Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at Z Car Garage! We hope you can find time to Enjoy The Ride over the holidays. Please note we will be closed today and Friday 11/24.

  

 

WE LOVE RACING! On October 13-15, Classic Sports Racing Group (CSRG) hosted the second annual Laps for Laguna event at Laguna Seca Raceway. Z Car Garage had a blast racing and supporting Datsun 510 race cars running in B-Sedan Group 9 (John Morton Cup). It was a great weekend filled with competition, camaraderie and plenty of Alfas, BMWs and Datsuns sharing the track. Enjoy our report with in-car footage and photos.

Z Car Garage Racers

We raced and provided trackside support for our client’s B-Sedan Datsun 510s (Rob, Todd, Jeff and Gabe):

#88 Todd Rueppel

Todd enjoyed his Z Car Garage trackside support experience with us at the first Laps For Laguna event!

#25 Jeff Rothman

Gabe’s father Jeff is racing his B-Sedan Datsun 510:

 

#8 Gabe Rothman

 

#7 Rob Fuller

ZCG owner Rob Fuller, Bay Area Datsun Dealers tribute car

 

Let’s Race!

Laps for Laguna is a vintage racing event created by the Laguna Seca Raceway Foundation and California Sports Racing Group (CSRG) to raise money for charity. It is an open sound event with multiple races for each race group, charity rides and more. We hope Laps for Laguna continues to be an annual affair.

 

Rob recaps the weekend:

“Friday afternoon we had practice sessions with father-son duo Jeff and Gabe Rothman, Todd R, and myself all running our B-Sedan Datsun 510s. Todd and Jeff were running similar pace so they were cutting it up. Gabe continues to pick up his pace and smooth out his driving…and he is a front runner. Super excited and proud of him.”

 

“It was just myself and Parker’s Alfa in front. Fortunately, he has picked up some speed this year and become the one to beat! Really stoked for him and Fred from Autostrada prepping this fast Alfa. On Sunday we had a really good battle when Alan Terpins in 911 T/R. he motored us pretty well on the start and Parker and I just chased him for 8-10 laps. Other two races Parker and I matched each other’s pace and exchanged places a few times, but my 510 didn’t have the pace of that Alfa. Congrats to those guys. Perfect weather, great run groups and one fantastic weekend!”

 

Watch this exciting in-Car video from Rob’s 510, mixing it up with a 1968 Porsche 911 T/R driven by Alan Terpins and Alfa Romeo driven by Parker McKean:

The Z Car Garage Nissan Z as Pace Car

Z Car Garage was happy to have our 2023 Nissan Z as Official Pace Car at Laps For Laguna. Rob enjoyed wheeling the New Z around the track:

“The track had a “friends of Laguna Seca Raceway” gathering where corporate partners would bring their staff to enjoy some charity rides in cars like GT40s, Nascar, Ferrari’s and one new Nissan Z car. I was able to give rides on Friday morning for about 2 hrs straight. It was really fun to put the new Z through its paces.”

You might notice the new Z’s livery, it’s a nod to our #49 Joel Anderson IMSA GTU Datsun 240Z, and we will dedicate a separate blog post to it:

 

Paddock Highlights

Big thanks to Meghan for taking photos and video around the paddock. Here is a highlight reel of race and paddock action at the track:

A weekend of great racing and good times

 

Special shoutout to ZCG crew for keeping all of the cars running so we can race! More photos in the gallery below.

 

Join us for the 2024 Vintage Racing Season!

Z Car Garage is amped for more racing next year. Please check the CSRG website and zcarblog.com for upcoming race events. We are thinking about returning to Walter Mitty at Road Atlanta in spring since they are celebrating Japanese cars. We may get a transporter full of vintage cars so if you are a vintage racer and want to join us please please inquire with Rob at the shop. CSRG race event schedule below. Stay tuned for more race reports!

…[read more]

 

 

 

WE LOVE RACING! Classic Sports Racing Group (CSRG) hosted the 20th Charity Challenge at Sonoma Raceway on September 8-10. Z Car Garage raced and supported several client’s Datsun 510 race cars running in the B-Sedan Group (John Morton Cup). Everyone had a blast, enjoy our race report with in-car video and photos below.

   

Z Car Garage Supports Five Datsun 510s!

 

It is our pleasure to bring more enthusiasts into the world of vintage racing. Our services include full race support and car-preparation to help make client’s race days seamless and worry-free so they can focus on driving. One of our specialties is dyno tuning. Before a race weekend we confirm that your car is running well and make necessary adjustments while on the chassis dyno:

 

#88 Todd Rueppel

Todd enjoyed his Z Car Garage trackside support experience with us at the Laps For Laguna event!

#7 Kelvin Tse

Kelvin and his brother Kenny are regular ZCG trackside support clients…

  

Gabe and his Dad Jeff’s B-Sedans:

 

#7 Rob Fuller

ZCG owner Rob Fuller, Bay Area Datsun Dealers tribute car

     

Rob will also ran the #49 Joel Anderson IMSA GTU Datsun 240Z at Sonoma Raceway.

 

Group 3 B-Sedan Races

Rob recaps the Charity Challenge races from Group 3: B-Sedan and John Morton Cup…

“Over the last 20 years, CSRG has raised money for children’s charities and every Fall Z Car Garage tries to attend the Charity Challenge. We had a strange summer with Laguna Seca canceling our summer event, so it had been many months since CSRG was on the race track. In the B-Sedan group we were happy to support Kenny, Todd, and Gabe’s Datsun 510s. We also had newcomer Jeff Rothman, who is father of Gabe. Jeff’s no stranger to vintage racing with serious Alfas and a Formula Ford. One of Gabe’s fondest early memories is when his Dad took him to the historic races at Laguna Seca. And now they are racing together at Sonoma.”

 

“First session out Kenny had a transmission issue, so Nick and Cooper went to work making sure everyone could stay on the track. We got Kenny’s car back together and I lost 4th gear in my 510 so I decided to start from the back. I was proud to still click off a fast time despite losing 4th gear. Gabe and Kenny shared the front row and both got their personal lap records! It was Todd’s first time with an Elite box, he kicked ass with no issues while improving his times. We had just done a bunch of prep to Jeff’s car and he had a great time. Not as many cars in our run group but it was super fun.”

 

Enjoy these in-car videos from the Group 3 Race from Rob’s Datsun 510:

“No 4th gear but still trying to get to the front. At the start of the race a Mini hits me in the right rear but I am able to recover and keep racing till the end . Thanks for CSRG for another great weekend. Z Car Garage kept me safe and on track all weekend long. Do it in a Datsun! Note: My steering wheel is off since my car is toed in the rear and you can hear the right rear tire howling.. Good times!”

Race 2: Rob was missing 4th gear all weekend so he tried starting in the back to see if he could work his way to the front:

The 2023 Nissan Z as Pace Car!

 

Z Car Garage was happy to have our 2023 Nissan Z as Official Pace Car at the Charity Challenge. Rob was happy to wheel the New Z around the track:

“One of the coolest things about the Charity Challenge was driving the new Z as pace car and give charity rides. In its 20th year the Charity Challenge has raised millions for children’s charities and they allowed me to be a driver on Sat/Sun to give 4-5 rides which included a warm-up lap, race lap and cool-down lap. Yes, that’s actor/director Seth Rogen!

 

Paddock Action

Experience the sights and sounds from our paddock and the race track in this video below!

 

The #49 Joel Anderson IMSA GTU 240Z

 

Rob also raced the #49 Joel Anderson IMSA GTU Datsun 240Z at Sonoma Raceway:

“My IMSA car has pretty good history at Sears Point (now Sonoma Raceway); it came from the Bondurant School and actually held a record there. I really enjoyed driving it, and had a good pace. Super fun race with Jim Froula of RacecraftNW in his GT3 240SX-bodied car. Stoked on the ZCG crew and thanks to Roger Kraus for the tires: first time running Goodyears and I love them. The Joel Anderson IMSA Z was on display all weekend and people remembered it from back in the day. A couple came over and showed me a photo of the Z from 1980. I let a young person sit in it. Made me happy to see folks appreciating Joel’s creation.”

 

Enjoy these in-car videos from Group 8 in The Joel Anderson IMSA GTU Datsun 240Z:

Sunday’s race:

“Thank you CSRG for another great event. It was so awesome to get the Joel Anderson GTU 240Z out on track. Great driving by Jim @racecraftnw in his GT3 car. Thank you Z Car Garage for keeping us safe and on track all weekend. Long live the Z.”

Saturday’s race:

“Starting from the back in Anderson 49 car… @ the 13 min mark Dr. Phil waves me by and I come up on a waving yellow caused by a spun out car in Turn 4. I clear it and give Phil back his position and we race to the checkered flag. So cool to be on track with some Nissan History. Thanks for CSRG for another great weekend. Z Car Garage kept me safe and on track all weekend long. Do it in a Datsun!”

 

Thank You!

The Charity Challenge was fun with the usual group of folks, Oliver, Meghan, lots of snacks and good times. The ZCG crew kept all of us safe and on the track to enjoy the weekend. We got to have dinner in the turn 11 clubhouse for the first time and the vibe was incredible. Excited for next year’s event! Huge shoutout and thank you to our star photographer Meghan Fuller for capturing all of the paddock and track photos in the gallery below.

  

The racing continues! We are racing at Laguna Seca this weekend for the GRIDLIFE event. Race reports from the Laps For Laguna event and SVRA Double-header are coming soon. You can see our report from the 2022 Charity Challenge HERE

Join us for the 2023 Vintage Racing Season!

Z Car Garage is amped for more racing this year. Here is list of events we will be attending in 2023, including CSRG and SVRA . Please join us!

March

March  3^rd to the 5^th    SVRA  Thunderhill

March 24 to 26^th          CRSG   Sonoma

April

April 27^th to 30^th           SVRA   Sonoma

May

May 4^th   to 7^th               SVRA   Laguna Seca

June

June  23rd to 25^th           CSRG   Laguna Seca

August

August 12-13                    Monterey Pre-Reunion
August 16-19                    Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion

September

Sept 8^th  to 10^th              CSRG   Sonoma

October

October 13-15                  CSRG Laps For Laguna

October 20-22.                GRIDLIFE Laguna

November

Nov  3^rd to 5^th                 CSRG   Thunder hill

Nov 10^th to 12^th              Velocity Invitational

…[read more]

 

Z Car Garage is excited to race at GRIDLIFE Laguna October 20th – 22nd, 2023 at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. This is the final festival of the season, with multiple races including the GRIDLIFE Touring Cup, final round of the NOS Energy TrackBattle Time Attack, and demonstrative drift on track. Off track, a music festival experience highlights the weekend with headlining artist T-Pain.

 

Rob Fuller will be racing his Bay Area Datsun Dealers 510 in the GRIDLIFE Touring Car Cup (GLTC). This is a wheel-to-wheel sprint racing series that focuses on single-class sprint racing. Typical entrants are modern cars like the S2000, Miata, Corvette, Cayman…so we are really excited to throw our hat in the ring and show everyone what a 50-year old Datsun 510 can do. It’s a great opportunity to introduce this crowd to vintage racing!

 

Rob will be running a treaded-tire on the 510 which should make this a really interesting race to watch. We practice and race on Friday with Races 2, 3 and 4 on Saturday. All races will be livestreamed:

 

Other highlights include professional drift drivers from all of the over the world. Our friend Larry Chen will be drifting and running chase car duty at GRIDLIFE, you can see the race schedule HERE. We can’t wait to be a part of the festival. See you in a week at Laguna Seca!