Further to Porsche’s claims late last week of shenanigans on Nissan’s part, at the Paris Motor Show today Nissan has told press that there is absolutely nothing shady going on. Nissan Europe’s spokesman Neil Reeve spoke about the issue and defends against Porsche’s claims about the tyres used on the car to run the lap time.
“The final word from us is that it was done on absolutely standard tyres which are available to customers in the showroom.They’re not trick tyres – absolutely standard tyres, normal road tyres.
“The GT-R comes with Bridgestone and Goodyear (Dunlop). One tyre gives slightly better times around the ‘Ring.
“We did it on Dunlop. They’re available with the car,”
He goes on to say:
“This (Porsche’s questioning of Nissan’s claim) happened two days ago, it was a surprising thing to read in the press, it’s important.
“But let’s not blow it out of all proportion. We’re not crying about it. We’re not going to sook about it.
“I’m cheeky enough to say it’s flattering that Porsche have bought themselves a GT-R and flown it to Germany, they want to try it. I guess that’s some kind of stamp of approval.”
There’s also numerous other points made in the article but by and large it sounds to me like Porsche are trying to cast dispersions over Nissan’s lap time with data that is subjective at best. While an independent comparison may settle this once and for all I’m not sure the two parties could necessarily agree to do it. I’m sure Porsche will suddenly find some excuse as to why they can’t do it anyway.
Source: Drive.com.au - We didn’t cheat with GT-R ‘Ring time, says Nissan
Original post blogged on GTRBlog.
