This Is Why We Sucked: Car and Driver Does a Bunch of Crying About Skyline GT-R's One Lap Performance

WHATS UP WITH THE BABY YOU KREEP

first off the GTR is a sweet execution,Nissan needs to be commended for a job well done…their latest version is a new classic.
the DRIVER involved here,was a total screw up….
if I had the means….definately GTR versus VETTE…

Tony,you need a bit more driving school time,you SUCK!!!!
and I am also not renewing my Car and Driver subscription either.
it has slipped bigtime,and I’m not interested in fueling writers, who cant drive consistantly and BLAME THE CAR

Hey, even the Stig has screwed up. Fortunately he dosen’t talk or it would have diminished his mystique, that is if he approached the subject as swan has.
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I’ve read that race car drivers may blame the car, circumstances, track conditions because admitting their own fault would cause a lack of confidence in themselves.
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Personally I think that’s bullshit, or at least should be. “Experience” is having screwed up and learned from it at least partly to gain proficiency and status but it does NOT grant immunity from making mistakes.
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His worst mistake, fortunately was not admitting his mistakes, and not having injured or killed someone.

Don’t worry, its the car.
ACR is number 1 track car.
10/12 roadcourse 1st finishes evidence enough?
And it would have gottne 1st overall in One Lap if the skidpad wasn’t so heavily weighted.

Tony is just being perceptive. He realizes that his own failure will lead to hesitation by manufacturers in the future to loan out cutting-edge cars and risk having their baby appear substandard as a result of a driving gaffe by a journalist- this just cost Nissan a BUNCH of marketing hype, right or wrong.

Tony is a bright boy- he knew right away that he’ll always be known as “that guy” in the future, and it’s back to getting first-run editions of Cavaliers again………

“Federly! Fries!”

Hehehehh.

Is this the same guy who got thrown out of Road America during the 2006 One Lap for doing donuts on their freshly laid parking lot asphalt, after everyone was told to stay off of it?

I used to love Car and Driver during the 80s and early 90s, but their hyper-consumer anti-environmental rants have really soured me on the magazine and it’s editorial bent. This sort of thing just reinforces my annoyance with what was once the best car magazine out there.

That, and they don’t bother testing many cars that actual people use, instead preferring to devote 90% of their cages to vehicles 1/10 of 1% of drivers will ever pilot.

What a bunch of whiney Susans. You sucked at the track, just say so. We all have days like that, but to storm off in an unfamiliar, loaned car and put everyone in danger because your man-pon got stuck is just ridiculous. I’m glad I’m cancelling my subscription. This magazine has been a sub-par publication at best, loaded with a bunch of pompus old men hoping the hay days of 1960s muscle cars would make a comeback. They should call themselves “Car and Non-driver.”

“Road and Track” and “Automobile” magazines for me, from now on.

Tony can take a joke, but I note that there were 24 competitors that could not find the second autocross section. Tony has raced his whole life, and is a perfectly competent driver. Launch controls, I’ve found, can be temperamental. Perhaps Tony and the other 24 competitors should get a compass award rather than the crying baby one.

Hmmm looks like the GT-R just needs an adjustment to the “nut behind the wheel”. That usually fixes 95% of the problems.

GTR is an awesome car, one of the best for it’s performance vs money balance, and I am immensely happy with Nissan for bringing it out. Let me stop here.

I commend Tony, for his honesty and response. I have seen some of the trashing that he has taken, and he is a professional. If he says that Launch control sucks on a rolling start, I can deal with that. And anyone who autocrosses at different tracks can tell you, nothing is as easy as it looks. Raptorattack has some harsh words above, but Its probably idiots like him that still think its cool to drive a supped up Civics with garbage can exhaust systems, that is in reality, just an exhaust system….and not truly suped up.

It sounded to me to be mostly very objective. He pointed out the stong and weak points of the car and himself. How is that whining?
I definitely don’t agree with driving recklessly through the pits (if he in fact did that), but I find nothing at all wrong with his article. Whining? No. Explaining? Yes.

BTW, for those here that don’t seem to know it, Tony Swan is a very accomplished sports car racing driver. In fact, Pat Bedard is also an accomplished racer.

They should’ve let The Stig be the driver I don’t think people should draw conclusions about the car based on the outcome of this…

well I’m half on half here.
1. Autocross for these kinds of cars sounds stupid to me.

2. As an auto journalist myself I readily admit I’m not a professional driver. To take on these tracks you have to have skills. I’ve only been on road america and I doubt I would have finished near the top no matter what car I was in if semi-pro drivers were in the other cars.

3. Driving recklessly with pedestrians around is stupid with no excuses.

This is why I hate car and driver. They know a lot about cars, but not a one of them is a Driver. They’ll rattle off technical specs like its the only thing that matters. There mag is garbage.
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I read Motor Trend because they’ll give you the specs on a spec page but the article is about how the car Drives, Feels, and Emotions of driving it. If a Hyundia Sonata gets them excited, they’ll tell you that its an exciting car.
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I feel bad that the GT-R is getting bad press allready. Put a real driver in there and try again next year boys.

Full of excuses. As GT said, it’s not the car, its the driver.

haha nice blog Jen! Tony just needs to learn how to autocross!

Mothra

It’s not the car, it’s the driver. People forget that cliche has two edges and with prestige comes excuses.
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Nonetheless, the car only does what its driver wants it to do. The car wasn’t intent on going through a paddock of spectators after running off course, of course.
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Real men admit when they screwed up.

why does this idiot work for a car magazine if he really was a big enough dick to go racing through the pits they should fire him he should go work for pampers monthly