This show has been going on in San Francisco Golden Gate Park since the late 80’s, yet I have never been to it! Let’s try to gather as many Datsuns as possible to enter the show this Saturday, 10/16! Details below:
http://www.jimmyspicnic.com

The Z Car Garage Drag Racing Series continues for 2010. Z Car Garage is hosting a drag competition for all-years Nissans and Datsuns at Sears Point Raceway. Come join us for the next event of fun and Z-ing “in a straight line” October 20, 2010. Walt (Fowlman) won the last series in his supercharged 350Z with his consistent 12.9s runs. We’ll be continuing through November 11th with 5 events in total . We had a good showing of Zs and Gs at the drags our last drags event on July 7th. For anyone that missed it, Chuck’s TT 350Z ran an amazing 11.75s 1/4 mile on low boost! We look forward to seeing the wick turned up on this beast at the next event, and a sub 11.5s run! Rob made the overall Top 25 as well as the Top 25 for twin turbo cars lists for all models of the 350Z in the drag racing portion of my350z in Chuck’s TT 350.

He currently sits at 23rd overall for all 350Zs, and 18th for all twin turbo 350Zs. Congrats to Rob for his great run and to Chuck for the fantastic car! They need to go another 1/2s faster to crack the top 10 for the TT list.
my350z Top25-1/4mile times Stay tuned for a better run at the next event when we turn the boost up and see if Rob can move up the list! It could be a good showdown, as Scott Smith has talked about bringing his high-HP 300ZX TT for the next event to tangle with Rob in Chuck’s TT 350Z.

The August and September dates were canceled due to excessive heat in the Sonoma area, and we’re hopeful things will be cooled down for our 4th event of the year on 10/20.

General information: The Wednesday Night Drags events are held at Sears Point Raceway on most Wednesday nights during the year. The gates open at 3:30 and racing is from 5-10pm. One typically gets a few practice (non-competitive) runs in before the racing starts assuming you get there early. All the information you need about the track and racing itself is located here: http://www.infineonraceway.com/racew…y_night_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, 10/20, November date TBD ).

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 October 20th for the 4th event of the year.

Big thanks to Ann Devor and Paul from ZONC, the event was fun and the turnout was great. 32 cars showed up at ZCarGarage this morning! The line-up included Z32s, Z33s, Z34s, a 280zx, several 240z cars, a 510 wagon, and a GT-R:

We left ZCG around 9:30am and headed up highway 17 to Scotts Valley to visit the Canepa Design Museum and Showroom. Rob’s newly street-ported Mazda RX-4 wagon made it’s debut and impressed everyone in the twisites 🙂 bap, bap, bap, bap! David Swig drove his restored 240z(for sale). An ’08 350z was rockin’ some clean Volk LE37s in gold on Pikes Peak White and the Green Z came out to play as well:

The museum and showrooms at Canepa were amazing. My favorite cars had to be the Brad Frisselle 240z and the Lambo Miura. But the 300SL gullwing and the BMW M1 were also catching my attention! Then there was that Porsche 959 in the corner. Oh, and the Kurtis 500! It was a candy store. Check the gallery at the end for more pics.

 

This 80’s Porsche had a significant Canepa modification: a complete drivetrain from Porsche 962 race car!!!

From the showrooms we visited the shop area. It was incredibly clean and tidy. We also got a taste of many types of cars Canepa works on from restoring Cobras, prepping vintage muscle race cars, souping up SUVs, and maintaining uber-exotic cars like the Bugatti EB110.

After touring the museum we drove to Boulder Creek to grab lunch at a local brewery. Then it was off through more twisty roads as we winded our way through Big Basin and down in to Saratoga via highway 9.
It was good to meet some new Z owners and you can count on more events with ZONC and ZCG in the future. So check the blog for event updates and enjoy the ride!
…[read more]

 

New products continue to enter aftermarket for the 370Z, here is Rob to tell you about a new supercharger kit for the 370z!

ZCG was traveling south to the JCCS show we decided to take a detour and visit Rancho Cucamonga to visit GTM to check out their new Supercharger kit for the 370Z. Sam was nice enough to meet with us on a Saturday afternoon and give us a tour of the facility and it was impressive. The shop is amazing with late-model Nissans everywhere!!

This shop also includes an in-house machine shop, dyno, and alignment rack. After showing us around Sam allowed me to take the Shop Demo car for a ride. Having installed a Stillen supercharger already it was nice to check out Stillen’s competitor in the Forced Induction battle. First impression was quiet, nice driveability, and nice torque once the engine hits its sweet spot.
The boost takes over and seems like it keeps getting stronger as the rpms increase. Sam was surprised when I requested we throw it on the dyno.
Here is a short video Alvin took of the dyno run:

 

With the engine heat soaked and the temps in the shop close to 100 degrees the Z put down some good numbers: 380hp/305tq

Sam also shared some plots of pervious pulls with cooler temps, with readings of ~425hp/340tq.
Nice power and big torque.

Impressed! Excited to install one of these soon! Any takers?
Long live the Z
Rob

Hey all this event is going to be awesome with 23 cars signed up so far! Come join the fun and meet at ZCarGarage at 9am Saturday morning.

ZCarGarage and Z Owners of Northern California (ZONC) have arranged for a full tour of the amazing Canepa Design Museum and Showroom facility along with a beautiful drive through the Santa Cruz Mountains. The tour is impressive with a full look at how restorations are done on Porsche 959s to vintage race cars that you see at the major Historic Racing events. It is truly a candy store for automotive fans!

 

For a .pdf of the flyer just click below
Canepa Design Tour