Pitting an Audi A1 city car against the almighty Nissan GT-R sounds silly, even if said A1 is the limited run Quattro model with a 253HP engine, a 0-62 mph (0-100 km/h) time of 5.7 seconds and all-wheel drive, and the venue is a twisty and wet track.
The GT-R is much more expensive and has double the power, probably double the electronics, too, and is the car to have under those exact circumstances. Put simply, it’s probably the fastest production car bar none in such a scenario.
British publication Autocar and Editor Steve Sutcliffe beg to differ. Sutcliffe pitted those two cars against each other in a section of the MIRA test track that’s located in the former RAF Lindley airfield.
His verdict was that the Nissan GT-R Track Pack, fine supercar that it is, was all over the place as it was too heavy and couldn’t put its excessive power down on the road. The A1 Quattro, on the other hand, was much more composed and it could run rings (pun intended) around the Nissan.
To prove his point, he even did timed laps in both cars. You may want to sit down, because the A1 was way faster than the GT-R (no spoilers; you’ll have to watch the video to find out by how much).
Don’t check your calendar because it’s not April Fools’ Day. If you live in the West Midlands in England, though, you might want to check the sky for flying animals that go “oink, oink”...
Though in no way do we mean to be disrespectful to Mr. Sutcliffe and Autocar, but the verdict seems a bit weird, to say the least. Perhaps some more information, e.g. about the GT-R’s tires and whether both stability control systems were fully deactivated, would help clear things up a bit.
You can draw your own conclusions after watching the video that follows the break.
By Andrew Tsaousis
12 Comments:
This is meaningless if the tires both cars are on is not discussed!!!
This is one bias comparison by any morons, short wheelbase, long wheelbase, hatchback, coupe; this guy is full of bs talks from like to another dislike
In response to the other comments bemoaning the "biased" or "meaningless" nature of the video, he points out at the beginning that there should be no way the A1 keeps up.
But then he says throw in a tight circuit with a lot of corners.
They are pointing out that there ARE circumstances where a 4WD hot hatch will keep up with a top-end sports car.
The GTR comes with Dunlop Sports Max GT 600 DSST CTTs wich are Extreme Performance Summer tires, I am pretty sure the Audi came with a more wet type tires on it.
If I wanted to go fast on water, I'd get a boat. This whole thing is a joke. Put 'em on a dry road and see what happens.
Doesn't make sense. Audi short wheel base vs. GTR? Let's have Juke turbo...kick their ass.
Exactly, the GTR comes with Dry weather performance tires, put some heavy-duty all season tires on the Nissan and try this comparison again, I'm sure it turns out differently.
Stroke job! Certainly the Audi has the advantage in physics department on a tight track. But the most important determiner in a contest like this is TIRES. The GTR comes with dry weather hard-core low aspect ratio performance tires. Put some smaller wheels with higher aspect ratio water shedding all season tires on the GTR, and the Audi loses. Simple as that.
Every GTR owner, like all AWD performance cars, should have two sets of wheels. One for summer, and one for winter or the rainy season. When the weather turns bad, you simply swap wheels and go about your business, takes about 20 minutes with an air hammer and a floor jack.
Slowest course I've ever seen. So meaningless...
hey hey hey, GTR fans always WINS OKAY
This guy forgot to mention that the GT-R's traction control was OFF and the transmission control was set to fuel saver which means slow shifting, also suspension was set to comfort not racing mode!!! You can see it for yourself in the cocpit view (the three buttons down in the middle of the console). So this guy is full of BS!
It would have helped if the Nissan wasn't in Race Mode, had the traction control fully on and the suspension was not in comfort, IMO. Having the traction control backed off and the throttle at the most aggressive is why he's spinning up all the time. It seems to me he set the Nissan up as badly as he could.
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