The iconic, 1976 IMSA GTU Championship-winning Transcendental Racing Z is at Z Car Garage! This early 1970 production 240Z has an exciting history battling against factory-backed teams with names like Jack Scoville, Brad Frisselle and John Morton behind the wheel.

The chassis was also highly-developed by a team of All-Stars including Joe Cavaglieri (Crew Chief), John Knepp (engine), Trevor Harris, Mac Tilton (suspension) and Yoshi Suzuka (chassis, roll cage and body). Current owner Randy Jaffe has commissioned Z Car Garage to bring this Z back to period livery, refresh the chassis and drivetrain components, and re-assemble the interior before traveling to its new home in Atlanta.

The Z came with many spares, period photos and even original molds for the bodywork!

Getting the livery sorted has begun, with a proper “Frisselle” windshield banner (left) based on period photographs (right)

Here is a short video of the Z as it arrived to the shop early this week. Dyno testing with video coming soon!

Always Meet Your Heroes

The “Frisselle” car captivated us for many years. We watched it race locally and and eventually shared track time with previous owner David Martin (RIP) at major historic events. (Below, Left) David Martin and Rob Fuller (#49 Joel Anderson car) in the Corkscrew and (Right) Rob with David and Brad Frisselle at the RMMR 2018.

You can imagine how excited we are to have this iconic race car at Z Car Garage. Big thanks to Randy for always believing in us. More photos from my brief visit:

Enjoy these videos we’ve captured over the years racing with David Martin piloting the Transcendental Racing 240z:

In a moment of sheer happiness, Rob Fuller can be seen driving the #47 Brad Frisselle Z through the paddock back in 2015!

A David Vs. Goliath History

Ever wonder about the history behind this famous 1976 IMSA-GTU Championship-winning 240z? Check out www.my240z.com. Our friend Glenn Chiou created this website to document the racing provenance for previous owner David Martin (RIP):

Glenn’s impressive knowledge of historic Nissan/Datsun racing is bolstered by hundreds of scanned photos, some never seen before along with stories from ex-drivers Brad Frisselle, Jack Scoville and John Morton. We are even given new insight on the R&D effort that went into the Frisselle car making it by far, “the best race engineered 240z in its period”.

So if you want to know “what’s it all mean?” check out www.my240z.com!

LONG LIVE THE Z!

Race car driver, restorer and Datsun Historian Glenn Chiou visited Z Car Garage today for dyno tuning on his IMSA GTU 260z race car! You might remember our previous blog post highlighting the ZCG CV Axles Glenn installed himself:

   

Glenn is preparing for the upcoming Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion at Laguna Seca and we specialize in dyno tuning vintage race cars for the event. Listen to that triple-Mikuni fed L-Series roar on the dyno…Glenn is dialed-in and ready to race!

The Different Drummer Z

Glenn Chiou is our client, fellow racer and friend. He was one of the first to run our Z Car Garage Big-Brakes on his RHD 240Z and actively vintage races both 510 and Z cars. You may have seen Glenn’s FAR Performance 240Z in VIPS Restaurant livery as raced in the 70’s by Loren St. Lawrence. Glenn restored this race car himself and it is now going back to Bay Area Datsun Dealers livery as raced by FAR Performance privateer Walt Maas. Glenn’s got a passion for re-telling the stories of legendary privateer Z car racers and his current restoration project is the Different Drummer Racing Z raced by Greg Sorrentino. This is a really cool race car with great history and build details behind it.

Chassis # RLS30-000024 is a July 1973 pre-production Datsun 260Z chassis that was sold by the factory for one dollar in 1975 to Different Drummer Racing, owned by Greg Sorrentino of Troy, Michigan. It was one of the very first Datsun 260Z chassis and was built by the legendary American fabricator, Ron Fournier. This Z car has been consistently raced for the last 40+ years in IMSA GTU, SCCA Trans-Am, and C-Production/GT-2 classes. You can see more history and details of the build HERE.

Thanks for your support Glenn! We we will be rooting for you at the Monterey event!

Our customer Randy Jaffe’s incredible Nissan/Datsun collection is featured on the latest episode of Hoonigan Autofocus with Larry Chen. Join Randy and Larry as they walk through his collection and discuss street and racing cars from the past. This is a diverse collection you won’t want to miss, enjoy!

Larry Chen from Hoonigan Autofocus is back in Alpharetta, Georgia visiting Randy Jaffe’s Nissan/Datsun collection. In this episode they discuss several historically significant Datsun 510 race cars. Enjoy!

Our customer Randy Jaffe’s 1970 Datsun 240Z Safari Tribute is featured on the latest episode of Hoonigan Autofocus with Larry Chen. This Z is based on the original car that won the East African Safari Rallies in 1971 and 1973.  Watch Randy and Larry discuss the foundation for the build and little details that remain faithful to the original. There are many other Nissans and Datsuns in Randy’s collection with more features on the way. Enjoy!

Stay tuned for a full zcarblog.com feature where we will take a closer look at our work on this cool Z.

LONG LIVE THE Z!