David Swig of MotoringJStyle teamed up with the Z Owners of Northern California (ZONC) to bring us “Turn Z” during the Historic Races held at Infineon Raceway last Sunday. It was a fantastic day with incredible weather and a very impressive showing of classic Datsuns and Nissans.

ZCarGarage once again was the meeting place for the morning caravan up to Sonoma. I highly recommend joining us when we caravan to an event because it is a fun experience. Motoring up the freeways with a group of fellow car nuts is not to be missed. This group included a nice mix of old/new: two 240z cars, a ’67 roadster, a twin-turbo 370z and 350z, a twin-turbo G35 coupe, and 2 more z33s.
Here we are enjoying an on-ramp to highway 80 going to Sonoma:

Morning fog burned off and gave way to a sunny sky with light breeze when we arrived at Infineon Raceway…I love the sound of engines blaring and the smell of race fuel in the air.

As we drove through the ticket gate I was joined by 3 other Datsun roadsters and we were escorted Nascar-style by an Infineon ring taxi to Turn 7, appropriately designated “Turn Z” where the Datsun/Nissan car corral was being held. To my surprise this corral was completely paved, and had a stunning view of the track. In fact, we were so close to the Turn 7 run-off that we had to re-park a few cars for safety!
Big thanks to ZONC and David Swig for giving us a great corral, it was much better than the corral we have at Laguna Seca which leaves your freshly detailed ride covered in a nice thick layer of dust with bits of hay in the interior.

There were plenty of cool old-school Japanese rides in the corral mixed with modern ones too.  At the peak there were close to 50 cars! Some notables:

Super clean period-restored 240z cars:

Datsun 510 with a turbocharged KA24DE drivetrain:

A ZG-flared SR20DET-powered 240z with a very JDM paint color:

A Toyota S800!

More Old-School Toyotas:

Lou’s RHD FairladyZ(Yes, those badges came from the factory!) with some killer 17″ Panasports(custom offset) and 255mm wide tires:

 

This fully restored 1967.5 Datsun 2000 roadster was just plain pretty:

After looking at cars in Turn Z we toured the paddock area to check out vintage race cars from all eras. Lots of high-dollar, exotic and American muscle cars that left us all drooling and dreaming. Attention to detail, craftsmanship and cleanliness were at ever corner, in addition to some serious and frantic wrenching by race crews.
We found 1 Datsun that was actually competing in the races, this 240z complete with light beer livery and  some interesting flares:

The garage area had some impressive IMSA/Can-AM cars, below is just a sample of what the paddock had to offer:

Once the paddock area was thoroughly inspected  it was time to watch some racing! Datsun/Nissan racing legend John Morton was driving in 2 races so we had to watch our hero! John was driving a Scarab and Sunbeam Tiger. Things got more interesting when we noticed that David Swig was in the same races as Morton, piloting the Monsterati and Shelby Mustang.

After watching a few races the end of the day was capped off with a parade lap around Infineon Raceway, where participants in the Turn Z corral could take their own cars out on the track! This was 3-4 laps of pure bliss for folks, and I am still hearing good things about it. What a great way to also show off our Japanese rides to the crowd too!

I really hope that this event reaches yearly status, and with more advance notice I’m positive turnout will be even greater. Thanks again to David Swig and ZONC. Turn Z was a success, here’s to the 40th Anniversary of the Z!

Click below for more pictures!
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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.

Monday the 1^st of February was an amazing day for a couple of reasons.  For one, Fred of the ZCG crew turned 40.  And secondly, Fred gave me the day off to play with the shop 370Z.  The day started off at ZCG in the early morning hours where I met the other two cars in the pack, Scott with his Z33 and Gia with his Nismo edition Z34.  We drove down to Laguna Seca to start our track adventures for the day.  Once we arrived at Laguna Seca we prepped our Z’s with numbers and a double check of our wheel torques.  After a brief driver’s meeting, we were off to drive our first session.  It’s been a while since I have been able to go to the track and hone my skill set.  Years ago, before ZCG, going to the track was a regular event in my life.  Driving on the track with Scott really made me appreciate the value of seat time.  Scott’s many track days and autocrosses have paid off and he and his Z33 looked great out there.  A few days prior to the event, we fitted Gia’s Nismo edition Z34 with a test ZCG oil cooler and some upgraded front brake pads.  The oil temps were in range for moving forward with our next round of testing.  The brakes, on the other hand, weren’t able to keep up with Gia’s driving style.  I have shared my data with Stoptech and they say help is on the way in the form of a pad that should help us on the street and allow us to push the limits at the track.  Once Gia’s Z34 brakes were unable to continue, we double teamed the ZCG Z34 with back to back sessions.  During these sessions, we were able to keep our oil temperature under control with the help of the ZCG oil cooler.  The highest oil temps were in the 250F range.  For those of you just tuning in, this is the 3^rd test version of our oil cooler.  We feel after the next set of tests that we will be able to serve the Z community with a product that will allow you to keep your Z’s oil temps within reason and out of the famous limp mode.  We will be returning to Laguna Seca on February 25^th to complete the shake-down on our latest mods.  The track organization we are running with is NCRC, nice guys with great organization which leads to lots of track time.

Turn in,

Rawb

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.