BRE Nissan 370Z & Datsun 240Z - Car News - RoadandTrack.com
"The BRE Tribute car is a Nissan 370Z built by Stillen essentially to the SCCA’s T2 class rules. As such, it’s not overly tweaked. It has a gutted interior and a cage, plus race seats and belts. The car started out as a 2009 Touring Sport model, to which Nismo bodywork, wheels and shocks were added, the last teamed with Eibach springs that lower the car a bit. Stillen anti-roll bars are fitted to the car front and rear, and the 4-cam 3.7-liter V-6 is untouched internally. It is, however, stripped of its catalytic converter and fitted with a Stillen cat-back exhaust, a reflashed ECU, a Nissan Motorsports oil cooler, an aluminum flywheel and a heavy-duty clutch. Power is in the neighborhood of 350 bhp, and stock brakes (with
braided stainless-steel lines and
Hawk pads) handle stopping chores. The car also had a
stock viscous limited-slip differential, although
Nissan plans to fit the car with a tougher clutch-type LSD from Nissan Comp soon.
Second session in the car, with all driver aids turned off, I’m having more fun. It’s hot, over 100 degrees, and I’m keeping an eye on oil temps as I continue to be impressed with how well the new Z hides its 3300-lb. curb weight and laps with no apparent vices. It’s clearly better damped than a stock Z.
Toward the end of the session, though, I notice more inside rear wheelspin on corner exit, an indicator that the limited-slip diff was not working well. Turns out that differential cooler hadn’t been installed on the car yet, and our lapping on a hot day proved
too much for the diff. Our best lap of 1 min. 55.53 sec.
would have been considerably better had the car been on Hoosiers and fitted with the limited-slip diff from Nismo, with a remote cooler."