The Smitty Racing / Z Car Garage 350Z took 1st in the OSP class and 8th overall out of 153 cars at the Northern California United 510 Owners Club www.norcalufo.org autocross held at The Marina Airfield on May 2nd, 2010.  The 2003 Nissan 350Z was driven by Scott Smith to the top of the OSP class for the 7th event in a row, and currently sits 3rd in the adjusted PAX score, which normalizes the times based on the car’s classifications.

>There was a good turn out of Zs and Gs, but we’d love to have even more of a showing!  Here are the overall results from this month’s event:  http://norcalufo.org/main/attachments/117_Results-NorCal_UFO_AutoX_Series_Event6_May2-2010.pdf

Scott runs the Z in the OSP class (versus CSP) because the most of the interior panels of the car are gutted to make-up for the added weight of the current Kirk 4-pt roll bar, though the Z is getting a full cage later this month.  It runs on 285/30 Kumho V710 tires at all four corners that are mounted on lightweight, 18″ SSR Competition wheels.  Z Car Garage recently tuned the Z with the Osiris/Uprev software to an amazing and lively 271rwhp / 252rwtq with its current bolt-ons.  The autocross transitions are dampened by a set of Koni-based TrueChoice dual-adjustable coilovers and the alignment specs are dialed-in by SPL suspension components.  Upcoming events are the annual Duel at DeAnza on May 16th.  There is still time and room, but you’d better hurry!
The next NorCal UFO event at The Marina Airfield will be held on June 6th.

Hello Z car fans,

As ZCG gets ready to leave for the ZONC Hearst Castle Cruise, we have a Blog entry from Bill (a Z car fan and spirited driver).  He gives us a full report from his last track day at Infineon Raceway.  Have a great weekend and don’t forget your Valentine’s day card for your special someone.

Long live the Z

Rawb

The photos and videos are from Hooked on Driving’s January 27th track day at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma.

This 2003 350Z Touring model has seen a handful of track days. It started going to the track on the stock 1-piston brakes and street tires with only a few upgrades: Stillen dual exhaust and AEM cold air intake. Recently added (from ZCG) were StopTech’s small front and rear brake kits with Performance Friction 97 pads. This was the car’s first event on track tires: 245/40-18 BF Goodrich g-Force R1s on the original 18″ wheels. Track tires with tire pressure monitors! The car is otherwise stock (with heated leather seats to take the chill out of winter track days). Despite the upgrades, this is not a track-only car. After swapping back to street tires, it handles the daily commute to and from work.

Infineon is a very technical track, which is challenging but makes for a lot of fun. It has elevation changes, two hairpin turns and the famous esses. The track was wet in the morning. There were a few spins and other incidents, including this car’s slide off the pavement at turn 3a (notice the mud on the left front tire). Nothing hurt but the driver’s pride. A wet track really helps a driver learn to be smooth, a very important part of going fast when the track is dry.

The sun came out in the afternoon and speeds went up. The driver reports that the tires are great, but the StopTech brakes are amazing! With the track pads and regular bleeding with high-performance fluid, they haul the car down from speed over and over without a hint of fade; a huge increase in braking performance over the stock brakes.

This video is from the last session of the day in the intermediate group. It starts out with a few laps of lead-follow with an Audi S4. This run group started out small and by this session, many drivers had packed up for the day, leaving very little traffic. Gotta love having room to roam!

Video Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nv4Md5XmSpw

Video Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOXHgn8PCUs

Hooked on Driving, a longtime ZONC supporter, is well known for putting on quality track events. With a strong emphasis on education and safety, it’s a great place for beginners to get started. The event prices include a catered lunch and individual coaching for beginning through advanced drivers. At noon, the coaches fire up their own cars and give beginners hot laps around the track. Big fun! Their web site, www.hookedondriving.com, has lots of information and videos for first-timers.

Even though most of this blog’s track day posts feature modified cars, a stock Z33 is a great track car if properly prepped. Track prep is not complicated. It includes checking the wheel bearings, lug nut torque, belts and hoses. It might also include replacing old brake fluid to help the brakes handle the higher temperatures generated on the track. ZCG can take care of prepping your car for the track.

Please note that in addition to providing full-service maintenance and upgrades, ZCG can also supply parts for do-it-yoursefers. This car’s StopTech brakes were sourced from ZCG and installed by the owner.

Once again I’m here to proclaim how a few small changes will increase your affection for your Z ten-fold.  This formula of parts has been proven time and time again on the Zs that we have worked on.  Here’s the rundown:

• Bassani true dual cat-back exhaust with X-pipe
• Jim Wolf Technology (JWT) POP charger
• Eibach Pro Kit springs
• Hotchkis adjustable swaybars front and rear (4-way adj. in the front, 3 in the rear!)
• VOLK Racing GTS wheels
• Toyo Proxes tires
• LED tailight swap
• SPC adjustable front upper control arms
• SPC adjustable rear lower control arms

Having done all of these changes in a short time frame this car has transformed drastically from it’s former stock self.  It now has the looks, performance, and handling that the Z deserves from the start.  This car is ready to be the partner in crime the owner has always wanted, until he catches the “boost” bug…

See more photos after the jump

…[read more]

The VQ35HR engine in the ’07-’08 350z just continues to impress us here at Z Car Garage.  This last generation of the VQ35 responds so well to bolt on modifications that the sky is the limit when it comes to producing normally aspirated horsepower.  Yesterday we bolted on another Injen intake system and an Unorthodox Racing pulley to accompany the Nismo exhaust that was already installed on this customer’s car.

The Injen intake now grabs air from in front of the radiator almost directly in the high pressure air stream.  The quality and appearance of the intake is top notch and fit and finish is up to the standards of a company that has been around as long as Injen.  The pulley from Unorthodox Racing is a high quality piece machined out of aluminum and is supposed to weigh around seven pounds less than the stock piece (8.25 vs 1.32lbs.)  We actually weighed both pieces and found the stock pulley on this HR to weigh only 4.8lbs, go figure.  Maybe they had two on the scale?  Anyways, the pulley is the stock diameter so all benefits come from reduced rotational mass rather than an under-drive system.

They dyno results were right were we expected them to be, but that doesn’t make them any less amazing!  While the main horsepower gain comes on the top-end, there are notable gains throughout the mid-rage on the torque side of the equation.  From looking at the graph you will also notice that the modifications cause the torque curve to not drop off as quickly past 5,500 rpm.  The car now makes twelve more foot-pounds of tourqe at peak horsepower, you will certainly feel that in your butt dyno!

Since the two modifications were carried out at the same time I can’t say for sure how much of a difference the crank pulley alone made, but if you look back at the first Injen intake we did on an HR you will see what the intakes did by themselves on that car.  I know, different day, different car,  but can be used as some sort of a comparison.

We are patiently waiting to see more aftermarket suppoort for the HR engines to see what sort of power we can extract.  I want to see cams, intakes, new headers, and more ideas that I’m going to save for our shop to make.  Hopefully more is on the horizon.

I know that we have been putting up a ton of GT-R related posts lately so here is one for the 350z owners.

Now… Back to your regularly scheduled Z programming.  The 3.8L GReddy TT engine is back in the chassis and all mechanical connections have been made.  Next on the the agenda is to re-install the inter cooler and all the the intake piping that goes with it.  At the same time the all electrical connections will be made and then gone over again to make sure that we don’t have to go back into the engine bay after we are done.  This car also runs a Haltech engine management system that uses a MAP (Manifold Absolute Pressure) sensor instead of the factory MAF (Mass Air Flow) equipment so the final tune should be fairly straight forward.

Wikipedia will do a better job at explaining the differences:  CLICK HERE FOR MAP vs. MAF Wiki

This car should be close to being buttoned up near the end of the day and running on the dyno early next week.  This car will be tested extensively by us to make sure that the customer is entire satisfied with the end result.  We may even make a trip to Infineon Raceway for their infamous Wednesday Night drag race series.  With drag slicks or wrinkle wall tires the quarter mile time should be able to meet or best our GT-R.  Seriously.  Z Car out!