix the issues that cropped up on track-driven C7 Z06's.

[13COBRA]

so they weren't trying for a laptime, but they had harnesses and a harness bar. Then at the same time they were touting its factory settings

got it

Mhm lol

Oh well.

[Bruce H.]

Wow!!! That ZR1 is a monster! Impressive. It'll be interesting to get feedback from owners that track theirs. It sounds like Chevy worked hard to fix the issues that cropped up on track-driven C7 Z06's.

I just hope they didn't create new ones Doug! I'm betting it'll be harder to keep front tires and brakes on it than the Z06 with the extra power, weight and aero all working against them. Looking for the mid-engine C8 to address those issues as only a ME like the NFGT can.

[Arizona Vipers]

so they weren't trying for a laptime, but they had harnesses and a harness bar. Then at the same time they were touting its factory settings

got it

hehe lmao

[TrackAire]

The new Ford GT is really an unknown.....I still don't think it will be a lap record setting car like the ACR-E and possibly the new ZR1. Since we have so little track time data on the FGT, we don't even know how it handles multiple laps at speed. 650-ish horsepower out of a small V6 may cause overheating issues if run hard for more than 3 or 4 laps in warmer temps. It will be interesting to see what kind of numbers start coming in this summer once more people start playing with them on the track.

I heard Randy just ran Laguna Seca with the new FGT and it will be in this upcoming issue of Motor Trend. If it doesn't run at least a 1:31 or lower number I'd be disappointed.

[serpent]

The new Ford GT is really an unknown.....I still don't think it will be a lap record setting car like the ACR-E and possibly the new ZR1. Since we have so little track time data on the FGT, we don't even know how it handles multiple laps at speed. 650-ish horsepower out of a small V6 may cause overheating issues if run hard for more than 3 or 4 laps in warmer temps. It will be interesting to see what kind of numbers start coming in this summer once more people start playing with them on the track.

I heard Randy just ran Laguna Seca with the new FGT and it will be in this upcoming issue of Motor Trend. If it doesn't run at least a 1:31 or lower number I'd be disappointed.
It already beat the ACR at VIR without an entire crew or change in tires and only a short time.

[TrackAire]

It already beat the ACR at VIR without an entire crew or change in tires and only a short time.

I not so sure about that.....I think there have been some changes at VIR (repaving track changes) that will make old times no longer viable. I'm not near VIR but I'm sure a lot of people on this forum are very aware of what track changes have occurred and maybe they can chime in to enlighten us.

If you look at the new video of the ZR1 that just set the production car lap record you'll see tons of new asphalt sections/repairs on the track. I do not recall seeing this in previous in car videos. Any time you change the track surface you're going to really change the lap times so previous lap records are hard to compare with more recent numbers.

Regardless of who sets what, you really can't be living in a better time for track guys with cars like the ACR-E, ZR1, FGT and Porsche's GT3's and GT2's. And really, the most impressive car of the whole bunch is the new Camaro 1LE and Camaro ZL1 1LE.....those cars can stand there own on the road course against most super cars costing 6 times as much. The performance is incredible considering how much the Camaro weighs.

[serpent]

I not so sure about that.....I think there have been some changes at VIR (repaving track changes) that will make old times no longer viable. I'm not near VIR but I'm sure a lot of people on this forum are very aware of what track changes have occurred and maybe they can chime in to enlighten us.

If you look at the new video of the ZR1 that just set the production car lap record you'll see tons of new asphalt sections/repairs on the track. I do not recall seeing this in previous in car videos. Any time you change the track surface you're going to really change the lap times so previous lap records are hard to compare with more recent numbers.

Regardless of who sets what, you really can't be living in a better time for track guys with cars like the ACR-E, ZR1, FGT and Porsche's GT3's and GT2's. And really, the most impressive car of the whole bunch is the new Camaro 1LE and Camaro ZL1 1LE.....those cars can stand there own on the road course against most super cars costing 6 times as much. The performance is incredible considering how much the Camaro weighs.
Sorry you are trying to argue with facts.
They did the time with limited on track time, saving the tires for a magazine test and did not have a pit crew or tire change. They were trying to replicate an issue with a customer car.

I dont know about you, but if you're attempting a record, you dont only stick with one set of tires saving them for the next guy. You also dont do it with 1 car, and only 2 people helping. Need reference to needing more time at the track, check out ACR at the nurburgring.

[TrackAire]

double post

[Werks]

so they weren't trying for a laptime, but they had harnesses and a harness bar. Then at the same time they were touting its factory settings

got it

I think that you will find that is not unusual as simply for safety sake when GM does any development work involving emplyee's track testing cars they quite often equip them with a harness bar and harness. I've seen picutres of this with the C6Z, C6ZR1, C7, C7Z06, Z28 and ZL1 engineering/development cars when used for on track testing.

[512BB]

VIR has changed quite a bit since the Oak Tree fell and the times between the old and new track cannot be compared. Besides repaving in quite a bit of the track, the Oak Tree turn along with a few others have been changed and are much faster than they used to be. The Z06 times were set by Jim Miro (as with almost all Z06 track records) and he is a middle-aged overweight engineer at Corvette, however, he is a really fast Corvette driver. In my opinion, the Corvette has been tuned too much to his liking and in my opinion with "regular" folk like us we won't be able to come close to those times. From what I hear there was someone else (not sure who) who drove the ZR1 and that makes sense too as the ZR1 will depend on aero downforce and I don't believe that would be something that Miro could adjust to - at least for now.

[Arizona Vipers]

Mercedes GT-R also beat the ACR's VIR time last October with a 2.43.4 with 100 less horsepower, 400 additional lbs and no aero.

[SharpMan]

Mercedes GT-R also beat the ACR's VIR time last October with a 2.43.4 with 100 less horsepower, 400 additional lbs and no aero.

Really!?! I wonder how it managed that. Last one I drove wasn't what I considered glued down...wasn't the GT-R version mind you...

[str5010]

Keep in mind that in many of these magazine shoot outs the journalists freely admit that they struggle to extract the maximum out of the ACR because it requires a certain amount of fortitude to trust the aero. This is why it's hard to say, even in some tests where the cars are driven on the same day by the same driver, that something like the AMG GT-R is ultimately quicker than the ACR. With the quicker than your average guy journalist yes, but not so with a track rat/development engineer/pro driver at the controls.

[serpent]

Keep in mind that in many of these magazine shoot outs the journalists freely admit that they struggle to extract the maximum out of the ACR because it requires a certain amount of fortitude to trust the aero. This is why it's hard to say, even in some tests where the cars are driven on the same day by the same driver, that something like the AMG GT-R is ultimately quicker than the ACR. With the quicker than your average guy journalist yes, but not so with a track rat/development engineer/pro driver at the controls.
Yup, the record breaking ACR lap was 2:40, the best lap done by journalists is 2:43. Not sure the AMG GTR ill beat the 2:40 lap time.
Is the AMG GTR even sub 1:30 at laguna seca?

[Scott_in_fl]

^^^ This. Massive downforce allows sick speeds into and through turns that is not something you can just jump into a car and make happen. It takes moving up to those speeds very gradually as you find confidence in what the car can accomplish. Pros can do this quicker because they have experience in high DF cars. Journos and average Joe's cannot.