2016.10.25

2017 GT500 Machines actively run serious test laps in the rain on Autopolis Makers Test Day 2

SUPER GT manufacturers’ tests continued at Autopolis on October 25, following the previous day’s tests. The Lexus GAZOO Racing’s LC500, the Nissan GT-R and the Honda NSX-GT ran two hours each of morning and afternoon tests, similar to the day before. Tests will continue for one more day on the 26th (Wednesday).

 

 

 

LC500 performs well in the morning tests under cloudy skies

Day 2 of testing saw mostly cloudy skies at Autopolis. Morning sessions started at 9:00 am with air temperature at 18℃ and road surface temperatures at 20℃. The three machines followed their test programs, stopping intermittently in their pits as they made their laps. A red flag halted the tests at the one-hour mark, at 10 am. Ronnie Quintarelli’s new-model GT-R was towed to the pit area, with apparent drive system trouble.

The session were restarted shortly after, with the Lexus LC500 (Yuji Tachikawa and Daisuke Ito) and the Honda NSX-GT (Koudai Tsukakoshi, Takashi Kogure) completing their test menus as the morning sessions came to an end. Best times for the respective cars were 1’35.2 for the LC500, completing a total of 45 laps; 1’36.1 for the NSX-GT, with 35 laps; and the GT-R at 1’36.4, with a slightly fewer total of 23 laps owing to their machine trouble.
Tachikawa, driver of the LC500, commented: “Our testing is going well and includes aerodynamics testing. (Due to reconstruction due to the earthquake disaster that struck Kyushu in April 2016) parts of the course have been renovated, and are in good condition. I do not, however, feel that this improved our lap times by any measure. If feels like the same Autopolis track as before, when taken together with the older parts in tact.”

 

 

GT-R performs well in rainy afternoon sessions

During the afternoon interval, following the previous day, fans were given the chance to drive their own cars in single-file behind the lead car (2 laps, \2000), and over 30 cars participated in this run.
Similar to the previous day, Honda was allotted one hour of solo testing beginning at 13:00. The course was slightly wet due to rain that had started to fall lightly just previous to this. As the rain began to pour heavily, Honda ended their session after completing 8 laps on wet-use tires.
The GT-R began its afternoon session 10 minutes after 2 pm, having completed its repairs. Tsugio Matsuda gave a determined performance despite the wet conditions.

Without taking road surface conditions into account, it was Matsuda’s GT-R which outpaced the other two cars by a good margin with a best time of 1’47.3. Due to the conditions, LEXUS had ended its session without running many laps of the course. “We were able to gather good data for next year. “While our time was not as good as the Lexus, it is not our goal to beat the others at this point. We’ve also found some things to work on,” remarked Matsuda.
As for the engines, the Nissan GT-R carried a partially renovated 2017 spec, while the LEXUS LC500 and the Honda NSX-GT used their 2016 version-2 engines (used up to the Thai GT round).
Tomorrow, Oct. 26, LEXUS GAZOO Racing and Nissan are scheduled to test their Yokohama tires, and Yokohama has already completed their preparations at the circuit. Hideki Mutoh also made an appearance on the Honda paddock in anticipation of tomorrow’s testing.

 

 

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