gmonsen

Always like these race videos comparing these cars...

MattGold

iTrader: (107)

Always like these shootouts.

If you have an Amazon Prime account, that means you have Amazon Prime Video... THAT means, there's a bunch of full episodes of Best Motoring available to you! Go check it out.

TomU

iTrader: (11)

The guy in the GT-R looked like he was out on a Sunday drive.

And whatever that thing is next to the PFC Commander, i want one

HiWire

I love that track!

WANKfactor

iTrader: (1)

Did you see his shoes though? Way too fancy for Sunday driving. They were party shoes!

BLUE TII

iTrader: (9)

The guy in the GT-R

OMFG

RW Atelier

The thing next to the PFC commander is an onboard pedal position display. I wonder if it also records the input data for lap comparison.
That's Keiichi Tsuchiya in the R35. He's definitely not driving at his fullest...
Surprise to see FD won. Nice.

HiWire

Tsuchiya has driven all those cars and he can take them to the limit. Best Motoring isn't always about driving like a maniac for those last tenths of a second... they are enjoying themselves and you can see the cars have fairly divergent weights and power levels.

gmonsen

Isn't Tsuchiya the older guy standing between the 2 young guys? He always makes it look easy.

BLUE TII

iTrader: (9)

He is usually competitive to the point of cheating so he doesn't get beat by the younger still active professional race car drivers.
You push a pig heavy R35 and it pushes into understeer and you go slower, so smooth driving rewards unlike the better balanced RWD cars where you can get away with overdriving them as they break out into oversteer where you can counter and gas and not lose time.

The GTR is on 200 treadwear Dunlop SP Sport 600, the FD is on 60 treadwear Advan A050 and the turbo NSX is on 140 treadwear
potenza RE070

You might expect the NSX to win as it has the best power/weight, but with 215 front tire you can see its just understeering to the point where the FD just dives inside for the apex pass.

The 480hp R35 would need another 50hp to reach the power/weight of even the 360hp FD.

With the R35 down on power to weight, down on tire spec and down on chassis balance (understeer) it is a testament to Keiichi's driving that it hung with the pack till the end.

Its been 10 years since that video, the R35s are making 300hp more and they are still slow on handling courses compared to the FDs.
R35s shine in the hands of people who can't drive and in the hands of those who can drive when making tons of power on the long courses like Fuji speedway with its 1 mile straight.

RW Atelier

That explains a lot. Thanks!