Top Gear Australia Power Lap Times

GerFix

GerFix

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Jaguar XKR, BMW E92 M3, MG TF, Riv 4000
I think there have been enough laps posted now to start a Power Lap Board. The TGAu website doesn't have such at the moment ... so here is what we have so far:

Place. Car - Time (min:sec) - Average Speed (km/hr)

  1. Porsche 911 GT2 - 1:06.92 (111.89 km/hr)
  2. Ford GT (800bhp) - 1:08.80 (108.84 km/hr)
  3. Nissan R-35 GTR (limited) - 1:09.46 (107.80 km/hr)
  4. AMG CLK-63 Black - 1:10.44 (106.30 km/hr)
  5. Porsche 911 PDK - 1:11.69 (104.45 km/hr)
  6. Audi R8 - 1:11.87 (104.19 km/hr) (wet)
  7. Lotus Elise - 1:12.28 (103.60 km/hr)
  8. HSV W427 - 1:12.56 (103.20 km/hr)
  9. BMW E92 M3 - 1:13.40 (102.02 km/hr)
  10. AMG CLS-63 - 1:13.72 (101.57 km/hr)
  11. AMG SL-63 - 1:14.08 (101.08 km/hr)
  12. Jaguar XF 4.2 S/C - 1:14.22 (100.89 km/hr)
  13. BMW 135i Coupe - 1:14.90 (99.97 km/hr)
  14. Ford Falcon 4.0L - 1:20.41 (93.13 km/hr)
  15. Holden Commodore Omega 3.6 - 1:22.06 (91.25 km/hr)
  16. Proton Satria* - 1:23.53 (89.64 km/hr)
  17. Hummer H3 (Stretched) - 1:44.66 (71.55 km/hr)
The average speed is calculated from an estimated track length of 2.08 km.

* Driven by James Courtney
 
Last edited:
fbc said:
Yes - the GT-R had the 180km/h limiter in place, and would've been bouncing off it down the runway.
Click to expand...

According to tone76, the Mazda 2 also has it's top speed limited to 180 km/hr :(
 
GerFix said:
According to tone76, the Mazda 2 also has it's top speed limited to 180 km/hr :(
Click to expand...

On the plus side, it means that my 2 will go just as fast as an unmodified GT-R ? :mrgreen:
 
tone76 said:
On the plus side, it means that my 2 will go just as fast as an unmodified GT-R ? :mrgreen:
Click to expand...

.... and faster than a GT-R if you take the limiter off the 2 :cool:

Actually, just before posting this, I did some quick conversions and the electronic limiter on German cars (excluding Porches) is set at 250 km/hr (155 mph as quoted by Clarkson in many reviews) .............. having been down Gardner Straight at Phillip Island in an M3 at 250 km/hr, I realise now I was at the electronic limit of the car ... thing is, that the car was no where near out of puff at that speed and the thing that was limiting me was more the fact that Doohan Corner was approaching. Now, I am no Stig and I'm sure a more skilled driver could have taken the car even faster (excluding limiters), which gets me to my thesis .....

All BMWs, Mercedes, Audis and VWs that the Stig has taken around the TG track at Dunsfold must have been (close to or) hitting their electronic limiters in the stretch that takes in The Follow Through ... which is about 0.72 km long. It's probably over-reacting to call shenanegans on this, but it is worth considering if you are analysing the times. At the moment, all they do is put a (w) next to the time for a wet lap ... maybe an (L) is also in order?? :blink:
 
^I doubt any of the cars you listed hits the limiter on the regular TG track. The followthrough shaves a LOT of speed off, and they have hardly enough road to keep accelerating upto 250 kph
 
^ I'm not fully commited to this cause, but the second sweeping left-hander of follow through is flat out, which gives the Stig about 720 meters before the sharp left-hander (Carpenter's Corner?). Coming off Hammerhead there is a stretch of about 380 meters (almost a 1/4 mile) before the first bend in follow through ... which would give plenty of time to have the speed up. I do think a skilled driver, in good conditions could approach 250 km/hr on the last section of runway ..... the biggest limitation (to me) would be Carpenter's Corner .. which is relatively tight and would need some bravery and very good brakes to approach at a high speed.
 
no way the follow through is flatout in any PROPERLY quick car
 
^Truth. Jeremy says the Stig lets off many times while driving extremely quick cars. A few times he has even been on the brakes. That corner is designed to keep the top speed down on the hypercars, I suspect.
 
well the limiting does not matter, since it never went nearly that high in speed on the track. the power, handling and acceleration are all the same. the top speed has nothing to do with what they can do around the track, because they wont reach it when it has barely a 1/4 mile straight
 
In a decently quick car, i.e the hypercars at least the Stig lifts for both sections of the follow through. Look at the onboard Enzo lap on the TG website for proof :)
 
It was interesting to see that the GT2 was much faster than the (speed limited) GT-R around the TGAu track. According to Top Gear 12x02, the GT2 was as fast as the Lamborghini LP560 (1:19.5) around Dunsfold. The (unlimited) GT-R was almost as fast around the same track (1:19.7).

If limiting the top speed of the GT-R could make such a difference on the TGAu track at Camden .... it gets me back to the thesis that other "limited" cars may have had their time affected around the faster TG track at Dunsfold.

I don't mean to harp on this subject, but I think there may be something in it.
 
The limit in japanese cars(180kph) is different from german cars(250kph). I don't think those cars in TGUK are limited, because I have seen Clarkson broke that 250kph limit several times.
 
Think I will have to drop this thesis.

Was watching one of the old early Top Gear episodes where they showed the in-car telemetry. The Westfield they took around was only topping about 135 mph on the main straight.
 
can anyone explain to me how an 800 bhp Ford gets its ass handed to it by a 500 hp Porsche. And it's not like it's 0.0008 of a second either, it's just shy of 2 full seconds!

OK the Porsche will brake & corner better, but that Ford has 300 hp that don't make up anything on the straights???
 
tone76 said:
Coriolis effect?
Click to expand...


What are you saying tone? That the GT would have been quicker going clockwise around the circuit?? :lol:

Personally, I think there are 2 reasons:
  1. The GT was modified ... more power, no change to brakes, suspension etc (?unbalanced) ... maybe the RHD conversion also had some effect.
  2. The GT is almost a one-off and the Stig may have been a little more tentative for fear of busting it.
  3. 3? .. did I say 2 reasons? The Stig may be more used to driving the GT2 from previous track experience. ;)
 
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