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ZCG Heads to Thunderhill Too!!

Filed under: 370z,Events,Performance
by Forbes @ 10:53 am on December 17, 2009

It’s been awhile since we’ve posted anything on our shop 370z, mainly because the shop has been crazy busy with customer cars.  If you remember the last time we took the car to Thunderhill Raceway we experienced less than satisfactory performance out of the car in stock form.  This led to the addition of HUGE StopTech brakes, bigger swaybars, and lowering springs from Eibach.

What we didn’t advertise is that we’ve had an oil cooler of our own design on the car for some time and the track day last weekend was it’s first real test of the second version.  More on that in the full Norcal UFO track day post a little later this week.  Another change we made is to put the R35 GT-R wheels back on the car.  You may have seen pictures of the car when it was stock with these wheels on it but it is now a whole different animal now that it is lowered.  the stance and look are now perfect in my eyes, take a look at the pictures to judge for yourself.

Special thanks go out to Vlad for taking the awesome night-time shots of the Z last week.  Good looking out!!




NorCal U.F.O. Track Day at Thunderhill Dec. 13th 2009

Filed under: Events,Featured Cars and Projects
by Forbes @ 8:33 pm on December 4, 2009

Here is your best opportunity to join in on one of the last great track days of 2009.  NorCal UFO (United Five-Ten Owners Club) has rented out Thunderhill Raceway in Willows CA for December 13th and has some space left.  They are offering the rest of the spaces up to ZCarBlog readers and are waiving the late fee to all of our readers if we sign up before this up coming Wednesday (9th).

The price for the day is only $155.00!!!!! (includes lunch for the driver)

Click on the link below to view the PDF entry form which must be emailed to the UFO organizers (Dennis and Peggy Hale) ASAP.  They will allow payment to be given at the event itself if you have pre-registered.  I know that this is pretty last minute but we would love to see as many of you out on the track with us as possible!!

Also when you email the entry form please include what group you usually drive in (beginner, intermediate, advanced, etc) and please visit the UFO site to view the Frequently Asked Questions page to make sure that your car does qualify to participate, there will also be a tech inspection at the event to make sure that the vehicle is safe.

Frequently Asked Questions: NorCal UFO

Please call (831) 336-2444 or email peggy_hale_510@yahoo.com if you have any questions about the event, ANY questions at all!!

NorCal UFO Thunderhill Entry Form

Email completed forms to:  peggy_hale_510@yahoo.com

Thanks for all of your continued support for ZCarBlog and for the Z in general.  Long Live the Trackday!




ZCG 370z Gets a Hotchkis Upgrade

Filed under: 370z,Performance,ZCG 370z
by Forbes @ 6:19 pm on August 9, 2009

We love adding goodies to the ZCG 370z but it is tough to keep up with it because business is as busy as ever!!  This last week though we were finally able to install the Hotchkis swaybars that have been waiting in the wings.

The new bars are of a tubular design (hollow, to save weight) in 35mm and 27mm front and rear receptively.  They came with all the bushings and parts to make the install as easy as can be.  As you can see from the comparison photos below they are certainly beefier that the outgoing stock units and they now have a durable anthracite powder coat finish.

The car feels a bit more planted with noticeably less body roll which is always nice, but we really need to get the car out on track or at least to a local autocross to give some serious feedback.

If you are interested in ordering any suspension parts for your Z or G send Rob an email at Rob@zcargarage.com




ZCG 370z: Back From The Strip

Filed under: 240z,350z,370z,Events,Featured Cars and Projects,ZCG 370z
by Forbes @ 8:00 pm on May 7, 2009

I want to start this post by saying that I don’t drag race very often and we only got in four runs.

I left the shop around 2:15pm on my solo tip to Sonoma.  I was hoping to get a better turn out of our customers and friends for the afternoon trip up to Infineon Raceway yesterday but hopefully there will be a better turn out next time.  The drive was overcast with a few sprinkles here and there but no serious rain on the horizon.

The hour and a half drive was fairly uneventful and I even pulled out the camera to take a picture as the 370 and I passed by the San Quintin State Prison on highway 580.  I pulled into the gate at Infineon around 3:45, paid my $25 racing fee (thanks to Rob for spotting me), and proceeded to wait in line for tech inspection.

The track staff, seeing that the car was brand new, waved me through without a fuss and I went directly into the “Street Performance” group’s staging lanes.  Apparently I have perfect timing because there was barely time to turn off the car and say hello to a few people before we were headed up to make our first runs.

I happened to be parked next to a ’71 2.4L turbo Datsun 510 for my first run so I was pretty excited (I own a turbo’d 510 myself, again thanks to Rob.)   I get to the water box to do my burnout and a second or two after the tires start spinning the car begins to wheel-hop pretty badly.  I cut the burnout short and roll to the lights.

Now here comes the part where you realize how little I drag race.  I’m saying out loud to myself, “Leave on the third yellow.”  I thought I did.  NOPE.  I launched the car at 5,000 rpm and I cut a .539 light.  Bummer.  The tires are cold from the crappy burnout and I leave the tree with the wheels spinning which again turns into wheel hop.  The tires spin pretty well on the shift into second again and I am on my way to turning a 14.672 @ 100.83mph.  At least this leaves plenty of room for improvement, right?

Well… our next runs would have to wait a bit because it did start to rain a bit for a total hold time of around 45min.  Now back to racing.

Over the next two runs I alter my burnout and launching techniques to get down to a 14.077 @ 101.28mph.  Now it’s time for eliminations.  At this point I am way more confident in launching the car and in my staging strategies so I dial in a 13.95 for the first round.  Now the problem is that I ended up lining up next to one of our good customers in his supercharged 350z.  This is bad for two reasons.  First, he has been drag racing for a long, long time.  Second, since we are racing each other, one of us is going to lose in the first round.

After a decent burnout, finally, we stage up and put the hammer down.  I cut a .158 light which isn’t too bad and I run through the top end with a 13.930 @ 100.45mph.  I ran faster than my dial-in time.

If you are new to bracket racing here is a very short tutorial.  You initially set a dial-in time of the fastest you think your car will run, mine was a 13.95.  The goal then is to get as close to that number as possible without going faster.  Sort-of like Price Is Right rules. If both racers go faster, or “break out”, then the person who goes over by the least wins.

So I broke out by .020 of a second which means that Walt had to go quite a bit quicker than his 12.95 dial in time to give me the victory.  He didn’t, but boy was is close!!  He ended up running a 12.933 at 104.28mph.  That means he was .003 closer to his dial in time than I was.  You really couldn’t ask for a better race.

I know that we will be going back to the Wednesday Night Drags as soon as we get a chance, and maybe someone with higher skills than yours truly will be doing the driving to make sure that we get the most out of the 370z, it should be good for low 13’s.  All I want is another piece of Walt and that supercharged 350z.

Enjoy the pictures below and click the read more for the full gallery.  Unfotunately none of the videos I took of the Zs turned out well but I will try to scan the time slips so that everyone can have a chuckle at my expense.

…[read more]




Video: ZCG 370z At Thunderhill Raceway

Filed under: 370z,ZCG 370z
by Forbes @ 4:38 pm on April 15, 2009

Here is a video of the first red group (most experienced) session in our ZCG 370z last Saturday at Thunderhill.  This isn’t me driving but you will see my helmet bounce in and out of the screen a few times from the passenger seat.  There isn’t anything too exciting here as it’s the first session but I thought some of you might like to see it

Also remember that we are in a stock 370z on stock tires here.  Almost all of these cars are on “R” compound tires and some are making huge horsepower, ex: both Dodge Vipers.  We’ll be able to keep up with them soon!

Hopefully next time we get the ZCG 370z out on track we will be a bit more successful with completing the entire day.  Enjoy and be safe.

Note: If any of our loyal readers have footage of their Zs on track at Laguna Seca on Monday please let me know.  Alvin and Scott this means you two.




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