Z Car Garage is excited to race at GRIDLIFE Laguna October 20th – 22nd, 2023 at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. This is the final festival of the season, with multiple races including the GRIDLIFE Touring Cup, final round of the NOS Energy TrackBattle Time Attack, and demonstrative drift on track. Off track, a music festival experience highlights the weekend with headlining artist T-Pain.
Rob Fuller will be racing his Bay Area Datsun Dealers 510 in the GRIDLIFE Touring Car Cup (GLTC). This is a wheel-to-wheel sprint racing series that focuses on single-class sprint racing. Typical entrants are modern cars like the S2000, Miata, Corvette, Cayman…so we are really excited to throw our hat in the ring and show everyone what a 50-year old Datsun 510 can do. It’s a great opportunity to introduce this crowd to vintage racing!
Rob will be running a treaded-tire on the 510 which should make this a really interesting race to watch. We practice and race on Friday with Races 2, 3 and 4 on Saturday. All races will be livestreamed:
Other highlights include professional drift drivers from all of the over the world. Our friend Larry Chen will be drifting and running chase car duty at GRIDLIFE, you can see the race schedule HERE. We can’t wait to be a part of the festival. See you in a week at Laguna Seca!
On September 22, Nissan invited Z Car Garage to drive the new Z from San Francisco to Los Angeles along the famed Pacific Coast Highway (PCH). The event, dubbed #NissanAdventuresPCH, was an an all-expenses-paid trip with overnight stays in SF and San Luis Obispo.
Geared towards social media content creators, Nissan hosted a cocktail hour with tips and tricks from a professional photographer/videographer and even provided personalized drone footage during the drive. It was, as promised, an unforgettable roadtrip experience with amazing company. Enjoy our report with photos and video…
My Z Car Story
Dear Zcarblog readers, while most of you know me as a die-hard Datsun Roadster owner/enthusiast, I also have a strong connection to the Z car. Most, if not all of my Z-car experiences have been possible through Rob and Z Car Garage. When I was dating my girlfriend back in 2005, Rob lent me his 1991 Nissan 30ZX Twin Turbo to enjoy. In 2007 I purchased my very own Nissan 350Z 6MT Enthusiast (above) with Stoptech big-brakes, VOLK CE28N wheels and a Nismo exhaust. My wife and I did everything in this Z from epic roadtrips to track days. In 2011 we were expecting our first child and we roadtripped down to the Solvang Datsun Roadster Show in the ZCG Nissan 370Z…
…And of course I’ve been lucky to drive the first generation 1970 Datsun 240Z on many rallies and weekend fun runs. This bring us back to the current generation Nissan Z (RZ34), and all of my Z-car memories started to come full circle in 2021 when Nissan invited us to their headquarters in Tennessee to view the pre-production “Z-Proto”:
Our journey with the current Nissan Z has been tremendous. When Nissan sent us the invitation for the PCH drive I was beyond excited for the opportunity to enjoy another roadtrip with my wife, in a Z. Like old times. So, from seeing that Ikazuchi Yellow Pearl prototype Z at Nissan HQ in 2021 to having one delivered to our driveway in 2023, Z-car karma really did come full circle:
The Drive
Day 1: San Jose to San Francisco
Nissan flew all attendees up from LA to SF to begin the drive, ending back in LA with the Z in each person’s driveway. Since I am based in San Jose, Nissan had a 6MT yellow Z delivered to our home, from LA! The adventure began with my wife and I driving up to SF to meet at our first venue, the 1 Hotel. On a rather serendipitous note, this is the same hotel we stayed in back in 2011, just prior to our first child when it was called Hotel Vitale:
After check-in we enjoyed a nice stroll by the Ferry Building and returned to the hotel for cocktails with the event group. Led by Nissan’s PR-rep Stephen O’Neil, the unifying theme for the PCH event was accessibility: The Nissan Z is an attainable sports car and social media can also be accessible. To drive this point home they enlisted the help of director/cinematographer Steven Moreno to offer tips and tricks on smartphone photography.
He even showed us his professional gimbal for shooting smooth video and each attendee was gifted a DJI OSMO 6 for smartphones. Dinner followed and this would be the start of some fascinating discussions with a wonderful group of people from all walks of life.
Day 2: SF to San Luis Obispo
Saturday’s drive would take us to San Luis Obispo via HWY 1/PCH with photo stops along the way – about 240miles. The morning started off with drivers getting a tour of the Nissan Z. The sight of 6 Z cars outside the hotel garnered attention from passerbys. As I was taking photos I noticed the yellow 6MT Z we drove up was no longer present…
…we were pleasantly surprised to find it was replaced with a Boulder Gray 9AT Performance. You may recall that we took delivery of our very own 2023 Nissan Z earlier this year. Despite having driven our 6MT Performance model extensively, I could not pass up the opportunity to drive a 9-speed automatic trim (more on this below) down the PCH. Like the 9AT, the Blue interior really grew on me with the Gray exterior:
Each Z came with the route print out and pre-programmed GPS, but all drivers were free to explore en route to the first stop ~45 miles south along PCH. We jumped in our Z and headed straight to Fort Baker for a few beauty shots with the iconic Golden Gate Bridge:
The Z drew plenty of attention in the parking lot. A gentleman named Tony chatted with us and took photos while expressing his memory and admiration of the Z car. Check out his walk-around video with narration below…it was like he was a professional content creator!
After navigating out of SF city we finally hit HWY 1 to enjoy some beautiful coastline driving. Arriving at our first photo stop/drone opportunity was one of our favorite destinations, Pescadero Beach. We’ve done many group drives out to this spot with fellow Nissan/Datsun enthusiasts:
Each driver got their own drone/video session with cinematographer Steven Moreno. For “chase” video he mounted his Gimbal to the back of a Nissan Armada (support vehicle) and our task was to follow it as close as possible. This was really fun and we had 2-way walkies to communicate with Steve while driving. The results from the drone footage were super impressive, you can see the footage in the video below. Huge thanks to Steve for sharing his passion with us!
People love the new Z and the beach lot was no different. A family visiting from NY had to check it out and we happily obliged. After a good 45min of video/photos we hopped back on to the PCH. Yeah, this Boulder Gray paint on the new Z has really got me…I took many photos 🙂
Enjoy this video we put together of the PCH drive:
The weather was fantastic along HWY1 so we stopped by Monterey to visit my favorite race track, Laguna Seca! Yes, this was just before the Rennsport Reunion and we will have a full race report on zcarblog.com soon!
While the PCH does continue past Monterey down to SLO we took a more direct route to avoid road work on HWY1. Driving the long stretch on 101S really made me appreciate the Z’s 9-speed automatic…the gearing allows for ultra-low engine revs for relaxed cruising…2000rpm at 85mph is nice. Thumbs up and lots of love from this G35 owner on HW 101:
We arrived at our 2nd overnight hotel, the Apple Farm Inn in San Luis Obispo just before 7pm. Another fantastic evening of drinks, food and conversation ensued.
Day 3: SLO to Los Angeles
After a casual breakfast we left SLO and headed south towards our final destination of Los Angeles. Taking 101S allowed us to stop in the small town of Solvang, the sight of our favorite Annual Solvang Datsun Roadster Show. Lots of memories with our family here. A welcome excursion from 101 was Painted Cave Vista Point. This twisty road took us high above for great views and looped back to 154-E.
Driving Impressions
This was the most time I’ve spent driving the 9-speed automatic Z. Having driven the ZCG manual transmission Z previously up my favorite winding roads…the 6-speed manual is the perfect-and only transmission of choice for me..but the 9AT has its merits. Cruising along the freeway at a paltry 2000rpm while offering blistering acceleration in full automatic mode is a nice compromise. It’s enough to simply haze the rear tires…even from a roll!
If I could find one criticism it’s the paddle shifters. They do not seem to offer quick upshifts or downshifts any faster then being in full automatic mode…I see them as ‘fun-to-have’ feature. Have no fear as it sounds like Nissan improved the shifting performance in the 2024 Nismo Z-kudos to the team! Also, as we mentioned before the sound alone of the 9AT -equipped Z is better than the 6MT…a by-product of current sound restrictions. Either gearbox will serve you well behind the new Z.
We made one final stop at The Getty Museum in Los Angeles before dropping off the Z near LAX. What a cool car. Nissan flew us back to San Jose Sunday Night so we could get back to work on Monday. A quick shoutout to Page One Automotive…Benjie and Austin provided excellent service during the trip. Each car was detailed and filled up with gas for the drivers and we really appreciated it. Also, thanks to Nissan for the $500 gift card to cover roadtrip odds and ends!
The People
Mr. K said, “Love cars. Love people. Love life.” The NissanAdventuresPCH connected us with an amaZing group of people. Content creators, all talented at their craft. Artists, maybe not in the literal sense, but each one continuously strives to perfect the craft in their respective fields. It was humbling and fascinating to learn from them. I also appreciated their candid feedback on the new Z. Please, give each one a moment of your time by checking out their social media channels below:
Huge thanks to Nissan for the invitation and gathering an immensely engaging group of people to enjoy the drive with. We love that you are still keeping the spirit alive for our beloved sports car. Long Live The Z! More photos in the gallery below.
Filed under: Events,Racing
by Alvin G @ 9:11 pm on September 20, 2023
“If it’s not the Z car, let it be the P car!” It’s no secret that Z Car Garage is a big fan of Porsche and we are excited to attend Rennsport Reunion 7, taking place September 28th-October 1st, 2023 at Laguna Seca.
2023 marks the 75th anniversary of Porsche and we can’t wait to join the world’s largest gathering of Porsche fans as they celebrate their love for cars, music, culture and community in Monterey, California. Z Car Garage will be providing race support for our client Kelvin Tse’s IMSA Porsche 911, racing in Group 3: The Eifel Trophy.
Please stop by the paddock say hello, we will be there all weekend at the RENNSPORT REUNION 7!
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 3rd to the 5th SVRA Thunderhill
March 24 to 26th CRSG Sonoma
April
April 27th to 30th SVRA Sonoma
May
May 4th to 7th SVRA Laguna Seca
June
June 23rd to 25th CSRG Laguna Seca
August
August 12-13 Monterey Pre-Reunion
August 16-19 Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion
The Datsun 510 is very close to our heart and today, the actual Brock Racing Enterprises (BRE) Datsun 510 #46 race car arrived at Z Car Garage. Despite being against all odds, our hero John Morton drove this 510 to SCCA Trans-Am series championship victories in 1971 and 1972, putting Nissan on the map and fueling every Datsun enthusiast’s passion for hot-rodding the humble economy car.
Huge thanks to Nissan and Randy Jaffe for giving us the opportunity to prepare the car for next weekend’s Velocity Invitational at Laguna Seca. This is the actual car driven by Morton to the championship; it remains unaltered and in its original racing livery:
Peter Brock and BRE built and raced the #46 Datsun 510 with John Morton as its driver. The team won the 1971 and 1972 SCCA Trans Am Under 2.5 Liter Championship. Few race fans thought the little Datsun from Japan could match the pace of the Alfas and BMWs, so its success earned it the reputation as “giant killer” among American racing fans. To this day it remains one of the most recognizable and honored racing cars of all time, and it established Nissan/Datsun as an accomplished performance brand.
We were completely awestruck to be in the presence of the BRE 510 and spent a few hours admiring it, fantasizing about its racing history and taking in all the BRE engineered details:
Enjoy this walk-around video of the BRE Datsun 510 at Z Car Garage today:
We also realized that the shop was filled with Trans Am brethren; the BRE 510, Ex-Ted Gruner 510, Corky Bell 510, Ex-Norm Balzer/Koobation 510 and Rob’s Bay Area Datsun Dealers (tribute) 510 all ran in the fabled 1970’s racing series!
Living Legends at the Velocity Invitational
Z Car Garage is really proud to announce special guests (and our heroes) John Morton and Pete Brock will be at the Velocity Invitational on Friday and Saturday. This is a rare opportunity to get an autograph and chat with these iconic gentlemen.
To celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Trans Am (under 2.5) racing series, Z Car Garage coordinated with Nissan Corporate to have the original BRE Datsun 510 displayed with the Horst Kwech Alfa Romeo at the Velocity Invitational. See the actual race cars in person, only at the Velocity event!
Filed under: 240z,510,Events,Racing
by Alvin G @ 5:10 pm on September 22, 2022
Dear Zcarblog readers, it’s been a busy year and we are catching up on blog posts, so please enjoy our belated race report from May.
WE LOVE RACING! Z Car Garage went vintage racing two weekends in a row. On April 21-24, Sportscar Vintage Racing Association (SVRA) hosted the Trans Am SpeedFest at Laguna Seca. On April 28 to May 1, SVRA hosted the Sonoma Speed Tour at Sonoma Raceway. Enjoy our race report with exciting B-Sedan Trans Am race action!
Z Car Garage Race Preparation
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. Here is a video of the race cars we prepared this week with dyno passes and a walk around the shop. Enjoy!
Z Car Garage Racers
Z Car Garage supported the following race cars for the SVRA double-header, more photos in the gallery below.
Rob Fuller in the Bay Area Datsun Dealers Datsun 510
The Laguna Seca Race 4/21
SVRA is an East-coast based group coming out once a year to host back-to-back race weekends in the Bay Area. It’s really fun and allows us roll with East-coast guys we don’t normally run with. Fantastic operation: they do live-streaming of the races, awards with podiums. ZCG was out in full force this year at Laguna with Ed’s 911, Kelvin’s Pacific Datsun 510. New to the gang was Kelvin’s historic 510 (Dragonetti Racing, ex-Ted Gruner) 510, driven by his brother Kenny.
This was our first weekend with both Tse brothers and it was absolutely fantastic.
As with any race event we had some car issues. On the day it rained heavily we had a transmission problem and ZCG Crew member Nick saved the day, changing a transmission on the wet ground. ZCG even made a guest appearance working on Larry Oka’s 510 (The Mike Bell car) with Greg Hoff driving (of SCCA Miata fame). Greg did really well and he wants a vintage 510 now:)
Historic B and C Sedan had a great race where Troy and Steve Link put on a show mixing it up with Mini’s.
Rob enjoyed racing, especially chasing Troy. Track photos by Kurt Boden:
“The 4-days at Laguna I was able to finish 2nd in all three feature races right behind Troy Ermish. I was able to out qualify him in one race. It’s really cool to battle back and forth with Troy as he is a phenomenal driver. People came over to say it’s so great to see someone rocking it out with him.”
Enjoy this in-car video from Rob’s Bay Area Datsun Dealers tribute 510 as he battles with Troy Ermish:
You can also catch the SVRA Livestream morning session on YouTube and the afternoon race also on YouTube.
The Laguna Seca event with SVRA was a success. We towed the cars back to the shop and made sure everything was good to go for the following weekend’s Sonoma race. We miss you Tom Dockery. He had an incident last year but rest assured his 510 will be back in fighting form soon. Super cool that despite is race car not ready he still came out to cheer us on.
Special shoutout to Glenn Chiou. He raced his 1973 IMSA GTU 260Z and we are really stoked for Glenn as he cracked off his best lap time of 1:40. He’s one of the youngest “privateer” competitors out there, building beautiful cars. Whenever he needs the assist from the pros at ZCG we are always there to help him.
The Sonoma Race
We have never attended both SVRA weekends. At Sonoma we had an incredible pit location across from Garage 10 with RacecraftNW and Jim Froula’s band of clients. With Nick and Keith not able to crew were down to Josh, Rob and RN Meghan Fuller:
“Meghan has been my partner in crime for 16 years and this was her first time stepping in…she did all the fueling for cars, learned how to install and torque wheels, work the checklists, vacuum out the cars and confirm GoPros…the feedback from us was awesome.”
On Saturday Kelvin broke his transmission so we swapped in one of Rob’s backup gearboxes in at their shop (F7) at Sears Point. He was able to race the rest of the weekend, and he was in the middl of the field. On Sunday am Troy and Rob battled yet again:
“I was able to beat Troy finally, with quicker lap times. After all the podiums these last weekends it was cool to get that gold trophy from SVRA. Lots of hugs and emotions. Guys in the Ermish camp like Rick Sheldon were congratulatory…nice to be competitors but also share the same love of vintage racing. Two weekends of absolute magic.”
Rob Fuller taking P1 at the Sonoma Speed Tour hosted by SVRA.
Watch the epic battle between Rob and Troy in the in-car video from Rob’s Bay Area Datsun Dealers 510:
You can also catch the Livestream of B-Sedan on YouTube from Sonoma Raceway.
Big thanks to Meghan for taking photos and video around the paddock. Here is a highlight reel of what it’s like at a vintage race…you should join us next time!
There were cool cars everywhere in the paddock:
We hope you enjoyed our race report from the SVRA double-header. Join us next weekend at Sonoma Raceway for the CSRG Charity Challenge!
Racing into 2022!
Z Car Garage is amped for this year’s race season. Here is list of events we will be attending. Please join us!
