Nissan celebrates over 50 years of racing

There are vintage car races every month of the year, but few draw such amazing machines as the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion. Each year the Reunion has a featured marque and this year it was Nissan, previously known as Datsun. This was the very first time a Japanese manufacturer was honored as the featured marque in 45 years of running the event! As you can imagine, excited Datsun racers and fans around the nation made plans to attend the Reunion held 8/23-26 at Laguna Seca Raceway.

 

We had a blast at the RMMR and I was once again fortunate to be on the Z Car Garage pit crew for several race cars. Read further for our report, illustrated by a 200+ shot gallery with videos. Enjoy! Here is a short introductory video highlighting the Nissan/Datsun group photo (50 cars!) and a taste of racing action to come:

An epic showing from Nissan Motorsports

Nissan really rose to the occasion, bringing historically significant race cars from Japan to offer a museum-like collection under its paddock tent. Our friends at Japanese Nostalgic Car (JNC) took an in-depth look at each of the cars displayed, catch their excellent coverage HERE. My favorites were the #46 BRE 510, Grand-Prix dominating R382, hyper-rare Nissan R390 GT1 Road Car, and of course the monstrous GTP ZX Turbo car. We wish they would have driven them on the track!

 

Datsun fans unite

When the announcement was made that Nissan would be the featured marque at the RMMR, we knew it had to be an unforgettable experience for all Datsun enthusiasts.  An event “not to be missed”, and that is where The Z Owners of Northern California (ZONC) comes in. We reached out to club secretary Ann Devor, and her team coordinated a Nissan-only parking corral AND a parade lap around the world famous, 11-turn, 2.238-mile jewel of a road course called Weathertech Laguna Seca Raceway.

 

Car corral attendance was impressive, and it was absolute bliss for all participants. There were over 130 cars including Datsun 510s, Z cars and roadsters followed by Z32s, Z33s, Z34s and GT-Rs.

  

Staging for the parade lap was awesome with smiles everywhere! Living legend Pete Brock even rode shotgun in a Datsun Roadster as the lead car. We were fortunate to get almost two full laps in, at a surprisingly brisk pace. Please see our picture gallery and link (from Jason Green) for shots of your car!

  

Missed out on the fun? In the video below you can see my coverage of the car corral and parade lap. Also included is parade lap footage captured from the Corkscrew, one of the track’s infamous turns, thanks to Gary Savage:

 

Serious recognition for Japanese Classics

 

The Reunion is a highlight for race fans, but it is also part of Monterey Car Week which is filled with classy events like auctions and the famous Pebble Beach Concours d’ Elegance. Another first for Japanese cars was the Japanese Automotive Invitational hosted by Infiniti. This inaugural event displayed landmark Japanese vehicles. While I did not have a chance to visit the JAI, Speedhunters did. We are proud of three cars displayed: Tim Corcoran’s stunning ’64 Datsun 1500, a hakosuka Skyline GT-R from our friends at JDM Legends,  and Brian Kippen’s Nissan Patrol:

 

Epic racing

With 50 Nissan/Datsuns racing this year the starting grid for Group 3B (B-sedan, roadsters), Group 5A (IMSA GTU) and even Group 7B (IMSA GTO) was a fan’s wish come true. Z Car Garage supported 5 race cars, and Rob Fuller would be driving one of them as well. Rob’s operational plan was to assign one technician per race car to ensure that all were ready for each session. It was an orchestral process to watch unfold, and we pulled it off as all 5 cars made it through the Pre-Reunion week and race!

  

Take a lap with John Morton in the BRE Datsun 240z

 

For this year’s Reunion, Z Car Garage prepared and supported the #46 BRE Datsun 240z piloted once again by our hero John Morton. Owner Randy Jaffe restored this Z over several years with fanatic attention to detail. The Z was shipped to ZCG from Georgia, needing refreshing from racing earlier this year at The Mitty (Nissan was also the featured marque).

 

  

At 76 years of age John Morton is still formidable behind the wheel!

  

Enjoy this extended video with in-car footage of John dicing it up with Porsche RSRs and BMW CSLs…Long Live The Z!

John finished the race as the fastest Z car in the field! 8th overall out of 52 cars with a best lap time of 1:41.8. The BRE 240z also enjoyed the Monterey scene off the track, taking a trip to the lush greens of the Quail and shop-lined streets of the Carmel Concours. The video below shows the drive to these events and features a bonus interview from Motor Trend with Rob at Z Car Garage:

 

Rob Fuller’s RMMR debut

…[read more]

 

Z Car Garage is excited to participate in the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion August 23-26 at Laguna Seca. We will be driving and supporting several vintage race cars, including this special 1979 Datsun 280zx raced by Jim Fitzgerald. “Fitzy” is the winningest driver in SCCA history with an astounding 350+ wins in his career.

  

He was never afraid to trade paint to get the win: in 1980 at the C Production Runoffs at Road Atlanta he was seen slamming doors with Freddie Baker in his E-Type on the front straight, on the pace lap! Video of the action can be seen in this HERE. Following this race, the ZX became known as the “Designated Hitter” car.  Fitzgerald died in 1987 after crashing his 300zx Turbo in the Trans Am series race.

 

  

Comedian/Paul Newman fan Adam Carolla purchased the ZX in 2009, and put it up for sale with our friends at Bring A Trailer last July. Our customer Alex McDowell won the auction and Rob and I visited Adam’s shop in Los Angeles to pick up the car. The Fitzy car was awesome to see in person, from the livery to wide Panasports it got my heart racing. We loaded it up onto a trailer courtesy of expert Datsun-restorer/historian Les Cannaday:

 

  

Before leaving, Adam’s crew was kind enough to let us peruse his car collection.

 

This place just might be Xanadu for Datsun nuts:

  

Adam is a big Paul Newman fan and it shows! Bonus points for a poster showing our #49 IMSA GTU 240z RMMR!

 

The ZX arrived safely at Z Car Garage (thanks Les) :

 

 

Fast forward to 2018, the Jim Fitzgerald 280ZX gained acceptance to race at the RMMR with Alex McDowell behind the wheel! ZCG began race preparation.

  

Rob dyno-tuned the L-series beast and it sounds fantastic. See the dyno and unloading in this video below:

 

We will have another feature for each of the race cars running at the Historics! Don’t forget to purchase your tickets for Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion 8/23! Enjoy more pictures in the gallery below:
…[read more]

Nick P came to Z Car Garage to fix a blown head gasket on his 280zx.  We decided on a full cylinder head rebuild with a revised cam profile from Rebello, otherwise it was built close to factory spec. Teardown pictures below indicate obvious failure:

 

 

The rebuilt cylinder head:

 

We added a new 6-2-1 exhaust header from MSA and finished it off with the ZCG exhaust system:

 

The intake manifold and associated smog/efi plumbing were cleaned up:

 

With the engine freshened we put the Z on the rollers…141hp/142tq to the wheels is healthy!

 

Next we turned to the suspension. Nick wanted us to install his TechnoToyTuning (T3) coilovers, RCA’s and T/C rods:

 

Old struts out and coil-overs in!

 

T3 camber plates up front:

After an alignment and fender roll the Z sits perfectly without rubbing or scraping. We dig the RB-Rs on this!

 

 

Today’s post concerns another meaningful 280zx restoration that we are undertaking right now.  This car started it’s life as a normal ZX but was put under the knife to receive extensive modifications almost immediately.  It is now a collector’s item and a truly special car to the Z faithful.

This car runs a vintage “blow through” turbocharged and intercooled 3.1L engine that breathes through Mikuni 44mm carburetors.  It is truly a unique setup that allowed Jim Cook to make great power even with the limited technology available at the time.

This car is soon to be under attack from the ZCG assembly crew as we have just received a slew of parts from our powder and ceramic facilities.  Expect to see some posts on this project in the next few weeks as things come together.

There are more pictures and more background info on the 280zx Turbo after the “read more.”  The owner was also gracious enough to gather some information on the car and Jim Cook himself and send it in to us here at zcarblog.com

…[read more]

We do quite a few restorations here at Z Car Garage but this one holds a special place in our heart and I would like to share it with all of you.  This 280zx has been a few years in the making and will be coming to a close soon once a couple of the nearly impossible to find parts are sourced.

Most of the parts that we are still searching for have been out of production for a decade, so you can see why this has taken some considerable effort to close out.  Almost all of the interior pieces needed to be repaired and redyed to match the new dash and the newly upholstered seats, but no expense has been spared to get the highest quality items available.  As these parts slowly trickle in from around the country (and world) the car is being re-assembled to better than original condition.

I have over a thousand pictures that have been taken over the course of this project so here are a few of the significant ones that show what lengths we have gone through to make it one of the cleanest restorations around.   It has truly been a labor of love to restore this car and it will be a sad day when it gets delivered to its owners once again.  I hope that they will enjoy it once completed as much as we have while building it for them.

Click on the pictures for the full-size and click the read more for more…

…[read more]