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The ZONC Annual Car Show will be held Sunday September 12 in Brisbane, CA. This a fun event in a great location so bring out your Z, G, Datsun or GT-R! Pictures from previous shows can be seen HERE with more details below. Z you at the show!
We had a blast at the 34th Annual Z Car Convention (ZCON) hosted by ZCCA in Colorado Springs. This is the largest Z-car event in the US and we were stoked to be a sponsor. Coming from the 8/17 New 2023 Z Reveal in New York, Rob and Meghan attended the the 8/21 People’s Choice Show at ZCON. Enjoy photos these from the event!
Congratulations to our client Bob Russell on his 1st place award for Stock 240Z! We will have a full report on Bill’s S30 on zcarblog.com soon
Both of our clients Jack and Linda made it to ZCON with their recently finished Z’s and had a great time:
Jack won 3rd place for Ultra-Modified Z32 with his LS3-swapped, Primadonna Z:
ZCON was a Z car lover’s fantasy… with every generation represented. There were even non-Z cars welcomed!
Mike Rogers 12-mile 1980 ZX. Here is a great video and walk through on this time capsule!
ZCON welcomed all members of the family and there were some great cars on display:
Roadster, 620 and S13
Midnight Purple R33, Z32 and R32 all at gas station just outside of ZCON!
The legendary Pete Brock, Hiroshi Tamura and Larry Chen were just a few of the big names at ZCON:
Christopher Karl and Mark Lambert both received Lifetime Achievement Awards, congrats gentlemen!
ZCON was a success. Big thanks to Christopher Karl of ZCCA for an incredible week of friends and Z cars. Z you next year!
On August 17 the new Nissan Z sports car was unveiled in Brooklyn, New York. Z Car Garage was invited to the private event that was live-streamed for global viewing. Rob Fuller experienced the unveiling party and midnight photo shoot with Larry Chen in Times Square, documenting it live via our Instagram and Facebook accounts. Here we’ve included all of our photos and video from the evening for you to enjoy. Long Live the Z!
Rob and Larry Chen at the unveiling in Brooklyn. Nissan had a display of heritage models to show off the new Z’s lineage.
Rob sat front row for the big reveal. We were surprised to see Cody Walker hop out of the 370Z to present the new Z. Very magical. The Z’s interior and exterior were (not surprisingly) similar to the Z Proto we spent time with back in May . VR30 twin-turbo displayed. Nissan really did deliver.
The blue paint was spectacular. Rob did a walk through:
From the unveiling Rob then joined Larry Chen and the Nissan Crew for a stunning midnight photoshoot in Times Square!
Video from the evening:
Huge thanks to Dan Passe and Jonathan Buhler of Nissan for making this happen. We had a blast hangin out with Larry and the Hoonigan crew. Super excited to have a shop Z and continue the Z Car passion!
The next-generation Nissan Z sports car will be unveiled Tuesday, August 17 at 8pm ET / 5pm PT. Nissan is making this a global reveal so Z car fans worldwide can watch via livestream. You can sign up for reminders at Nissan’s American website.
Z Car Garage was fortunate to check out the Z Proto at Nissan Headquarters back in May. We were impressed and can’t wait to see how close the production Z will be…with great styling, twin-turbos and a Six-speed manual transmission sign us up!
The global press event for unveiling the new Nissan Z will be at a private event in New York City. ZCG will be attending the event so stay tuned for live updates!
LONG LIVE THE Z!
On June 5-6, the Classic Sports Racing Group (CSRG) hosted the Vintage Races at Laguna Seca. Z Car Garage was fortunate to participate and support several client’s Datsun 510 race cars running in B-Sedan Group 9. It was a great weekend filled with competition, camaraderie and plenty of Alfas, BMWs and Datsuns sharing the track. Enjoy our report with photos from photographers Raj Narayan, Nick Dockery and Jim Rose plus exclusive in-car footage!
It is our pleasure to bring more enthusiasts into the world of vintage racing. Our services do 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. Below is a video of two Datsun 510 B-Sedans (Rob and Tom) on the dyno prior to the Speedfest weekend. Enjoy the sweet L-series music!
Plenty of Datsun 510s in Group 9, it was a Dime-lover’s dream to be in the paddock and watch the races. Although the event did not officially allow spectators, we’ve got you covered! Let’s take a look at the Datsun 510s that we supported, beginning with our clients. Both cars ran flawlessly:
Tom Dockery drove his Ex-Norm Balzer/Koobation 510. This car made its debut in May 2019 and we are excited to share its full story and profile Tom’s journey into racing.
“Overall, the weekend was great. Smaller field but the top half of the field was equally fast. I had some good exchanges with Jon Normal, whom I never expected to be able to keep up with, so that was fun. Some dicey moments with Daniel Cagginao, thought his lines were a bit off (Sun race 2). I managed to set a new personal best lap time of 1:46:09 which was great.My other comment would this ….Every time I watch these in car vids ….and I watch them all the time just to hear the noise/sound, I see places I gave time away and I just want to go back out again. It’s intoxicating. My car was perfect, no issues and ran in top form all weekend long thanks to Josh and Rob.”
With the assistance of ZCG crew Josh and Keith we also supported ZCG owner Rob Fuller in the Bay Area Datsun Dealers tribute car:
Photo by Jim Rose
Rob performed admirably with a fastest time of 1:41.837, here is his experience:
“CSRG is one of the oldest race groups that we run with. It’s been 20 years since they had a Laguna Seca event so we were excited to participate. They had 9 different run groups and I have been pushing to make Spec Miata part of vintage racing. We tried to get a big group out, but only two Miatas raced with Group 8 (Tim Wright and myself). Despite this, it was fun to start at the back and move through the cars”
“The big excitement of course was B-Sedan group. Tom Dockery was quicker than ever, and I was getting closer to Troy Ermish. We really had fun, dramatic racing. First race out (qualifying) I was close to Troy. He and I were a good 3-4 seconds ahead of the field with a nice battle. Race 2 I had a good start and took off, then about lap 4 my car’s transmission got stuck in 3rd gear. We were so far in front that even with 5-6 laps left in race I was able to adjust my driving style and finished in 2nd place. Pretty proud of that.”
Photo by Jim Rose
Race 3 on Sunday was dramatic. Troy and Rob were just .033s apart at the finish!
“In the 3rd and final race (afternoon feature) Troy and I battled again. He started to gap me but car issues slowed his pace. I started to reel him in. The last lap was the closest I’ve ever been to Troy (see video below), and it’s no secret that he’s a phenomenal driver. I definitely want to catch cup to him and race with him when our cars are both 100%.”
You can see in-car footage of Rob below:
Catch more of Rob’s sessions on his Youtube Channel. Race Results from the Group 9:
CSRG is awesome. Since the general public was not allowed to spectate, they hosted a vintage Datsun Car Corral! Participants were spoiled with FREE parking in the paddock area and full access to the race for the weekend.
Willie Gutierrez brought his Datsun 510 along with a few friends. My roadster friend Raj Narayan (photo contributor) also attended in his 2000. They got to enjoy the beautiful weather and day of racing without crowds…amazing!
The paddock was filled with wicked metal. This special Datsun Roadster is a factory “lightweight” model, piloted by Michael Sweeney. More pictures in the gallery!
Photos By Raj Narayan
We hope you have enjoyed our report from the 2021 CSRG Vintage Race event! CSRG did an amazing job with the event. Rob’s parting words:
“It was fun to catch up with friends like the crew from Racecraft. Ex-driver of Tom Dockery’s 510 John Koobation was there. I enjoyed racing Miatas and hangin out with Tim Wright, a famous musician from 3rd Eye-Blind and Primus. We hope October’s event with CSRG will be open to spectators! Our client Kelvin missed this event but assures us he’ll be racing at Sonoma. None of this would be possible without the help of our ZCG crew Josh and Keith Corwin. If you haven’t experienced a Historic racing event I encourage you to come out, it’s a blast!”
