The Concours event was an amazing experience. Big thanks to David Swig for the invitation and giving Japanese classic cars a presence at the show and in people’s hearts!

We left ZCarGarage at 7am with three 240z cars, a ‘67.5 roadster and one sinister-looking s/c’d 350z.

This was my first time at a Concours event, and I was really impressed with how the venue was organized. As we drove  past the registration and onto the lawn area each car received a bottle of wine!  Flag wavers at every turn directed us to our staging area, where I immediately saw a sea of Ferrari’s and other exotics. I kept wondering, “A bunch of Datsuns get their own display in this show? ” Yes indeed. Not only Datsuns, but Hondas and Toyotas deserve their moment in the spotlight as well 🙂

The Japanese classic car display included a Toyota ’67 2000GT,  Toyota Sports 800, ’68 Honda S800, ’71 Skyline GT-R.   3 Datsun 240zs,  Datsun roadster, and a 1973 Toyota Corolla.   9 lovely Japanese cars in between gangster-era Cadillac’s and bright red Ferrari’s.
 
 

 

 
People were smitten with the display. I could hear memories being conjured, stories being swapped. It was great exposure for our cars, and quite endearing to see this happen amongst all of the high dollar iron surrounding us 🙂

                    
Rob told me that the Skyline was real, with the S20 drivetrain. My jaw dropped and I got very giddy as I have never seen a real Skyline GT-R in person. When the owner opened the hood the mighty S20 gleamed in all its twin-cam glory. Check out the pictures below for more detailed shots…from the underbody to the interior, it was a treat.
                  

The arrival of summer came late to the Bay Area but it was definitely felt with 95 degree + temps. Multiple tents and water stations were available to the attendees. Our invitation included snacks, drinks and lunch in a pavillion with a perfect view of the car display ramp. We were fortunate to have a chat with David Swig about seeing more folks getting into vintage racing and increasing Japanese car representation.
    

Here is a sight that was new to me: Concours judges scrutinizing cars. Maybe one day these gentlemen will be judging your Nissan/Datsun at a Concours event! Why not?

After lunch it was time to check out more of the cars, and I can’t describe or include all of the wonderful machines so I will  list a few favorites. Make sure to click after the “read more” to see all of the pictures!

Mercedes Benz 300SLs, and Gullwings galore! The new SLS was there too.

This Alfa Romeo Guiletta Sprint had just the right proportions:

Chrome everywhere, huge grilles, hood ornaments, and interiors that are so huge and luxurious that they belong on Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous

           

The event was truly an incredible experience and hopefully we can have an even greater display of Japanese cars for the collector car world to appreciate. Enjoy the pictures!

Click on the “continue reading” link below for the full picture album (315 pics)
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The “Rev on Redline” Drag Series continues at Infineon Raceway  in Sonoma. Here is a report from fellow Z-car owner/enthusiast Scott Smith:

We had a good showing of Zs, Gs, and Nissan/Infiniti SUVs at the June 2nd ZCG Drag Day:
ZCG-Drags-Session-2
            
It was a different drag night than usual for the ZCG crew, as Rob took a friend’s QX56 and Scott took his Titan to see how well they could do with the automatic transmissions while competing in the Street (V8) class as opposed to the typical Sport Street (4cyl and V6 class).
Alan “Doc” Beede took his supercharged 350Z for his first drag racing experience – that’s a lot of car for a first timer! On the drive up, Rob was quick to prove that the newer, higher horsepower/torque QX56 was faster than Scott’s 2004 Titan. Doc Beede kept a watch from far behind knowing that his Z was the juggernaut of them all in this contest. I believe everyone advanced at least one, if not two, rounds. Walt proved his skill by advancing 4 rounds to reach the finals, but could not take the title in Sport Street. Scott had to go one more round to reach the finals, then blew the start and lost to a sad Mustang by .07s. Ask any real racer though, a win is a win, so props to that Mustang.

                                      

Join us for the next event on July 7th! http://www.infineonraceway.com/raceway/race/drags/

Prizes!
1st Place: One Pair of New BF Goodrich Drag Radials courtesy of Z Car Garage
2nd Place: $100.00 Gift Certificate at Z Car Garage

Points:
Sears Point Wednesday events are bracket racing. If you show up early, each driver gets 4 or 5 practice runs before the sessions begin.

1 point: Once the sessions begin, each time you advance
(Sears Point staff puts a smiley face on your slip), you get one point. The goal is to NOT run against each other until absolutely necessary (i.e. everyone stages in the same lane until the final brackets)

3 points: Runner-up (loss in the finals) – trophy awarded

5 points: Winner of class – trophy awarded

Points are only valid on the dates ZCG goes to Infineon (4/7, 6/2, 7/7, August, September, October, possibly November). I’ll update this post as we set the dates for future months.

All competitors must sign waiver @ Z Car Garage before entering competition (or sign at track and give to Rob).

So put your excuses to rest and join us on July 7th for the 3rd event of the year.

Costumes and decorated vehicles. Sounds like a parade? Ummm…sort of. It was actually the May 8-9 running of the 24 Hours of LeMons at Thunderhill Raceway Park in Willows, CA. This is a nationwide endurance race series for $500 cars. Teams must purchase and prep their vehicles for no more than $500. The limit does not include safety items like roll cage, brakes, wheels and tires. This event was 16 hours of racing over two days. Some LeMons events are a full 24 hours.

Teams “themes” are part of the fun, but the series is so popular that a good theme is often needed to get a team accepted to an event. This race included:
Two Starship Enterprises

A Supra with Tiger and Elin Woods on the roof

A Ford Ranchero wagon (built from an E-30 BMW)

And a beautiful 1958 Plymouth Fury (also built from an E-30 BMW)

There were many good drivers, but also many with little or no track experience. To make the race as safe as possible, the series prohibits even a hint of poor driving. Putting two or more wheels off the track, tailgating, not allowing faster cars to pass, spinning, etc. will get a team black flagged, whereupon they must go to the penalty area. The penalties, however, are hilarious. They might include writing a phrase on the car 100 times, reading a passage from a book “revival preacher style” to their team, or the parading through the paddock confessing their on-track sins. Regardless of the type of punishment, they keep the perpetrators off the track while the rest of the field adds to their lap count.

The bad news: Z cars typically don’t do well in this series (I think it’s because Z cars are so cool they need to be in pretty sad shape mechanically to fall to a value of $500). The organizers award a special prize, the Z Cup, to the Z car team that does the least poorly. This event’s prize went to The Underground from Tempe, Arizona, driving a 1985 Nissan 300ZX Turbo. They finished 19th out of 108. Not great considering the 18th place car was a Mazda 323.

The good news: This event’s winner was a Nissan. The winner on laps was team Rogue Squadron with their Star Wars themed Nissan SE-R. Way to go!

Ladies and Gentlemen Bassani has a new exhaust system for the 370z
More information and pictures shortly but for now here is short clip of the exotic sounds produced by the setup on the ZCG 370z:

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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