The tires of discussion here are the RE070, PS2 and Eagle F1. And the subject is lap times only. Japanese car makers have been getting special tires made for them for many years, and made sure they were only made in the sizes of the import vehicles to gain whatever advantage they could in comparing against the German and American counterparts. As sticky as the RE070 is, how come you've never seen most of the RE line until recently and never a RE070 in a bigger size until the GT-R. Anyone...Bueller?

 

That's probably because nobody asked them to make the RE070s in that size until Nissan did with the GT-R. The RE050, for instance is available in 345/45R19 because Ferrari asked Bridgestone to make them that way for the Enzo...

Now since Porsche mainly work with Michellin we can't really expect Bridgestone to be making tires for the GT3 (or any other Porsche) for no reason. Sales will likely stay low since the manufacturer (Porsche) would of course recommend tires made by their own partner (Michellin).

The smaller tire sizes are pretty safe to make, because there are a lot of cars that run those particular sizes. Case in point, Neovas and RE-01Rs are readily available up to 255s and 18". For larger sizes where use will be limited to specific models, it's a completely different story. Just business at work here.

 

exactly....save that track day comparo for the upcoming M3 CSL. I have a feeling the CSL should be quite capable and well worth the price of admission. You have to remember that BMW also competes with Audi and Mercedes, so the ///M division competes more directly with the Audi's S-line and Merc's AMG....the BMW ///M-CSL's will be more equivalent to Merc's Black Series, Audi's RS versions, and Porsche's GT series.

The new M3 has gained 300lbs and only 1 extra piston up front, which isn't going to cut it. BMW did recently partner up with Brembo for brakes, and will be offering 6 & 2 piston calipers for the 1 series, 3 series and presumably for the M-division in the near future as part of their Performance Parts offering.

That said, the GTR does absolutely nothing for me. Even if it cost half of its current price I still wouldn't buy it. The fact they don't even offer a manual lets you know that the 350Z is still Nissan's true enthusiat car. The GTR looks exactly how it was designed to drive....only to prove something, rather than just "being" a great car. It tries too hard.

GT3 & RS are the current ultimate driving machines....sorry BMW

 

Was this a one lap comparison or was the lap times averaged over several laps? Statistically a 0.3 sec difference over 1 lap is meaningless and anyone of hundreds of parameters like tires, tire pressures, temperature of tires, track surface, moisture, etc, shifting gears, and above all driver's familiarity with the track and their car. Let Walter Rohlr drive the three cars on the Nurburgring and then decide.

As for the brakes on the BMW-they are inadequate for track use and the brake fluid probably boiled and fade under the heavy use (and who knows if the cars were properly maintained with fresh brake fluids before the tests.

 

Meaningless indeed.