Latest news with #MichelinPilotSportCup2R
TimesLIVE
02-05-2025
- Automotive
- TimesLIVE
Ford Mustang GTD smashes its own Nürburgring record
The Ford Mustang GTD has improved its Nürburgring Nordschleife lap time, reinforcing its position among the fastest stock production sports cars on the circuit. In December 2024, Multimatic Motorsports driver Dirk Müller became the first to lap the 20.76km track in an American production car in less than seven minutes. Driving the 608kW Mustang GTD, Müller posted an officially certified time of 6:57.685, placing the car fifth on the Nürburgring's production sports car leaderboard. Ford has now confirmed the Mustang GTD has surpassed that benchmark. With further development the car completed a lap in 6:52.072 — 5.5 seconds faster than its previous best. This new time moves it up to fourth place in its class. The improved result follows a series of technical updates, including a recalibrated powertrain, revised chassis and suspension settings, modified alignment, aerodynamic adjustments and enhancements to the ABS and traction control systems. The road-legal sports car retains several motorsports-inspired features, including a carbon-fibre body plus a range of technologies not restricted by GT3 racing regulations. Key components include Brembo carbon-ceramic brakes, active aerodynamics for enhanced downforce, a supercharged 5.2 l V8 engine and semiactive suspension. Twenty-inch forged aluminium wheels are fitted as standard equipment (lighter magnesium wheels are available as an option) and are shod with super sticky 325/30ZR Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 R tyres up front and wider 345/30ZR tyres at the rear.
Associated Press
17-04-2025
- Automotive
- Associated Press
New record: Porsche 911 GT3 masters Nürburgring-Nordschleife in 6:56.294 minutes
Atlanta. The 2025 Porsche 911 GT3 is the fastest production car with a manual transmission on the Nürburgring-Nordschleife. Porsche brand ambassador Joerg Bergmeister beat the previous record – set by a competitor with a significantly more powerful engine – by over 9.5 seconds. Due to extensive continued development of all performance-relevant vehicle components, the manual 911 GT3 with optional Weissach Package was 3.633 seconds quicker than the predecessor model (992.1) with PDK. 'More and more customers of the 911 GT3 are opting for the six-speed manual transmission. And more and more often we are asked by these customers how fast a 911 GT3 with manual transmission would be on the Nordschleife', Andreas Preuninger, Director GT Cars said. 'We have now answered this question and – although we know that the variant with PDK is significantly faster – drove our lap time with a manual six-speed gearbox. Even without the automated, super-fast and precise gearshifts of the PDK and with a mechanical instead of electronically controlled limited-slip differential, the new 911 GT3 takes around 3.6 seconds off its predecessor with PDK.' In sunny weather, at 54 degrees Fahrenheit ambient and 80 degrees asphalt temperature, Joerg Bergmeister set out on the 12.94 mile (20.832 kilometer) track in the late afternoon in the 502 hp 911 GT3 with optional Weissach Package. As with the official lap of the previous model, he drove using road-legal Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 R tires in the dimensions 255/35 R 20 at the front and 315/30 R 21 at the rear. The goal: fastest lap time of a production vehicle with manual transmission 'When we decided to set the official lap time of the new 911 GT3 with manual transmission, we naturally also looked at who was at the top of the leaderboard' Preuninger said. A competitor needed 7:01,300 minutes for the shorter 12.8 mile (20.6 kilometer) track layout. This corresponds to a time of around 7:05,800 minutes on the full 12.94 mile (20.832 kilometer) lap. Under supervision of an independent notary public, the lap time of the new 911 GT3 was validated at 6:56.294 minutes for the 12.94-mile (20.832-kilometer) lap. With that, Bergmeister improved the previous lap record by more than 9.5 seconds. Better performance with the same engine power 'The new 911 GT3 inspires even more confidence at the limit than the previous model. I was faster in almost every corner,' Bergmeister said, describing the handling of the sports car. 'We learned a lot from the 911 GT3 RS, especially with the chassis. The car is even more stable on bumps and over the curbs. And thanks to the eight percent shorter gear ratio, there is noticeably more power on the rear axle when accelerating with the same engine power. Even if it would have been a few seconds faster with the seven-speed PDK – with the six-speed manual gearbox I definitely had more to do on the fast lap and thus also a bit more fun.' Attachments Porsche Cars North America, Inc. [email protected]
Yahoo
20-02-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
2023 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Manthey Racing at Lightning Lap 2025
From the March/April 2025 issue of Car and Driver. Class: LL4 | Base: $256,260 | As Tested: $265,600 Power and Weight: 493 hp • 3186 lb • 6.5 lb/hpTires: Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2R; F: 245/35ZR-20 (95Y) N0, R: 295/30ZR-20 (101Y) N0 To lean on the words of the late Jim Morrison, "This is the end, beautiful friend." With electrification of the Porsche 718 Boxster/Cayman looming, this is likely the last suck-squeeze-bang-blow 718 we'll hear sing its way around VIR. And a glorious swan song it is. The 718 Cayman GT4 RS returns, this time fortified by tuning outfitter Manthey Racing. The special chassis and aero elements include dive planes, four-way adjustable coil-overs to replace the standard electronically controlled dampers, stiffer front springs, and a larger rear wing that together create a claimed 176 additional pounds of downforce at 124 mph. Plus there are carbon-fiber aero covers for the rear wheels. With the wing trimmed out, the 493-hp 4.0-liter flat-six screams its 9000-rpm soundtrack on the way to 155.5 mph on the Front Straight, 2.2 mph slower than the stock GT4 RS. The MR kit's braided brake lines make it easier for your foot to modulate the massive carbon-ceramic brakes that goad you to brake later and deeper than you thought possible. You can, and you do. With its lower ride height, Manthey's car is incredibly stable under braking, even when you haul down from 148 to 41 mph on the Back Straight to turn in to the tight right named Bitch. Revised alignment settings improve upon the already amazing stick of the standard GT4 RS. Grip through Turn 1 hits 1.23 g's, 0.04 more than the regular GT4 RS and near the top of the all-time list. If the rear end threatens to step out midway through the fast left called NASCAR Bend, don't worry. The connection between the steering and your brain is telepathic. Small inputs catch the rear end—the correction feels natural, repeatable, and heroic—and then you're back to wide-open throttle. All Caymans are easy to drive fast, and the Manthey kit adds speed without increasing difficulty. It's about the closest thing to a race car you can register at the DMV. In the Climbing Esses, a snaking set of corners that rise up a hill and are as treacherous as they are thrilling, the Manthey add-ons make going in at 139.1 mph seem like a fine idea. Perhaps you're wondering why this spectacular machine is 0.4 second behind the GT4 RS we ran a few years ago. Executive editor K.C. Colwell set the regular car's time under different conditions, and we couldn't quite match his very fast run in the GT4 RS. Comparing the laps, we see the GT4 RS and the MR model give and take throughout. The Manthey's 133-pound mass disadvantage could be a factor, but Colwell's lap was just a little cleaner, especially in the tight and technical areas. It's easier to get up to speed faster in the Manthey version, if not to squeeze out every bit of time. This is one of the greatest sports cars ever, and if the Cayman is leaving the stage, we say, "Encore! Encore!" Back to Lightning Lap 2025 You Might Also Like Car and Driver's 10 Best Cars through the Decades How to Buy or Lease a New Car Lightning Lap Legends: Chevrolet Camaro vs. Ford Mustang!
Yahoo
20-02-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
2025 Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing at Lightning Lap 2025
From the March/April 2025 issue of Car and Driver. Class: LL3 | Base: $135,890 | As Tested: $145,580 Power and Weight: 668 hp • 4137 lb • 6.2 lb/hp Tires: Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2R; F: 285/35ZR-19 (103Y) MO1, R: 305/30ZR-19 (102Y) For 2025, the CT5-V Blackwing sports a facelift and, far more intriguing, a Precision package, a $9000 bundle of chassis upgrades such as stiffer springs and bushings, more aggressive alignment, and stickier Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2R tires. Despite the extra stiffness, the Blackwing still inhales curbing with the best (thanks, magnetorheological dampers). Its adjustable Performance Traction Management, which allows you to dial in the amount of traction- and stability-control intervention, remains a wonderful sidekick, trimming power to optimize traction. You can hear it working when the exhaust note goes from rip-roaring to garbled. But it's acting out of necessity, as turning everything off was a short-lived experiment in how sending 668 horsepower through two tires equals a lot of powerslides. A quick lap in the Blackwing requires a tight line [see 'Cutting Corners,' below] and attacking apexes early. Getting the fastest lap needs to happen when the tires are fresh, because after one lap, the grip slightly subsides, and the Blackwing settles into a pace that's about two seconds slower per lap. But unlike most street cars, especially luxury sedans, the Blackwing is happy to hot-lap for the duration of its 17.4 gallons of fuel, which translates to about eight 4.1-mile laps. And the carbon-ceramic brakes (a $9000 option required to spec the Precision package) never show a hint of fade. Compared with the Blackwing we ran three years ago, the new Precision-package car is a little quicker nearly everywhere: a couple of miles per hour through the Climbing Esses, where the new car is easier to place, a few more through the off-camber left that follows, and an average of nearly two miles per hour in the tight Infield. Times through Sectors 1 and 4 improved by a half-second apiece and in 2 and 5 by a few tenths each. In Sector 3, the two cars were in a near dead heat, leaving the latest Blackwing ahead by 1.5 seconds. That means the CT5 pulls in front of the Mercedes-AMG GT 4-Door and, surprisingly, the C8 Corvette Z51. The lap comparison with the Porsche Panamera Turbo S, the quickest gas-powered four-door, is interesting, with the Cadillac ahead by 0.8 second at Oak Tree but the Porsche reeling back all of that time, primarily in the Infield, leading to a photo finish in which the Caddy comes up a tenth short. Whittling down lap times is our goal during Lightning Lap, but in addition to carrying more speed, you can also work the other side of the equation by reducing distance traveled. Bill Wise, Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing development engineer and one of GM's hottest shoes, shared that his laps that are quicker than colleagues' are often fractionally shorter, which prompted us to look at that detail from this year's field. No doubt thanks to Wise's excellent coaching, our corner clipping and curb jumping in the CT5 resulted in the shortest lap of 21,533 feet, or 4.08 miles. At the Blackwing's 87.9-mph average speed, every 13 feet equates to a tenth of a second, and the difference between the CT5's lap and the longest, in the Ioniq 5 N, which traveled 71 feet farther, is worth more than a half-second. Of course, there are limits to the possible gains, as hugging the inside of the track for the entirety of a lap reduces speed enough not to be advantageous. Some vehicles are so unsettled by curbing that they lose time, which requires a wider line to find the fastest time. Back to Lightning Lap 2025 You Might Also Like Car and Driver's 10 Best Cars through the Decades How to Buy or Lease a New Car Lightning Lap Legends: Chevrolet Camaro vs. Ford Mustang!
Yahoo
11-02-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
2025 Chevy Corvette ZR1 Races into Action with Five Track Records
The Chevrolet is already proving its speed, with the development team setting five new course records at tracks around the country. engineers took the ZR1 on a cross-country tour with stops at Watkins Glen, Road America, Road Atlanta, and Virginia International Raceway. The 1064-hp is scheduled to enter production later this spring with sales starting later this month. Pricing starts at $174,995. You've already seen the numbers: 1064 horsepower, 828 pound-feet of torque, zero to 60 in an estimated 2.3 seconds, and a top speed of 233 mph. So, although the next bit comes as no surprise, it doesn't make the ZR1's accomplishments any less impressive. The Corvette team took a pre-production ZR1 on a tour of the United States, setting five course records at four of the most iconic tracks in the country. The test model was equipped with the optional ZTK performance package, which adds the high-downforce rear wing, a more aggressive front lip, and front dive planes. It also nets a set of Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 R tires and stiffer springs with Magnetic Ride Control calibrated specifically for track use. Lead performance engineer Bill Wise set a new track record on the Watkins Glen Long Course in a time of 1:52.7. Brian Wallace, the lead vehicle dynamics engineer, broke the production record at Road America in a time of 2:08.6. Chris Barber, the lead development engineer, ran a 1:22.8, breaking the production-car record at Road Atlanta. Virginia International Raceway came last, with Aaron Link, the global vehicle performance manager, setting production-car course records on both the Full Course and Grand Course layouts. Link ran a 1:47.7 on the Full Course and a 2:32.3 on the Grand Course. For comparison, the ZR1 takes the Grand Course title from the 2019 McLaren Senna which we lapped in 2:34.9 at our annual Lightning Lap test. Sales for the new ZR1 are scheduled to begin this month, with production to begin later this spring. Pricing for the ultimate Vette will begin at $174,995 for the 1LZ coupe and $185,995 for the 3LZ coupe, with convertibles tacking on an additional $10,000. You Might Also Like Car and Driver's 10 Best Cars through the Decades How to Buy or Lease a New Car Lightning Lap Legends: Chevrolet Camaro vs. Ford Mustang!
