One of the pleasures of using a Cobb Access Port to tune the GT-R has been the superb support from supplier GTC (www.gtc-r.com). Recently, for example, they e-mailed me a Stage 2 map designed to be used with a minimum of 99 RON fuel, i.e. Tesco super unleaded or Shell V-Power.
I had the chance to put it to the test when I attended this year’s Fighting Torque drag-racing event (www.fightingtorque.org) at RAF Woodbridge. I almost felt sorry for the driver of Godzilla 2’s first victim, a TVR Griffith 500, as it got blitzed over the mile-long course by a predictably massive margin. The same one-sided result occurred with numerous subsequent contenders, including a standard GT-R, with my best time of the day being 28.712sec and my best terminal speed 174.7mph.
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Interestingly, the car seemed every bit as fast left in Auto mode as it did hanging on to the gears in Manual. I also tried both switching the ESP off and leaving it in R mode, but there wasn’t a great deal of difference between these two either. Even the ‘launch control’ mode seemed to offer precious little over simply nailing the loud pedal from a standstill. I don’t think a less dramatic road-going drag car has ever been built!
The tables were eventually turned when a Noble M12 M400 got the better of Godzilla 2, but then this particular Noble happened to be a former Fighting Torque champion and probably should have been re-badged ‘M600’, as that would explain the crazy 28.162sec and 180mph that owner Adrian Winch managed to post that day. As Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn wisely said, ‘There’s always a bigger fish…’
