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Cool It Now: Patrick’s Time Attack 350z

Filed under: Events,Featured Cars and Projects,Performance
by Alvin G @ 1:17 am on September 15, 2013

We’ve known Patrick for a long time and when he is not running City Tech Auto Body he is out on the track his Time-Attack prepped Porsche orange 350z. Patrick was running an NA motor then made the jump to forced induction via the Vortech supercharger. He installed the kit himself and visited ZCG for tuning and advice on how to keep the VQ cool during blazingly hot track days ie. Buttonwillow Raceway. Here is an update from Patrick from Round #5 of the Redline Time Attack:


As some of you might know, our Z Car Garage and CityTech Auto Body Sponsored 350z has been through a lot of struggling with overheating problems after we installed the a Vortech Supercharged Kit. We have spent tons of time and testing to make it cool down. Our goal is to make it last through the whole 20mins session without worrying about overheating with full power.

07/20/2013 Saturday: The first practice day of the Redline Time Attack event was at 102F, a perfect day to put a ultimate heat test to our new setup. Compared to our last event which the Z lasted only 2 laps before overheating, we installed a 2nd oil cooler, running 50/50 Methanol water injection and de-tuned. Also, Rob suggested that to remove the aftermarket electric fans and put back the stock fan with shrouds. With all the help from our crew and Z Car Garage, we double checked all the fluid levels are full, adjusted tire pressure and started our first 20mins session. The Z felt great with the supercharged power on the first lap, pulling on every gears to the redline. But will it last full 20 mins without a drop of power? 4th lap passed by, our Nitto NT-01 tires started to get greasy due to the heat, but Oil temperature still stayed at 230F, intake and water temp stay cool without a sign of overheating, no power dropped. We are so amazed because our last event only last 1 ½ lap before oil temp reached 290F. We managed finished with the best lap time of 1’58.8 running CW13 configuration.

07/21/2013 Sunday: This was a much hotter day at 107F. In our first qualify session, everyone was running slower time than yesterday. We managed to qualify at the lap time of 1’59.5 which placed us third in our class. All other vehicles in our class were full race gutted car and our Z still have the full dash, door and windows in place. During the race session, temperature got worse which rose up to 108F. Despite the burning sun and air, the Z’s water and oil temp were both stayed cool and no overheating throughout the entire race session, however, the tires were giving up after the 2nd lap from the heat. We couldn’t get any better time than the qualifying session due to the hot temperature and traffic on the track and ended up the time 2’00.391. We ended up third place in modified RWD Class.

Special shout out to Z Car garage crews for their awesome work keeping the Z at operating temperature while making great power in this extreme operating environment.

The next event will be at AutoClub Speedway, Fontana on Sep 15, 2013. We will be doing some more modifications and possibly installing a full roll cage on the Z. We will keep you guys updated.

 




Speed Record Studebaker

Filed under: Events,Featured Cars and Projects,Performance
by Alvin G @ 12:03 am on September 10, 2013


Stunato Racing Machines is breaking speed records again! Z Car Garage helped tune their #477 Sprint car and recently dyno’d their Studebaker to go after a record at the Bonneville Salt Flats. While on the dyno the Studebaker blew a tire! This was a first and fortunately nobody was injured.

 

275hp/416tq to the wheels! We love helping this great group of racers and look forward to more record breaking passes!




VQ35HR Datsun Roadster On Track!

Filed under: Featured Cars and Projects,Performance
by Alvin G @ 11:44 pm on September 6, 2013


Remember Todd Green and his VQ-powered Datsun Roadster race car? Here are a few pictures from him running Solo2 at Grattan Raceway in Michigan earlier this week. Shown above, Todd is crossed-up going sideways at the top of 4th gear (8,000rpm) preparing for a 90 degree right hander!

 
We love this beast of a roadster and how Todd runs it hard. “I was at the top of 6th gear going across the finish line. I could hardly see as my head was getting beat around violently by the turbulence”
Keep at it Todzilla! Datsuns Are Driven!




It’s a DATSUN DOUBLE-HEADER This Weekend!

Filed under: Events
by Alvin G @ 12:46 pm on April 28, 2011

***ATTENTION DATSUN FANS***

There are TWO exciting Datsun events this weekend!
Saturday, 4/30    
The Solvang Datsun Roadster Show is being held in beautiful downtown Solvang, CA.

Sunday, 5/1
A record number of Datsuns will be racing at Laguna Seca with HSR on Sunday, 5/1


If you are a Datsun fan and love vintage racing come out to Laguna Seca this weekend! On  5/1 the Historic Sportscar Racing group is bringing an exciting event with plenty of historic race cars and several notable Datsun racers! If you can’t make the Solvang Datsun Roadster Show (held on Saturday) this is another way to get your Datsun fix! We will do our best to attend on Sunday afternoon where the Datsuns are running in group 3. We also want to be there to cheer on our favorite Datsun Roadster racer, Ron Carter!

So just how strong will the Datsun showing be? At least TWENTY 510s, Zs, and Roadsters! Come on out to ‘Seca and watch these Datsun vintage racers mix it up with exotics and other wicked metal 🙂




ZCG 350z Wins Autox Series!!!

Filed under: Featured Cars and Projects,Performance
by Alvin G @ 11:10 pm on December 20, 2010


With driver Scott Smith behind the wheel the SmittyRacing / Z Car Garage 350Z took 1st place in both the Lockheed Martin Sports Car Club autox series “A” class as well as the Norcal UFO series in “OSP” class for 2010! Great driving and congratulations Scott, you make us proud!

2010 was an exciting year for this Z as it ran double duty in open track days AND competitively in 2 autox series. The car had several mechanical upgrades and also changed color from silver to its current Go Green. Let’s recap 2010 with pictures and videos of Scott piloting the Z to victory!

December has been rather wet, so here is the Z sliding around at the UFO autocross in Marina followed by in-car video:

On May 16, Scott took 1st place in OSP at the 43rd annual Dual at DeAnza autox in Cupertino, CA. Here is the winning run:

This Z never sleeps! After running hard on the autox Scott regularly (fiendishly might be more accurate) took the Z to open-track days or HPDEs…here are videos and a few pics from tracks like Laguna Seca and Thunderhill Raceway.

In September the silver Z became the Green Machine with the help of Williams Auto body in San Mateo, Ca. So If you see a bright green 350z on the street or at the track, say hello to Scott!


Here is a list of blog posts documenting ZCG’s modifications to the Z from the Stoptech rebuild to the awesome Motordyne Shockwave exhaust system. You can also see what Scott is running chassis-wise:
Transplant
StoptechRebuild
MotorDyneExhaust
GoGreenPaint
Dyno/chassis

The crew at ZCG installed and tuned several carefully chosen parts on this Z to make it a killer platform for an excellent driver like Scott to dominate the track! Here’s to another successful and fun year in 2011 🙂




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