So over the years, I have slowly bought into the GTR engineer's claim that the additional weight of the GTR is deliberate and what makes it perform as well as it does. I slowly learned to accept that conventional wisdom being that 'light is best' was flawed, and that the extra weight was what made the GTR perform so well in the bends, providing more grip when needed.
BUT, then I stumbled across the spec for the Nismo GT3 racecar, and all that logic is blown out of the water... The racecar weighs 1300kg!?? If the so called secret weapon of the GTR was down to weight to some degree, why lose weight on the racecar - didn't Nissan say that's what makes it faster?
http://www.jrm-group.com/files/NissanGT-R-NISMOGT3.pdf
Even the GTR Nismo tries hard to lose weight and is about 100kg lighter than the road car with heavy use of carbon. Again, this feels like a contradiction. Either the additional weight is of benefit to the car or it isn't.
I'm confused, and back to thinking that the car would be substantially better to drive if it lost 2-300 kgs.
Thoughts?
BUT, then I stumbled across the spec for the Nismo GT3 racecar, and all that logic is blown out of the water... The racecar weighs 1300kg!?? If the so called secret weapon of the GTR was down to weight to some degree, why lose weight on the racecar - didn't Nissan say that's what makes it faster?
http://www.jrm-group.com/files/NissanGT-R-NISMOGT3.pdf
Even the GTR Nismo tries hard to lose weight and is about 100kg lighter than the road car with heavy use of carbon. Again, this feels like a contradiction. Either the additional weight is of benefit to the car or it isn't.
I'm confused, and back to thinking that the car would be substantially better to drive if it lost 2-300 kgs.
Thoughts?