An amaZingly talented driver, Morton brought Brock Racing Enterprises (BRE) four National SCCA Championships from 1970-1972: two C-production championships in the Datsun 240Z and two Trans-Am championships in the Datsun 510. Morton will be inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in Daytona Beach, FL this March 9-10. Enjoy our photos with John Morton over the years and let’s all wish him the best birthday!
Rob and John at the Velocity Invitational 2022
Morton, Pete Brock and Steve Millen at Laguna Seca 2018
Road Atlanta 2010, with the John Morton Army (JMA)
BRE Reunions in 2008 and 2010:
The Mitty, 2018:
Honored to spend time with John Morton on the racetrack. Happy Birthday!
R’s Day, one of the largest gatherings of Nissan Skylines on the West Coast was held on December 7, 2025 at Laguna Seca Raceway. Z Car Garage attended the event and supported our client Kurt in his R32 GT-R. Rob brought out the Bay Area Datsun Dealers 510 and several ZCG clients all had a great time. Enjoy our report with photos and videos!
Kurt’s R32 GT-R
We prepared Kurt’s R32 Skyline GT-R for the track day. Earlier in the year it received a fresh RB26 motor and turbo upgrade to complement the new KW coil-over suspension and Stoptech Big-Brakes….
Dyno tuning Kurt’s R32, volume up!
Kurt enjoyed driving his R32 at Laguna Seca with fellow GT-R owners. Photos by gtrx.app, and you can see more of Kurt’s R32 on his Instagram
Rob’s Vintage Racing Datsun 510
We also dyno’d Rob’s B-Sedan vintage racing Datsun 510:
Here’s Rob’s report from R’s Day…
ROB: Cooper and I loaded the BAAD car to Laguna Seca, our home track during the vintage race season. It was really fun to bring out my Datsun 510 race car with all those cool street cars. We had Dirk stoop in his 1973 Datsun 240z, Amy in her RZ34, Joseph in the RZ34 # 49 car, and a few others including Miles’ R32. Our main focus was to support Kurt in his R32 GT-R which has been modified and tuned by ZCG, full report coming to zcarblog.com soon.
I’ve been to a few R’s day and this was the first time I’ve driven. Each event has seen a steady increase in attendance and it was the most R32, R33 or R34s I’ve ever seen. It was incredible to be in a paddock filled with lots of cool Nissans… There was Pat’s RB-powered Pat’s Kenmeri (featuring our ZCG CV Axles):
All kinds of really cool cars and kudos to the R’s Day team as they were just super organized: the meetings and downloads were quick and informative. I love their grid process. Everything was just wonderful and we will definitely be back next year. Kurt’s car rocked. There were some pretty fast cars including Charles Park from Powertrix with their time-attack R35 tuned by SpecialtyZ. Sean Morris and Brian J from Top Rank, people from all over the California GTR scene. Todd Lapin from Norcal Skylines cooked HotPot in the garages! It was just a very festive, community-oriented vibe and I had a blast.
Dirk’s 1973 Datsun 240Z
Dirk’s 1973 Datsun 240Z features Z Car Garage Big-Brakes (StopTech), Z Car Garage CV Axles, Silvia 6-speed transmission and a host of chassis and driveline upgrades. Rob dyno tuned the 3.0L Rebello L-series engine with triple-Mikuni ph44 carbs, making 265hp/231tq at the wheels. We prepared the Z for R’s Day and Dirk had a great time:
DIRK: Yeah dude, massive difference! Work done by ZCG just before the day: 1. New rear sway bar (ST suspensions), car did not have one before, last Sonoma track day, being able to rotate the car on entry was difficult, this change was made to help that 2. New RE-71RS tires, Rob found old tires were pretty much spent, Dirk ordered tires, car stayed at ZCG an extra day so that they could be installed before the track day 3. Suspension and brake inspection 4. Change diff and trans fluids
Car rotated much better with the new rear sway bar, now able to rotate just by lifting off throttle in turns, quicker, and more fun. Felt great, very predictable and forgiving at the limit.
JOSEPH: It was a beautiful day at Laguna Seca (as if anything else is possible) with GT-Rs from every era, as far as the eye could see! There was also a very famous 510 in the mix…The #49 new Z ran great on its new 18×10.5 SSR wheels (275-35-18 Nitto NT01), but the day was cut short by cleanup of an oil spill from turn 6 to turn 10, and one of my brake pads deciding to delaminate in the heat on the way into turn 2. We’re putting race pads on next time! I made my goal of breaking 1:50, so I left with a smile on my face anyway.
Check out his R’s Day session at Laguna Seca (in-car video HERE)
Amy’s R34, Rob’s 510 and Kurt’s R32 GT-R….more photos in the gallery below!
Filed under: 510,Racing
by Alvin G @ 5:10 pm on December 11, 2025
Classic Sports Racing Group (CSRG) hosted the Sears Point Challenge at Sonoma 10/3 and Finale event at Thunderhill 11/1. Z Car Garage participated in both events, supporting several client’s Datsun 510 race cars running in B-Sedan Group. Great weekends filled with competition, camaraderie and plenty of Alfas, BMWs and Datsuns sharing the track. Enjoy our race reports with photos and video!
Sears Point Challenge 10/3-5
ROB: Beautiful weekend at historic Sonoma Raceway (which will always be Sears Point to me). We had a a few bitchin’ 510s including Tom Dockery and Kenny. Super excited to test out the suspension fresh and adjustments on Noah’s Bluebird coupe.
Everything seem to be working well with Tom, Kenny everyone up to a really good pace, it was fun.
Lots of cool hardware in the paddock:
VIDEO
Turn the volume up and enjoy the sounds and sights from the paddock at Sonoma Raceway!
Vintage Spec Miata
ROB: The Classic Sports Racing Group (CSRG) is excited to welcome Vintage Spec Miata (1990-1997) to all of their events! This is a fun, affordable way to get into vintage racing. Each event we see more really clean VSPs coming out to race. Season high for us in Sonoma, with I believe 10+ cars out there:
Speaking of glorious…we would like to introduce you to “Little Butters”, our 1991 Vintage Spec Miata that will be available for rental throughout the vintage race season. Contact Rob at ZCG for details. Since this is a new build for I drove it for the weekend to make sure it was sorted and ready to rock for any client that wants to enjoy it. It has a competitive race engine, Penske shocks which are the current suspension for SCCA Spec-Miatas. Just to pay tribute to how wonderful Mrs. Butters Z (our Series 1 shop 240z) is, we painted it Safari Gold. It’s nickname is Little Butters, Josh likes to call it “I can’t believe it’s not Butters” and then we picked the number 23 because we are Nissan dorks.
Anyway it was fantastic to have the car out and then honorable mentions are Lora B, she keeps kicking ass in her Spec Miata and Allison as well. Also on Saturday and Sunday we had Ross Lindell in the Randy Pobst National Championship-winning Miata (1992)…pretty cool that Miatas are old enough to have their own vintage class and then also have one of the their own ambassadors:
Super excited for the season to play out at Thunderhill. Huge thanks to Josh and Cooper for keeping us safe all weekend , Meghan and Oliver for taking care of the snacks and the tire recycling. I love that event. CSRG is magical. If you haven’t been to one those events you ar emissing out, so come on out! WE’ll be posting out race scehule soon after the holidays.
CSRG Finale 11/1
ROB: Every year CSRG ends their season with the Finale at Thunderhill. This event is lightly attended and results in tons of track time. There’s an Enduro on Sunday with with a faux LeMans start… and it is just rad. The Saturday night dinner is a special event and we are seeing more and more people showing up. It’s been two years since I have had my Datsun 510 out and it was a great way to end the season racing it.
Troy Ermish brought his 510 and we had a really nice B-Sedan field with a ton of Dimes out there. Most important 510s to us obviously include Tom Dockery and the return of fire captain Todd R, Noah, Tom, Alison and Rob was out stable for the weekend:
It was just awesome having so much track time. Everybody was kicking ass and taking names, and by Sunday afternoon I think we’d all kind of figured that we’ve had enough track time which is unbelievable for us to say. Once again Josh and Cooper kept us all safe all weekend long and we rocked it. Oliver was on tire recycling duty and Meghan on snacks while enjoyed the small town feel of Willows.
We enjoyed Saturday night dinner with CSRG and it was so much fun to see everyone. I hadn’t seen Josh Moriarty in a long time and he was out there kicking ass in his 510. There was a really great group of these ex-GT3 cars (tube frame/ fiberglass bodies). Jim Froula was in one (240SX) and a kid I run Spec Miata with (Joseph Carl) was out there with his Dad in a super cool vintage 1st-gen GTU RX-7.
VIDEO
Turn the volume up and enjoy the sounds and sights from the paddock at Thunderhill!
ROB: We had perfect weather and another race reason in the books. Can’t wait for 2026 we are super excited and will be traveling this year. There will be a big Japanese big-bore/bash with Sovren in the PNW and I’ll be going to the Rose Cup at PIR in my Miata. Get out there and race! If you have any questions/thoughts about racing with us please contact Rob at rob@zcargarge.com
Tom Dockery
Tom Dockery continues to enjoy racing in his Ex-Norm Balzer B-Sedan 510. Here is his report from both CSRG events along with some great in-car footage
TOM: The Sears Point Challenge was a fantastic weekend filled with learning and improvement. With Kenny, Noah, and me as students, Rob skillfully coached, challenged, and encouraged each of us to push our limits. As a result, I managed to improve my lap times with each session, achieving a new personal best at Sonoma.
The CSRG Finale at Thunderhill was fun, although it had its frustrating moments. We shared track time with the higher horsepower group 8 machines during all 10 sessions. The frustration stemmed from some group 8 drivers opting to start from the back of the field despite their qualification times. As they worked their way through the field, they didn’t always take the easiest path, requiring slower drivers like me to let them pass, which affected my race pace with competitors I hoped to stay with.
VIDEO
Volume up and enjoy. in-car video action from Tom Dockery’s Datsun 510!
TOM: There were positive aspects too. I learned the freight train signaling method to coordinate with teammates at the start. Noah and I used this technique to block a NASCAR Cup car that tried to prevent the faster B-Sedans from overtaking in the corners. Josh and Cooper provided excellent support on both weekends. At Thunderhill, Josh performed a fuel pump swap while Cooper replaced a lower radiator hose, ensuring we didn’t miss any sessions.
See more photos in the gallery below (Thanks Meghan!) and stay tuned for our 2026 race schedule! …[read more]
Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at Z Car Garage! We hope you can find time to Enjoy The Ride over the holidays. Please note our hours of operation below:
Week of Thanksgiving: We are open Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday 11/24 to 11/26 and Closed Thursday and Friday 11/27 and 11/28
Week of Christmas: We are open Monday, Tuesday 12/22 and 12/23 and Closed Wednesday ,Thursday, and Friday 12/24, 12/25, 12/26
Week of New Years: We are open Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday 12/29 , 12/30, 12/31 and Closed Thursday and Friday 1/1 and the 2nd
*A gentle reminder on visiting the shop: No “Drop-in” please, must have an appointment. Not accepting phone calls during business hours-please leave a brief voicemail or e-mail rob@zcargarage.com
Happy 89th Birthday to our hero Peter Brock! You have been and continue to be inspirational to us Datsun fans worldwide. Here are a few pictures we enjoyed taking with you over the years:
