Data, data, data. The amount that we collate for our road tests is (smarm alert) one of the things that, we think, sets us apart from our rivals. But I’m wondering: can you have too much?
Specifically, I’m wondering about lap times. Now, we’re not alone in taking these. We’ve recorded them since we moved our road test figuring sessions to MIRA in 2007, and taken them on features and Handling Day sessions since long before that.
And I like them. They’re objective and repeatable and give a broad overview of a car’s capabilities, especially as we take them on wet and dry circuits.
The number that we get out of it isn’t always relevant to the buyer but, as assessors, we find out a lot about even an everyday hatchback’s stability, safety, traction and braking systems by punting it around a track.
And the thing is that we don’t drive absolutely flat everywhere. Drive every lap like it’s a qualifier and, eventually, even the best tame racing drivers will fall off. And we’re not tame racing drivers.
Drive at 80 per cent and you’ll be able to do it on a Monday morning after a rubbish commute or a Thursday afternoon after a cup of tea and a Twix, and whoever the tester, you’ll get the same result. Sometimes we try that with the same car, just to be sure.
Which can cause a problem. Say Ferrari turns up with a car. And a team. “It has the lightest options,” they say. “We’ll check the tyre pressures,” they’ll say. (“It’s not totally straight,” their rivals will say. But that’s by the by.) The lines risk being blurred if Porsche says “come and pick the car up from us in Reading, and drop it back when you’re finished”, while somebody else is leaning on you to push harder in their car.
But that’s not my beef. We’re quite happy to tell a crestfallen engineer that his car is slower than a 911 GT3 and that we’re pretty sure that we’ll fall off the circuit, to the mild annoyance of our insurers and great annoyance of our publisher, if we try to make it go any faster.
No, my concern is whether such lap times are ultimately beneficial – not just ours, but all of them, from the ones that gamers post in super-accurate simulations, to Top Gear’s Power Laps, to Sport Auto’s Nürburgring laps, to Ferrari’s own Fiorano times, to, well, seemingly every bloody manufacturer’s Nordschleife time.
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Depends
Matt,
I disagree. You can't generalize on stopping the lap-time feeding frenzy, IMHO.
Yes, if you are buying a modest car, like the Ford Focus, who cares?
No, if you are spending £250,000 on a super-car: It is precisely the lap-time data that form the bragging rights you expect with that car. You are essentially buying a Nürburgring run, just like any option or accessory. Can you imagine discovering that your beautiful new F12 Berlinetta only did 8 min,12 second around the 'Ring? (Gee, a Subaru WRX STI can do that...)
So, as you can see, it depends....
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@NMGOM - Depends
....I don't think the majority of prats who drive their supercars around London showing off in first/second gear give a stuff about lap times. Its all become way too focused on posing value for that.
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What Mike Spencer said!!
Although the track used to time cars is the same layout different weather and tyres make it all fairly pointless. You even started to print in the magazine that the surface on the 'wet' track was wearing out so couldn't be compared to earlier tests. So what's the point?
As with the drift blog from a week or two back this is just a perk of the journos job, hooning around in someone else's car. We'd all love to do it but don't pretend it's somehow relevant.
Spread your wings from Chobham and MIRA.
Others have mentioned in-gear times. I'd like to replace the lap time nonsense with something about leasing. Many of the cars you drive, and then have their price discussed, is an irrelevance to many people as they don't deal in OTR prices. Lease deals mean many more expensive cars can prove cheaper to own than...well, cheaper ones! This is a big section of the market that just doesn't get mentioned, private buyers looking at expensive cars is a TINY fraction of the market.
@ Bomb re leasing figures
excellent point Bomb, and far more relevant to those who have the where- with- all to buy a car rather than just dream about them or play top trumps with stats.
Yes
Drop lap times and replace them with in-gear acceleration in 20 or 30mph increments, just like the good old days.
There is a point, which has been reached by far too many cars, at which the more you improve the lap time the worse it becomes on the road. Please don't pander any more to the nobs who fancy themselves as undiscovered racers and are willing to endure a terrible ride in order to stoke their delusions.
Old-school performance mesurements
I miss the 50-70mph in top (or kickdown) measurement that used to be quoted to indicate a car's flexibility. Much more useful than 0-60, 0-100, standing quarters etc. Always remember the Saab 9-5 Aero being lauded (by Saab) as being faster than a Lamborghini Diablo in this test. Kind of summed up their philosophy to making cars I feel.