The 2026 Velocity Invitational was held at Sonoma Raceway May 29-31. Z Car Garage had a blast racing and supporting clients in Group 8 (ALMS) and Group 5 (B-Sedan). The event was just as fun for spectators with a friendly, immersive vibe. Enjoy our report from the weekend with photos and in-car video of the action.

  

Z Car Garage Racers

Photo by Chris Constantine

This year we missed racing in Group 7 IMSA, however the #49 Joel Anderson IMSA GTU Datsun 240Z was proudly displayed in the paddock for the weekend.

 

You can see photos and in-car video from Rob in the Joel Anderson IMSA GTU 240Z from the last VI race below. Volume up and enjoy!

  

The IMSA group this year was fun to watch and we enjoyed seeing the Leary 280Z car driven by Gabe Tesch’s son, Jake.

Photo by Elton Hom

Historic B & C Sedan

Photo by Alex Trang

Historic B&C Sedan partnered with Velocity Invitational to gather a collection of 30+ real historic B and C sedan cars in a dedicated run group! Several cars among them had real Trans Am Under 2L and Two-Five Challenge history like the Datsun 510s of Corky Bell and Bob Finn.

The Corky Bell Trans Am 510 (Group 5)

 

Famed engineer and race car driver Corky Bell ran this Datsun 510 in the early 70’s Trans Am series. Z Car Garage restored it back to its former glory with Trans Am livery and Corky drove it for the first time in 53 years at the last Velocity. We will dedicate a separate blog post to the restoration and Corky’s story. Here are a few photos of the car during the revival:

   

Rob Fuller piloted the Bell Trans Am 510 at the Velocity Invitational. His race report is below:

ROB:  This year we were going to see the return of the Joel Anderson IMSA 240Z and unfortunately it didn’t work out. Then our Mini Cooper that was supposed to be in the Mini Vs. Muscle race had some engine issues…so let’s talk about the fun stuff… Historic B&C Sedan!

 

After many years of dedication, Dave Stone and Glenn Chiou finally got an entire group of Historic B&C Sedans assembled for a run group at Velocity Invitational. This is really amazing because it has been discussed forever and every one of the cars inside the field has historic pedigree with stories. With about 33 cars total it was fun racing and we had a really good time. 510s were very strong in the field…Noah was there in his 68 car, Kenny in the 64 Ex-Ted Gruner car, Tom Dockery in the 72 Ex-Balzer/Koobation car and Rob Fuller and Corky Bell number 40 Datsun 510. 

 

Chet Taylor raced his Alpha GTV which was piloted for almost 50 years by Jon Norman (Bay Area Alpha legend) and he was in the mix. It was just a blast with great racing and got to spend time with fans and tell them about the cars and their stories. That’s one of my favorite parts. Everybody was competitive, there were no car issues. It was an absolute wonderful weekend filled with peanut butter pretzels, snacks,  good times and hugs. Also honorable mention to Greg Hoff in Larry Oka’s historic Michael Bell car that ran out of the Pacific Northwest in the late 70s. 

 

The Corky Bell car finished 2nd in the Qualifying Race and third in the Feature Race.

 

Enjoy this video of Rob Fuller racing in Group 5 at the Velocity Invitational with in-car action:

 

You can also see the full-length, in-car footage on Saturday and Sunday and watch more of Rob’s racing adventures on his YouTube Channel.

 

#68 Noah’s Datsun 510

 

#72 Tom Dockery

We have helped Tom build and prepare his Ex-Norm Balzer/Koobation 510 for several years. One of his racing goals for 2026 is to attend both the Velocity Invitational and Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion.

 
TOM: Velocity Invitational 2026 was another outstanding event for the B Sedan community. A large B-Sedan group, 30 plus cars with a broad representation of manufacturers. This was my first event after extensive work on the car performed by the Z Car Garage team. A special thanks to Rob, Josh and Cooper. The car worked well and I was able to stay in the top third of the run group. There is always room for improvement in my driving but I was very happy with my performance and more importantly the performance of the run group. The group put on a good show with racing throughout the field. Looking forward to August and the Rolex.

 

We have in-car video from Tom Dockery in the Ex-Norm Balzer B-Sedan Datsun 510, volume up and enjoy!

 

#64 Kenny Tse

Kenny is a steady ZCG trackside support client, running the Ex-Ted Gruner 510.

 

#37 Glenn Chiou

 

The Historic B and C Sedan founder and Datsun Historian Glenn Chiou raced his his Ex-Bob Finn U2.5L Trans-Am Datsun 510 This car features our Z Car Garage CV Axles. We also provided dyno tuning services for the fresh Rebello L18 with Solex/Mikuni 44phh induction and BRE intake:

 

More on-track photos by Elton Hom can be seen HERE

Friday Night Meet with Sung Kang and Larry Chen

 

Lifelong car guys Sung Kang and Larry Chen brought the spirit of Daikoku PA to Sonoma Raceway for a one-of-a-kind Friday night meet.  Z Car Garage displayed #49 Joel Anderson IMSA GTU Datsun 240Z. Rob recalls the evening:

ROB: Friday night…Larry Chen and Sung Kang go to Sonoma Raceway. They had a separate event where they sold tickets to allow fans to bring cars to the meet, see a drift car demo and trailer of the new movie, Drifter. Larry and Sung did a Q&A-style hang with fans and as the sun set Velocity had us bring down the IMSA GTU Datsun 240Z to the hot pit and display it with some really cool curated cars.

 

After the Q&A/trailer and everything in turn seven, they would choose which cars that would go down and be in the car show, was really cool. Lots of families and people I’ve never seen before. The IMSA 240Z was staged between some cars from the race like the Celica GTU car and a Mazda 767B.

Photos by Elton Hom

At the very end of the hot pit was Larry Chen signing books and meeting people. That line didn’t stop until they kicked us out at 9:30 at night. It was absolutely incredible. People were excited and respectful. People talked to me about some of the YouTube channel episodes that I’ve been in with Larry, their own Z car projects and being at the VI for the first time. Just absolutely wonderful. Very very cool to bridge that world to our world and so it was just a mix of young and old and families. Spent time with Johnny Lieberman. Highlight for me was seeing Joey Bautista’s early (Prince) Skyline it was epic. Really good time had by all and just a great job for Velocity bringing folks together.

 

Z Car Garage Trackside Race Support Services

ZCG provided trackside support for 4 cars in the B-Sedan field at the Velocity Invitational. Interested in our services? Find out more HERE.

Porsche 997 GT3 Cup (Group 8)

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 our client Kenny Tse raced it in the ALMS (group 8).

 Photos by Elton Hom

Paddock Gems

Photo by Elton Hom

There was no shortage of rare and exotic cars from well-known supercar marques. Historic icons were everywhere. More photos in the gallery below!

 

Our client Lora with her Series 1 Datsun 240Z

A Fan-Friendly Race Event

 

One of the best experiences for spectators is the paddock and organizers made access to drivers and their machines seamless. Fans could get up close and personal with race cars without the typical ropes or 45-foot RVs in the way. Enjoy our video coverage of the paddock focused on the Historic B&C Sedan groups:

ROB: Since the inaugural Velocity Invitational, Z Car Garage has been a big fan of what they were trying to accomplish:  mixing something that we (love vintage racing) with car culture that appeals to people of all ages. Kudos to Jeff O’Neil and his team for pulling off another exciting event.

If you want to see action from the event in its entirety, check out live streaming coverage HERE. Huge thanks to Meghan Fuller for capturing photos/videos for ZCG. More photos in the gallery below from photographers Alex Trang, Chris Constantine and Elton Hom.

ZCG Race Crew

  

Huge shoutout to the Z Car Garage race crew including Josh, Meghan, and Cooper. We are grateful for your support, keeping us safe and on the track!

 

Join us for the 2026 Vintage Racing Season!

 

Z Car Garage is amped for more racing this year. Please check the CSRG website and zcarblog.com for upcoming race events. Do not miss the next event: CSRG’s Corkscrew Classic June 12-14.

 

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On June 12-14, Classic Sports Racing Group (CSRG) will host the Corkscrew Classic vintage race at Laguna Seca. Z Car Garage will participate and support several client’s Datsun 510 race cars running in B-Sedan Group 3. It will be a great weekend filled with competition, camaraderie and plenty of Alfas, BMWs and Datsuns sharing the track. Remember to bring your family and friends as admission is FREE for spectators!

Hoosier Tire 2.5 Challenge

 

CSRG will be featuring the Hoosier 2.5 Challenge TA/BS. This is an action-packed race group with B-Sedans battling for points in the series!

 

Watch these Datsuns Race!

Want a glimpse of what it’s like to see Datsuns racing at Laguna Seca? Check out our 2025 race report with video and photos: HERE, and view a sample of cars expected to race June 12 at the Corkscrew Classic:

Race car driver, restorer and Datsun Historian Glenn Chiou in 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.

Join us for the 2026 Vintage Racing Season!

 

Z Car Garage is amped for more racing this year. Please check the CSRG website and zcarblog.com for upcoming race events. Do not miss the next event: The Monterey Motorsports Reunion at Laguna Seca August 12-15th.

 

On April 17-19, Classic Sports Racing Group (CSRG) hosted the David Love Vintage races at Sonoma Raceway. Z Car Garage raced and supported several client’s Datsun 510 race cars running in the B-Sedan Group. It was great weekend filled with competition, camaraderie and plenty of Alfas, BMWs and Datsuns sharing the track. Enjoy our race report with photos and video below.

 

Z Car Garage Races Ands Supports 4 Datsun 510s!

It is our pleasure to bring more enthusiasts into the world of vintage racing. Our services do include full race support and car-preparation to help make client’s race days seamless and worry-free so they can focus on driving. One of our specialties is dyno tuning. Before a race weekend we confirm that your car is running well and make necessary adjustments while on the chassis dyno.

Video of Dyno tuning of all four 510s below, Enjoy the sweet L-series music!

Our lineup of 510 racers…

#64 Kenny Tse

Kelvin is a steady ZCG trackside support client, running the Ex-Ted Gruner 510.

  

Noah’s Bluebird Coupe

 

#52 Kelly McCarty

Kelly recently acquired this 510 from Jim Froula. It features our Z Car Garage CV Axles and race preparation.

 

#40 Rob Fuller

ZCG owner Rob Fuller, in the #40 Corky Bell U2.5 Trans Am Datsun 510

 

Z Car Garage restored it back to its former glory with Trans Am livery and Corky drove it for the first time in 52 years at the 2024 Velocity Invitational. This was the first time Rob Fuller raced the Corky Bell 510! Full feature coming to zcarblog.com

 

B-Sedan Racing Action!

All of our clients finished the race and had a blast. Rob recaps the weekend…

ROB: The David Love season opener for CSRG, man did it feel like it was forever since we’ve been on the race track. Kelly McCarty purchased Jim Froula’s #52 car so we did a little bit of prep to make sure it was ready to rock and Kelly was back in action. It was super awesome. Noah’s Bluebird was there and both Noah and Kenny are really picking up the pace, we worked on all the things that will keep us staying competitive and fun in the front.

 

ROB: I will be driving the U2.5 Corky Bell Trans Am challenge car in both the Velocity Invitational event and the Rolex so we were sorting the car out. I had some really fun close racing with Tony Delane. He was kicking but in his 2002. We built this 510 in period and there wasn’t enough support in the fiberglass hood, so it was really funny to develop the “Fuller Flap” over the weekend 🙂 The car was super competitive and now we know what to do to for a bit more juice. Super excited to be part of the B-Sedan group with Bell car.

 

Video

Watch Rob Fuller battle for P1 with Tony Delane in the BMW 2002 plus paddock action in the video below:

Full in-car race video from Rob in the Corky Bell 510 is HERE

Full in-car race video from Noah in the Bluebird Coupe is HERE

Kenny’s 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 our client Kenny Tse races this throughout the season with CSRG and Rolex events.

ROB: Also on the racetrack was the Formula Ford group with a large field and they put on a great show. The Club Wheelhouse Classic Cup includes Porsche 996/997 cup cars with race livery and private cars that were built by Porsche. They had about 12 cars and it was really fun to watch them run. Both Kenny and Noah raced their 911s: Noah’s car is more developed 996 and both these guys are out there giving it the business.

 

Vintage Spec Miata

 

 

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.

ROB: “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.

 

ROB: Tom Dockery’s B-Sedan Datsun 510 is undergoing prep work for the upcoming Velocity Invitational and Rolex Reunion events. This is something that Tom has aspired to accomplish, his first time attending these two big shows. So he was driving Little Butters to get some seat time and then Ross “the hammer” Lindell was with us in the most important Miata, Randy Pobst’s first National Championship-winning Miata (1992). This car has only been a race car since it was built and it’s fantastic, full feature coming zcarblog.

 

A Fan-Friendly Race Event

 

Our friends from The Z Owners of Northern California (ZONC) hosted a car corral on Saturday to support the David Love Vintage Races at Sonoma Raceway! Super cool to see our clients Linda Williams’ 1972 Datsun 240Z OMS Pace Car Duplicate  and Lora’s Series 240Z participating.

LINDA: Great day at Sonoma Raceway on Saturday for the CSRG David Love Vintage Races. Congrats to Rob Fuller for the win on Saturday afternoon. What a fun race to watch with Rob moving into the front on the next to the last lap and pulling off a fantastic race in the Corky Bell 510 #40 ! The weather was perfect and not too warm. We had a good turnout for the car corral and getting to take 3 laps for the parade laps.

     

A weekend of great racing and good times

 

We enjoyed sharing this experience with our friends and CSRG family. Special shoutout to ZCG crew including Cooper and Josh. Running all of the cars above would not be possible without them. Thanks to Ning Recio, Joel johnson and others for sharing photos with us (see full gallery below). Check out high-res track photos from WGG. Next up is the Velocity Invitational at Sonoma May 29 with a special Friday night gathering including Sung Kang and Larry Chen with ZCG race cars on display. Then we have the CSRG Corkscrew Classic at Laguna Seca in June.

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Join us for the 2026 Vintage Racing Season!

Z Car Garage is amped for vintage racing this year. View our race schedule listed below, and follow the CSRG website and zcarblog.com for more information. Check out last year’s David Love race report.

Z Car Garage Trackside Support Services

 

It is our pleasure to bring more enthusiasts into the world of vintage racing. Our trackside services include full race support and car-preparation to help make client’s race days seamless and worry-free so they can focus on driving. From arrive-and-drive service to on-track support and coaching…we love to help. Check out the Z Car Garage experience with our client Todd and his B-Sedan Datsun 510

 

One of our specialties is dyno tuning. Before a race weekend we confirm that your car is running well and make necessary adjustments while on the chassis dyno. Here is a video of the race cars we prepared this week with dyno passes and a walk around the shop. Enjoy!

 

 

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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!
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On June 20-22, Classic Sports Racing Group (CSRG) will host the Corkscrew Classic vintage race at Laguna Seca. Z Car Garage will participate and support several client’s Datsun 510 race cars running in B-Sedan Group 3. It will be a great weekend filled with competition, camaraderie and plenty of Alfas, BMWs and Datsuns sharing the track. Remember to bring your family and friends as admission is FREE for spectators!

Hoosier Tire 2.5 Challenge

CSRG will be featuring the Hoosier 2.5 Challenge TA/BS. This is an action-packed race group with B-Sedans battling for points in the series!

 

Race Schedule

Watch these Datsuns Race!

Want a glimpse of what it’s like to see Datsuns racing at Laguna Seca? Check out our 2024 race report with video and photos: HERE, and view a sample of cars expected to race June 20 at the Corkscrew Classic:

Race car driver, restorer and Datsun Historian Glenn Chiou in 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.