WE LOVE RACING! On October 13-15, Classic Sports Racing Group (CSRG) hosted the second annual Laps for Laguna event at Laguna Seca Raceway. Z Car Garage had a blast racing and supporting Datsun 510 race cars running in B-Sedan Group 9 (John Morton Cup). It was a great weekend filled with competition, camaraderie and plenty of Alfas, BMWs and Datsuns sharing the track. Enjoy our report with in-car footage and photos.

Z Car Garage Racers

We raced and provided trackside support for our client’s B-Sedan Datsun 510s (Rob, Todd, Jeff and Gabe):

#88 Todd Rueppel

Todd enjoyed his Z Car Garage trackside support experience with us at the first Laps For Laguna event!

#25 Jeff Rothman

Gabe’s father Jeff is racing his B-Sedan Datsun 510:

 

#8 Gabe Rothman

 

#7 Rob Fuller

ZCG owner Rob Fuller, Bay Area Datsun Dealers tribute car

 

Let’s Race!

Laps for Laguna is a vintage racing event created by the Laguna Seca Raceway Foundation and California Sports Racing Group (CSRG) to raise money for charity. It is an open sound event with multiple races for each race group, charity rides and more. We hope Laps for Laguna continues to be an annual affair.

 

Rob recaps the weekend:

“Friday afternoon we had practice sessions with father-son duo Jeff and Gabe Rothman, Todd R, and myself all running our B-Sedan Datsun 510s. Todd and Jeff were running similar pace so they were cutting it up. Gabe continues to pick up his pace and smooth out his driving…and he is a front runner. Super excited and proud of him.”

 

“It was just myself and Parker’s Alfa in front. Fortunately, he has picked up some speed this year and become the one to beat! Really stoked for him and Fred from Autostrada prepping this fast Alfa. On Sunday we had a really good battle when Alan Terpins in 911 T/R. he motored us pretty well on the start and Parker and I just chased him for 8-10 laps. Other two races Parker and I matched each other’s pace and exchanged places a few times, but my 510 didn’t have the pace of that Alfa. Congrats to those guys. Perfect weather, great run groups and one fantastic weekend!”

 

Watch this exciting in-Car video from Rob’s 510, mixing it up with a 1968 Porsche 911 T/R driven by Alan Terpins and Alfa Romeo driven by Parker McKean:

The Z Car Garage Nissan Z as Pace Car

Z Car Garage was happy to have our 2023 Nissan Z as Official Pace Car at Laps For Laguna. Rob enjoyed wheeling the New Z around the track:

“The track had a “friends of Laguna Seca Raceway” gathering where corporate partners would bring their staff to enjoy some charity rides in cars like GT40s, Nascar, Ferrari’s and one new Nissan Z car. I was able to give rides on Friday morning for about 2 hrs straight. It was really fun to put the new Z through its paces.”

You might notice the new Z’s livery, it’s a nod to our #49 Joel Anderson IMSA GTU Datsun 240Z, and we will dedicate a separate blog post to it:

 

Paddock Highlights

Big thanks to Meghan for taking photos and video around the paddock. Here is a highlight reel of race and paddock action at the track:

A weekend of great racing and good times

 

Special shoutout to ZCG crew for keeping all of the cars running so we can race! More photos in the gallery below.

 

Join us for the 2024 Vintage Racing Season!

Z Car Garage is amped for more racing next year. Please check the CSRG website and zcarblog.com for upcoming race events. We are thinking about returning to Walter Mitty at Road Atlanta in spring since they are celebrating Japanese cars. We may get a transporter full of vintage cars so if you are a vintage racer and want to join us please please inquire with Rob at the shop. CSRG race event schedule below. Stay tuned for more race reports!

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Jaime is performing a full restoration of his beloved 1972 Datsun 240z, now in color 920 Safari Gold with a host chassis and drivetrain upgrades. We are happy to report that his Z Car Garage Big Brakes fit nicely behind the rare, sand-cast Gotti wheels from Racing Service Watanabe. These are 15×8 and 15×9:

Big-Brake Kits Available For DIY Install!

Z Car Garage is proud to offer our Big-Brake Kit to Z-Car owners that want to perform the installation themselves. We can ship worldwide and each kit contains everything needed with a comprehensive (40-page) installation guide. Blog posts documenting all of our customers running the ZCG Big-Brakes can be found HERE.  Let’s take a closer look at Jaime’s beautiful S30 and his ZCG Big-Brake installation:

 

As mentioned, our ZCG Big-Brake kit ships with everything needed to install and retains the factory parking brake:

  

See more about his Z in our feature on zcarblog.com HERE and follow Jaime on his Instagram page to see his attention to detail. Thanks for your support Jaime!

 

Z Car Garage is excited to participate in the Velocity Invitational at Sonoma Raceway Starting tomorrow 11/10!. This is a must attend historic racing event for Nissan/Datsun fans with IMSA GTU Z cars, exotics and more to enjoy. Tickets are still available, to purchase simply on click HERE, and read below for a preview.

 

Z Car Garage Racers

Z Car Garage is excited to be racing in Group 6 (1968 – 1978 IMSA GT Cars), Group 9 (ALMS) and Group 10 (Mini vs Mustang Enduro). Here is a preview:

#49 IMSA Joel Anderson GTU Z

Rob Fuller will be driving the #49 Joel Anderson IMSA GTU Datsun 240Z:

 

Porsche 997 GT3 Cup

 

This very special Porsche is the 2006 FIA European GT3 Championship winning car that was driven by Sean Edwards.  It is a 997 GT3 Cup S Prototype and Kenny Tse will be racing it in Group 9 (ALMS). Listen to this car on the Z Car Garage dyno below!

 

 

#78 IMSA Porsche 911

Z Car Garage is preparing and providing trackside race support for our client Kelvin Tse and his IMSA Porsche 911, running with the Z cars in Group 6:

 

Mini Vs Mustang Enduro

 

Rob Fuller will be racing a Mini Cooper against Mustangs in the Group 10: 1960’s Mini Vs Mustang Enduro

…this is an action-packed group don’t miss out!

 

Race car driver, restorer and Datsun Historian Glenn Chiou will be racing his FAR Performance 240Z. This Z has a very rich racing history, driven in the 70’s by Loren St. Lawrence in VIPS Restaurant livery.

 

Race schedule:

 

This is a wonderful event for the whole family, check out our report from last year’s 2022 Velocity Invitational. Z you at Sonoma Raceway November 10-12!

Join us for the 2023 Vintage Racing Season!

Z Car Garage is amped for more racing this year. Here is list of events we will be attending in 2023, including CSRG and SVRA . Please join us!

March

March  3^rd to the 5^th    SVRA  Thunderhill

March 24 to 26^th          CRSG   Sonoma

April

April 27^th to 30^th           SVRA   Sonoma

May

May 4^th   to 7^th               SVRA   Laguna Seca

June

June  23rd to 25^th           CSRG   Laguna Seca

August

August 12-13                    Monterey Pre-Reunion
August 16-19                    Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion

September

Sept 8^th  to 10^th              CSRG   Sonoma

Sept 28- Oct. 1st.            Rennsport Reunion Laguna Seca

October

October 13-15                  CSRG Laps For Laguna

November

Nov  3^rd to 5^th                 CSRG   Thunder hill

Nov 10^th to 12^th              Velocity Invitational

 

John E came to Z Car Garage through a dealership connection at Dublin Infiniti. He purchased this Q50S Red Sport in 2019 with 46k miles on the odometer and it was time for bolt-on performance upgrades with dyno tuning.

 

We installed several parts from AMS Performance including their AMS Heat Exchanger, AMS Coolant expansion tank. Helping the VR30DDT engine breathe are AMS downpipes and a full Fast Intentions cat-back exhaust system. Photos of each are shown below.

 

The new AMS heat exchanger compared to the stock unit and installation:

AMS expansion tank installed replacing two plastic OEM units:

 

AMS downpipes:

 

The Fast Intentions cat-back exhaust replaces the restrictive OEM system:

 

Standard exhaust tips on the FI exhaust system, we love the quality, fitment and sound of these parts:

 

We also installed new Hotchkis sway bars front/rear. Stock vs new below:

 

Dyno Tuning

Straight from the factory, the VR30DDTT is an impressive motor rate at 400 hp and 350 ft-lbs tq stock. It is actually underrated as we have seen with dyno testing. With a few bolt-ons and tuning, even more power can be unlocked from the VR30. Rob tuned John’s Q50 using EcuTek, making 404hp/435tq at the wheels. A significant improvement over the 336hp/338tq baseline:

  

Enjoy the dyno video below:

 

Enjoy The Boost John!

Are you ready for upgrades on your late model Nissan/Infiniti? Give us a call or e-mail!

 

 

We love to see owners installing our Z Car Garage CV Axles in their vintage Nissans and Datsuns. Adam D is running a set on his 1971 Datsun 240Z with an RB25DET drivetrain.

 

Z Car Garage is proud to offer a CV axle conversion kit for your Datsun S30 and 510. We have sold over 200 sets of axles globally, with customers installing and enjoying them on everything from street cars to full-blown IMSA racers. These CV axles will help transmit power to the ground and ensure smoother operation compared to your standard half shafts.

  

For years we have used aftermarket CV axles that utilize an aluminum adapter prone to loosening up over time. Despite efforts to keep things tight (Loctite, hardware changes) we had to keep an eye on them. We developed a better solution that eliminates the need for aluminum adapters and remains 100% bolt-in like a factory half-shaft. These are the beefiest CV axles on the market. They have been tested on the track by our vintage racing customers and also in high hp* street cars. Each axle has a serial # for peace of mind and the kit comes with everything you need to install on your car.

 

Datsun 240Z Dreams

 

Adam shared his Z car history with us:

“I heard about Z car Garage on YouTube. I own a 1971 240z with a Series 1 RB25det and it’s been my dream build since I was a teenager. My neighbor growing up had a 240z and he made his look so sporty I had to have one. I always loved Hondas and Evos which I’ve owned and built,but the 240z for me was my all out build as far as performance since it’s a classic car and I don’t have to worry about emissions. I’ve been building this car since 2013 when I bought it as a rolling shell with the RB for $7500 off Craigslist...”

 

“I first had the body work done paint and body by Mikes Paint and Body in Fullerton. He molded in my fenders. Then I found Nissan RB engine specialist vendors (Rawbrokerage) built the motor with Animal auto. I recently had fabrication to make custom titanium and other metal work by humble engineering.”

   

“The car has full T3 suspension and arms with Z Car Garage Axles. I chose these axles since I wanted over kill if I want to push more power. I run a Garret Gen 2 g35 .82 ar. The car runs on a Haltech stand alone rated at 530whp. I am highly satisfied with the axles and I like how when I called and had questions Rob took time to talk to me. Future work is more cosmetics and interior .”

        

 

ZCG CV Axles

Our Z Car Garage CV Axles help transmit power to the ground and ensure smoother operation compared to your standard half shafts. These are 100% bolt-in replacing your half-shafts and does not use aluminum adapters commonly found in aftermarket units. We have over 200+ CV axle kits on customer cars and we are stoked with all of the positive feedback.

   

For years we have used aftermarket CV axles that utilize an aluminum adapter prone to loosening up over time. Despite efforts to keep things tight (Loctite, hardware changes) we had to keep an eye on them. We developed a better solution that eliminates the need for aluminum adapters and remains 100% bolt-in like a factory half-shaft.

  

Designed and manufactured locally with KAD Models, the ZCG CV axle kit works in both R180 and R200 configurations.

  

These are the beefiest CV axles on the market. They have been tested on the track by our vintage racing customers and also in high hp* street cars (powershifting, clutch dumps, etc.). Each axle has a serial # for peace of mind:

 

The CV axle kit is available now from ZCG for 1595.00 + freight and they come with everything you need to install on your car. Contact us at 408-452-0350 or send Rob an e-mail rob@zcargarage.com to purchase. Installation is just like doing a half-shaft: there is even a marking that shows you where to line up bolts and special hardware:

The ZCG CV Axles in action

The video below demonstrates the “looseness” associated with aftermarket CV axles that use adapters compared to the ZCG axles without adapters. Several customer race/street cars running our CV axles are also shown. Enjoy!

 

Enjoy this video made by our client Hazel. She installed our ZCG CV Axles on her Hazel’s 1970 Datsun 240Z

 

Over 200 sets of our ZCG CV Axles are installed in client’s cars all over the world:

Supermachine in Tokyo, Japan is running our Z Car Garage Big-Brakes and Z Car Garage CV Axles in their Series Datsun 240Z:

 Race car driver, restorer and Datsun Historian Glenn Chiou is running our ZCG CV Axles in this IMSA GTU 260z race car!

 Racer Brad H is running ZCG CV Axles in his IMSA GTU race car:

 Race car driver and restoration specialist Jim Froula of Racecraft is running ZCG axles in several of his cars:

Set #246 – installed May 2018 on the “Harry Stewart #52” Datsun 510:

 Set #247 – installed April 2018 on the 260z

 Set #248 – installed on Adam Carolla’s “Greg Sorrentino #90” Datsun 510.