One lap of America: three Nissan GT-Rs sweep all before them

By Freddie Heaney, Photographs Moore Good Ink. May 14, 2014

As it has done for the past four years, a nimble and swift Nissan GT-R won this year’s One Lap of America. Driven by Catesby Jones and William Taylor the Japanese marquee dominated, claiming the first three places and defeating the Corvettes, Mustangs, Vipers and Porsches.

An event conceived 31 years ago by noted auto writer Brock Yates this year’s street-legal road rally race started on May 3 in South Bend, Indiana at the premises of title sponsor Tire Rack. More than 80 entrants covered over 3,500 miles during eight days of competition, returning to their South Bend starting point on May 11. During the contest they competed in timed laps at drag strips, oval tracks, wet and dry skid pads, and road race courses. These included NOLA Motorsports Park near New Orleans, LA; Memphis International Raceway, TN; Atlanta Motorsports Park at Dawsonville, GA; BMW Performance Center in Greer, South Carolina; and famed Mid-Ohio Raceway.

Devised as a high-performance endurance test, the entrants are not permitted support crews. They must also prudently manage their tires, finishing on the same set on which they started.

Corvette driver Eric Edelman from Cicero, NY, said “My dad, Freddie, and I take about 10 days off work to do this, and we always enjoy it.” When asked about the merits of the GT-Rs, he admitted, “They have very high horsepower, sequential-shift gearboxes, and traction-stability control—they’re fast!”

Here pictured are some of this year’s top runners, including the remarkable road-going Ariel Atom.

Click on any image to enlarge.