then it would be an RS Seriously, I agree with you......and this is the path that I will take with mine.

 

Great. It will be fun to see how all of our cars progress through the new year as various parts become available.

 

Tire tech has jumped forward significantly from 2011 to 2020. On 2020 cup 2s, 2Rs or trofeo Rs.... all these older cars would easily lap quicker. The other problem is we have no idea of track conditions between years. Weather and track state can really impact lap times. 1 or 2 seconds per lap? Easily if the variables are right. Now, weather may not vary as much in that part of California as some other states but it still varies a bit. Track surface can vary hugely.... was there a pro race a week ago? Did it rain hard a week ago?

In 2012 Randy lapped a McLaren MP4 12C in 1.34.5s. Jeff Cook has lapped Laguna Seca on modern r compound tires in the same car in 1:30.67s.... the only mod being steel girodisk rotors and pagid pads. So he beat Pobst in the same car by almost 4 seconds per lap with modern tires being the largest difference. Is he seconds faster than Pobst? Of course not. He owns the car so he probably gets more out of it than Pobst can in just 5 or 10 laps but the tires are the big difference and probably track state too when he did his best laps. See the description in this video for lap time info and how weather slowed him down over a second per lap when temps were at 100 degrees.
Bottom line is that year on year comparisons are far from perfect, even if the driver is consistent, which Pobst is. They tell us if two cars are in the same ballpark but not exactly which car is actually faster. Not that exact lap time comparisons matter too much (even though they are fun) ... few people are competing in these cars after all.

 

^ factory mp4-12c tires were trash though so not a good comparison. That Pirelli P-zero that came on the mclaren was worse than a Continental DW for grip on a track, and the continental was purchased by the type of person that views taking a corner hard as putting too much wear and tear on their car. It was more of a heavy rain tire that would roll over the treadblocks in a parking lot. You're comparing times for a modern R comp, and a good r comp at that, to a 10 year old tire that was known to be a terrible summer tire for dry grip 10 years ago. But thank you for the video, because this guy actually looks decent on the track, and yet his tires should be worth more than 4 seconds over factory pirellis. Just made me know for certain randy is actually a legitimately good driver. Also, he claims his mclaren is stock, but there were factory power updates on those cars over the years so in 2012 randy's had less power.

But you're right, 10 years tires have changed a lot for some manufacturers. Take bridgestone for example. RE01R, RE11, RE11a, RE11a revised compound, RE71R, and now RE71RS. That's how many times bridgestone has evolved their max performance summer tire in 10 years, and each time it was a noticeable improvement.

 

First, thanks for the correction as I assumed the McLaren was on something stickier when Pobst ran it. I looked and you are right... it was on Pirelli Corsas. Pobst wrote extensively about the McLaren laps and never mentioned the tires being poor so I am not sure how to verify your assertion they were terrible at the time but either way, they were not r compound.

However, my overarching point remains... lap times comparisons from different years have a lot of variables that potentially make it a less than an apples to apples look. But since I used an imperfect example, which is ironic, lets compare r compound to r compund on McLarens instead. Pobst ran a 130.71 on Trofeo Rs, with McLaren factory support present, at Laguna Seca. Cook, the guy from the video, ran essentially the same time in the 12C. But that Pobst time I just quoted was in the P1. We can explain that all sorts of ways but it does take some explaining. P1 vs 12C, both on r compound tires, same lap time. P1 prepped by McLaren techs, driven by a proven pro. 12C prepped by its owner who is a driver coach and clearly fast as well. You mentioned the 12 C hp was bumped from 592 to 612 but Pobst was driving a 900hp car. The P1 is heavier by about 120lbs but it has way more hp and downforce, obviously. Pobst was hitting over 155mph at Laguna Seca in the P1. Really fast. But the same lap time as the 12C. Different years, different track state, different weather. Both R compounds but different brands and Cook set his time 5 years after Pobst set his. Variables matter. A lot. Some inexperienced observers might look at the numbers and say, "wow, a 12C is as fast around Laguna Seca as a P1". And it's true that it was just as fast.... in a fashion. But on the same day, same weather, same track state, the P1 would clearly be faster if driven by an equally talented driver.