Costumes and decorated vehicles. Sounds like a parade? Ummm…sort of. It was actually the May 8-9 running of the 24 Hours of LeMons at Thunderhill Raceway Park in Willows, CA. This is a nationwide endurance race series for $500 cars. Teams must purchase and prep their vehicles for no more than $500. The limit does not include safety items like roll cage, brakes, wheels and tires. This event was 16 hours of racing over two days. Some LeMons events are a full 24 hours.

Teams “themes” are part of the fun, but the series is so popular that a good theme is often needed to get a team accepted to an event. This race included:
Two Starship Enterprises

A Supra with Tiger and Elin Woods on the roof

A Ford Ranchero wagon (built from an E-30 BMW)

And a beautiful 1958 Plymouth Fury (also built from an E-30 BMW)

There were many good drivers, but also many with little or no track experience. To make the race as safe as possible, the series prohibits even a hint of poor driving. Putting two or more wheels off the track, tailgating, not allowing faster cars to pass, spinning, etc. will get a team black flagged, whereupon they must go to the penalty area. The penalties, however, are hilarious. They might include writing a phrase on the car 100 times, reading a passage from a book “revival preacher style” to their team, or the parading through the paddock confessing their on-track sins. Regardless of the type of punishment, they keep the perpetrators off the track while the rest of the field adds to their lap count.

The bad news: Z cars typically don’t do well in this series (I think it’s because Z cars are so cool they need to be in pretty sad shape mechanically to fall to a value of $500). The organizers award a special prize, the Z Cup, to the Z car team that does the least poorly. This event’s prize went to The Underground from Tempe, Arizona, driving a 1985 Nissan 300ZX Turbo. They finished 19th out of 108. Not great considering the 18th place car was a Mazda 323.

The good news: This event’s winner was a Nissan. The winner on laps was team Rogue Squadron with their Star Wars themed Nissan SE-R. Way to go!

You all have seen this car here before and I’m sure you are aware of it’s on track antics, if not then see the links below for a refresh.

• Laguna Seca track time Part 1, Part 2
• Thunderhill track video
• Motordyne Exhaust install
• Engine Replacement
  

This car sees tons of track time.  In fact it pretty much only sees track time, and like most track cars, after awhile things need to be refreshed.  In this case the StopTech Big Brake Kit was in need of a few new parts to prepare it for the Norcal UFO trackday the following weekend.

As you can see from the pictures, the hats for the two-piece rotors have seen some massive heat.  Enough in fact to destroy the original black anodizing.  These parts, while discolored, are still perfectly functional.  The rotors on the other hand had seen better days and were replaced with new ones.

The other part of this rebuild comes in the form of replacing the main seals for the four pistons in each caliper.  From the pictures you can see that the old ones were covered in debris and brake dust and were starting to weep, not a good thing when a race car relies on repeatable pedal pressures for optimum performance.

The seals were replaced with the new gray pieces and the entire system was reassembled and given back to the owner just in time to thrash on it at the Thunderhill Raceway.  Pics of the track event are still to come and are well worth the wait.

See all the photos of the entire rebuild after the read more (there are 30 or so)

Merry post-Christmas

ZCG

…[read more]

Here is your best opportunity to join in on one of the last great track days of 2009.  NorCal UFO (United Five-Ten Owners Club) has rented out Thunderhill Raceway in Willows CA for December 13th and has some space left.  They are offering the rest of the spaces up to ZCarBlog readers and are waiving the late fee to all of our readers if we sign up before this up coming Wednesday (9th).

The price for the day is only $155.00!!!!! (includes lunch for the driver)

Click on the link below to view the PDF entry form which must be emailed to the UFO organizers (Dennis and Peggy Hale) ASAP.  They will allow payment to be given at the event itself if you have pre-registered.  I know that this is pretty last minute but we would love to see as many of you out on the track with us as possible!!

Also when you email the entry form please include what group you usually drive in (beginner, intermediate, advanced, etc) and please visit the UFO site to view the Frequently Asked Questions page to make sure that your car does qualify to participate, there will also be a tech inspection at the event to make sure that the vehicle is safe.

Frequently Asked Questions: NorCal UFO

Please call (831) 336-2444 or email peggy_hale_510@yahoo.com if you have any questions about the event, ANY questions at all!!

NorCal UFO Thunderhill Entry Form

Email completed forms to:  peggy_hale_510@yahoo.com

Thanks for all of your continued support for ZCarBlog and for the Z in general.  Long Live the Trackday!

Here is a video of the first red group (most experienced) session in our ZCG 370z last Saturday at Thunderhill.  This isn’t me driving but you will see my helmet bounce in and out of the screen a few times from the passenger seat.  There isn’t anything too exciting here as it’s the first session but I thought some of you might like to see it

Also remember that we are in a stock 370z on stock tires here.  Almost all of these cars are on “R” compound tires and some are making huge horsepower, ex: both Dodge Vipers.  We’ll be able to keep up with them soon!

Hopefully next time we get the ZCG 370z out on track we will be a bit more successful with completing the entire day.  Enjoy and be safe.

Note: If any of our loyal readers have footage of their Zs on track at Laguna Seca on Monday please let me know.  Alvin and Scott this means you two.

The first track test of Z Car Garage’s own big brake kit took place last week at Thunderhill Raceway in Willows, CA. The brake kit was designed entirely in house and has gone through various stages of testing over the past few months since its creation. This initial kit was installed on a freshly restored 240z to ensure that the car would be able to handle it’s new braking capabilities.

After the owner of the car had a few sessions under his belt with the kit it was time to test the brakes under tougher race-like conditions. To do this the ZCG crew enlisted the help of professional racecar driver David Ray. David has won a San Francisco Regional championship (1994) in an ITS prepared 240z and again (2004) in a T2 class 350z.

With the Z Car team in the hot pits, Ray took to the track with instructions to make two hot laps to gauge initial feel and then return to the pits for inspection. He returned to the pits with a smile and a satisfactory report. The ZCG pit crew took temperature measurements and did a quick visiual inspection before sending Ray back onto the track. This time he was asked to stay out for the entire session or until he felt any change in the braking feel.  He stayed out for the rest of the half hour session with no issues.  Every other lap or so he would give a thumbs up to the crew as he went down the front straight.

When the session ended he pulled into the pits and the crew took their final “hot lap” readings. After all the data was logged Ray jumped out of the 240z with a huge grin on his face.  The first words out of his mouth were, “These are the best brakes I have ever felt on a 240z, including my race cars.”  He continued on, “These brakes are much better than the Brembos on my championship winning T2 350z, I even had to pump them (the Brembos) after a few hot laps.”

Now on to the specs. The rotors are 12.9 inches in diameter with custom machined billet brackets. The rotor hats were also designed from scratch in house at Z Car Garage. Other parts included with the ZCG brake kit are an upgraded master cylinder, brake booster, and braided lines. The caliper specs are under lock and key for now but rest assured that the braking bias is spot on with amazing pedal feel.

Due to the size of the rotor and caliper, wheel choice is very critical. Z Car Garage has worked extensively to get the brakes to fit under the current 16″ Panasport casting with a custom Z Car Garage offset.

More updates will be posted here as they happen.  ENJOY!!

Additional information can be had by contacting Rob@zcargarage.com