Nissan hits back at Porsche cheat claim

By Paul Gover

07 October 2008

Nissan hits back at Porsche cheat claim.

Peace talks between Porsche and Nissan over disputed lap times at the Nurburgring have failed and the Japanese company is preparing to mount a counter-attack.

Nissan is gathering evidence in Tokyo before unleashing a rebuttal of Porsche's claims that its GT-R could not have achieved a claimed 7 minute 25 second lap at the Nurburgring as a stock-standard road car.

It has deliberately avoided commenting until it has everything ready to prove its point.

But Nissan was angered by Porsche's attack on its GT-R, which came after the German company ran a back-to-back comparison with its 911 GT2 and Turbo and could not get within 25 seconds of the Japanese lap record for a production car.

There were talks late last week at the Paris Motor Show as Nissan executives tried to negotiate a back-room compromise with Porsche, but these failed with the German company standing by its claims.

This forced Nissan to mount a major case with everything from independent video footage to the disputed Dunlop tyres used by former F1 driver Toshio Suzuki during his 7:25 run.

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Comments on this story

Displaying 3 of 7 comments

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i love the GTR always have always will, but honestly the GTR is not faster then the GT2 thers no chance. And even if new models are released every 2 years nissan will never be able to keep up, we've seen this in the past with the 33 and 34. Only minor improvements were ever made. Where else porscshe own VW, VW own skota bently, bugatti, audi, and thye also own lamboghini so the resourses are all there for porsche

Accuracy Posted at 25 May 2009 1:13am

Kazutoshi Mizuno, Nissan GT-R chief vehicle engineer said that Porch had test the GT-R with terrible adjustment and maintenace and wrong tires 12 Oct 2008. After the test, Poshe team asked for Nissan foctory team in Nurlink toadjust there GT-R. Nissan team had completely adjusted and sent it back to Porche.

Kei Orga of Tokyo Posted at 19 October 2008 3:07am

Porsche is just scared of the new nissan super car killing their sales ... I respect German cars but its about time ... let the new comers come in .. Porsche is just scared of the GTR taking away there sales .... From how i see it ... its a war which just started folks ... and it aint stopping here .... be prepared to expect a new model every 3 years from both sides now ... shall we name it "Battle of the Wheels" ?

mani of miami Posted at 10 October 2008 5:37pm

OK I have always loved the Porsche 911 Series, and I have followed the evolution of the R35 and R35V with great interest. I accept that the Nurburgring Lap Time can be used as a yardstick, but we already know the latest Porsche and R35 Series are very high performance cars. What we do not know from Nissan Australia is when the R35 will be released for sale here and more critically Aussie pricing/options. Hello Sitnee Motor Show maybe............

deejay51 of Gold Coast Posted at 09 October 2008 8:07am

"...as Nissan executives tried to negotiate a back-room compromise with Porsche". I just want to know why Nissan are answering back in this manner. If Porsche are indeed incorrect about the GTR's lap time then why are they "negotiate(ing) a back-room compromise". Just seems a bit sneaky to me, like they want to settle this down as quietly as possible. And Amup of Perth, Nissan were the ones who attacked first. From the very beginning Nissan had been parading that their GTR is as fast as the 911. So it was Nissan that picked on Porsche first not the other way around.

The alex of taringa Posted at 08 October 2008 8:26pm

I dont believe the nissan did it in 7.25. The ferrari enzo did it in 7.29, and for nissan to say that there car which 350kg more then the ferrari and has 200hp less to go around the track faster is impossible. Its a great car but not that great.

john Stevens of melb Posted at 08 October 2008 7:50pm

Sniff, sniff ... I smell fear coming from Stuttgart. Just to clarify, I'm no fanboi but even I can see this is an unnecessary attack on a rival. Yes, a rival. By attacking Nissan, Porsche has indicated that GT-R and the 911T are rivals and on par. If it was an unsanctioned attack on Nissan, the Porsche board should haul Achleitner in to explain himself. If it was however a sanctioned attack .... well interesting times ahead! I for one will be very interested in the strategy P is rolling out to counter the R.

Amup of Perth Posted at 08 October 2008 1:55pm

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