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Originally Posted by Tage
Hey all, this is Tage Evanson.
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Terrific to have you on this board, Tage!
All, I think you know from my prior posts who Tage is... back in the day a top autocross driver, and more recently a winning time attack driver and racer... you've probably seen him and his Civic featured in import tuner, modified, etc. It's great to see him make the jump to a nissan platform, and maybe we can keep him around! He'll be a great resource for all of us on driver coaching and understanding which mods really matter at the track. And I'm sure he'll be looking for specific input on his new 350 from all of you.
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Originally Posted by Tage
So here's a few of my comments:
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Just a few, huh?! lol
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Originally Posted by Tage
1. Travis, you put WAY too much emphasis on the car and seemingly nothing on the driver....The moral of the story is DO NOT UNDER ESTIMATE THE DRIVER!
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I'm sure it would seem that way having just read through this journal, but I do invest what time I can into my driving skills... never enough, but I put more time there than I do into mods/tuning... I've done the 4-day Bondurant course, for example... and plenty of Karting and more recently have gotten into Sim racing to hold me over between RL sessions... Also, my improvements at Chuckwalla were more about learning that track than they were outright driver improvements... Also tires and setup definitely bought ~3 of the 4 seconds... As a benchmark, my PIR times improved by 5.8 seconds over two years including all of the mods that were done on the car... final time of 1:07 and change, and I don't think anyone could do much more than mid 5s in the car, no matter how good they are... so, my guess would be that at PIR I was leaving 1.0-1.5 seconds on the track due to the guy in the seat
But I'm with you... it's time to check my ego and maybe do another 2-3 day advanced course with one of the schools
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Originally Posted by Tage
2. Along the same lines of focus on the car, you have too much emphasis on the power to weight ratio...but the point is, power isn't everything.
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Fair... it matters though... there is time to be gained coming out of corners - you can only make up so much everywhere else
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Originally Posted by Tage
3. Oh, BTW, I LOVE the background of your car number. I had no idea I was a "target". Nice!
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Everyone needs a huckleberry! If only you weren't a moving target! ha
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Originally Posted by Tage
Good move on sticking with the F250 as a tow vehicle
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It's a solid, dependable vehicle... it's been choking a bit lately on clogged fuel injectors, but otherwise solid
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Originally Posted by Tage
5. This is my first 350/370Z related thread I have read so far but I'd agree that this is likely the best one EVAR!
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Originally Posted by Tage
I say you supercharge your engine and then tune it for TTS. The last thing you want is a car that makes 325WHP but only 320+ for the last 200 RPM before hitting the rev limiter
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I think you may be right! Going to ease my way back in this fall and then maybe take the plunge to keep things interesting
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Originally Posted by Tage
...Another eye opening experience could be to hire a personal coach or pro driver. That might be cheaper than a private school. Have them drive your car and then analyze the data on your Traqmate. I think you'll be surprised at the differences in the graph plots and then you'll know exactly where to shave those seconds off your lap times... he consistently pulled away from me lap after lap. Yes, I was even humbled... :-)
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Good idea! But of course if they wreck it... that'd be an ugly scene
Tage humbled? say it isn't so!! LOL
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Originally Posted by Tage
9. In terms of getting out of a burning car quickly, regardless if your car is stock or modified, you should still practice the procedure...curious how long it takes someone in a stock 370Z to do the same?
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We're all glad you are okay!!
I have a new job looking after products that protect people from fires, so your incident hits close to home for me
I'd be curious as well how long it takes people... you might even start a thread on that!
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Originally Posted by Tage
10. BTW, I'm looking to compete in my 350Z in TTA (on Hoosier DOT rubber) to see if I can get all the track records in that class here locally and then I'll switch to Hoosier slicks and go for TTS/ST2 (TT and Race Group). My Civic when rebuilt will be lighter and more powerful and be maxed out in TTU/ST1 (the next class up in TT and race group).
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Rock on, Tage!
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Originally Posted by Tage
One last question so I'm not hijacking Travis' thread here (more than I already have). Is the 350Z similar enough to the 350Z to warrant asking questions here on this site or should I just find a 350Z specific site to do that?
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Yes, what Chris said
I think you'll find plenty of people around here that talk about the differences but at the end of the day they are darn close
By the way, did you know this car is for sales? (at least I think it is still available)
Twin Turbo Time Attack 370z for sale built like a factory race car!