So I just went to my first event yesturday in the Z and had one of the best days of autox ever. I'm stepping up from a 100 whp front wheel drive Mazda Protege5 to the Z so I still have alot of adjusting to do in my driving but first time out the Z did amazing. Good enough to take 1st in BS by almost a full second and also win AS.
My competition was the local hotshoe RX-8 who was running on street tires that day both cars were equal in that respect. The course was very wide open with plenty of room to really use the power so the RX-8 was definitely at a disadvantage there but so far all signs point to the Z being more than competitive and possibly dominant in BS.
So lets get the conversation going and start sharing some advice and experience. Anybody that's been out at an autox in their z regardless of experience feel free to chime in.
PS it was very hot out there but starting from 220*F the Z only spiked up to 240* at the end of a 50 second run and was cooled back down to 220* after a short rest in the pits. Basically you definitely do not have to worry about overheating issues at autox.
PPS Here's a picture of the car and a video of my winning run (my best run actually came later but did not count for BS standings).
Video