Exciting New Nissan 370Z NISMO Team

AutoX Z · 05-22-2011, 10:03 PM

Watched the VIR race on speed today. Team finished somewhere in the mid to rear or the pack, they never really got shown. Announcers had some good things to say about the team at one point. Any news from the team on the race?

TreeSemdyZee · 05-22-2011, 10:20 PM

They finished 16th. That race was last week.

amperformanceracing.com

ChrisSlicks · 05-23-2011, 07:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AutoX Z

Watched the VIR race on speed today. Team finished somewhere in the mid to rear or the pack, they never really got shown. Announcers had some good things to say about the team at one point. Any news from the team on the race?

The only time they got shown was when they punted one of the other teams off the track, then the announcer talked about the car a little bit and how cool it looked. Next week's Lime Rock race isn't going to be aired at all, but the rest of the season will be.

dwntwnall4u · 05-23-2011, 07:15 PM

Yeah, saw the race replay yesterday. Good to finally see a 370z on the track. They are making nice improvements.
Congrats to AM Performance

snaggeltooth · 05-23-2011, 07:55 PM

Yea you have to give them prob all year to get things tweaked .. I dont know the teams goals but Im betting a top 5 would be a great accomplishment...

CasusManage · 05-30-2011, 12:06 PM

Hey all. We want everyone to know that we will be back posting weekly updates and deeply apologize for not having any the last couple of weeks. We have some cool pictures for you all this week that we hope you will enjoy. We also want your participation. We want you to post questions on the forum that the team at A.M. Performance can answer in a video. The questions can be anything that you have wanted to know and the team can answer. So please be considerate of others as we will not be answering vulgar, crude, or any other question that are not respectful. Furthermore, when you post the question add a name/nickname, this will be the name the team will use to respond to (if you do not provide a name/nickname we will not address the answer to you). Lastly, we will be taking questions until Wednesday, if you do not get your question up by then or do not get it answered in the video please do not fret as we will be doing more of these Q&A Videos throughout the season.

Pictures

1. These are the bushings we've made out of a self-lubricated thermoplastic. These are lower friction and lower maintenence than a monoball joint.

2. Here are those bushings on the car.

3. We ran into the hydraulic release bearing (CSC)/clutch pedal stuck to the floor issue at Barber Motorsports Park. It sucked, and we decided to never deal with that nonsense again, so we made this.

4. We also don't like clutch slip. Or slow-revving engines. To that end, we made this. The stock clutch/flywheel package (including bearing, PP, everything) weighs 38 lbs. This setup is 18 lbs, and even with the metallic clutch discs is really easy to drive. And it doesn't slip even one bit leaving the pit box with hot slicks (5500 rpm clutch dump), the car just lights them up and GOES.

5. Prototype front sway bar. Once we are done testing/developing this piece we will make it out of the appropriate thickness/diameter material and make a blade style adjuster for it. For now it is not adjustable, just for the prototyping phase.

6. Installed on the car. Due to the heim-joints, this bar won't suffer from bushing bind, which is a really common problem with sway bars that is hard to diagnose. Our design makes for a much more consistent performance from the bar.

7. Second chassis (car #05) getting cage wrapped so it can go to powder coat next week, while the third chassis is getting ready to go to the media blaster.

8. Oil cooler setup. At VIR, we never saw oil temp go over 200 degrees. Did I mention our races are 2.5 hours?

9. Lawrence going into Turn 4 early on in the race

10. Our first pitstop! It went surprisingly well, with tires, fuel, and driver change going off without any major issues. The biggest problem was a shoulder belt that slipped under Mike's HANS device, but that only cost us a couple seconds, and will be addressed for future stops.

11. Awesome photo of the car launching back into the race, courtesy of Melissa K. Smith Photography!

"At VIR we P16 at the end. We are very happy to have finished our first race, and that was very much the goal for the weekend. We got a TON of useful data and are confident in the direction of our setup and development of the chassis, which will be applied to both cars that will race at Laguna Seca. However, we also confirmed that with the current motor package we are simply outgunned on the straights, and by a significant margin. We are working with Grand Am right now and are going to sit out the next two rounds as we work on the necessary changes to make the car go as well as it stops and turns. They are being very responsive and we have no doubts that when we come back we will be much more competitive. Finishing was the goal for the last race, finishing in the top-10 is the goal for the next race.

Stay tuned!" - Mike Sweeney

Again post your questions and we will try to get them in the next A.M. Performance video update. Also, keep checking this thread for more great updates on the them.

CasusManage · 05-30-2011, 12:36 PM

A.M. PERFORMANCE FINISHES 16th AT VIR

Alton, Virginia – May 15th, 2011 – The A.M. Performance team completed a successful weekend at Virginia International Raceway finishing16th at the Bosch Engineering 200 in only the team’s second ever start in the GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge series. Drivers Mike Sweeney and Lawrence Loshak drove the team’s #04 Nismo 370Z GS car to the finish car in what turned out to be an incident filled two and a half hour race.

Loshak had an impressive start from the 21st position on the grid and immediately started picking up positions, but after a few laps had to start all over again after falling to the back of the grid due to a quick spin coming onto the front straight. The rookie driver, who made his GRAND-AM debut this weekend, maintained a quick pace for the rest of his stint and managed to avoid the carnage around him handing the car over to Sweeney during the team’s first pit stop.

For Sweeney his two stints proved to be action packed as well, including a close call where he had to drive off the track to avoid a car spinning back into the racing line. Despite loosing time with his off road excursion, the California native quickly got back in the groove and continued reeling in the cars in front of him. Sweeney took the checkered flag in the 16th position, which marks the team’s best result to date, with a best lap of 2m7.896s on his 57th time around the 3.27 mile, 17-turn circuit.

For more information please visit amperformanceracing.com and you can also follow us at A.M. Performance - Professional Sports Team - Scotts Valley, California | Facebook.

Mike Sweeney

#04 A.M. Performance / Nismo 370Z

“We are very happy with how the weekend went for us, we are a new team and we have a brand new car, so finishing our first race is a big accomplishment and an important milestone in our short history. The whole team did a great job, we are really working well together and we just get better every time we are out on track.

The race was nuts, people were going off and crashing everywhere, we knew it was really important to just stay out of trouble and get to the checkered safely. The #04 Nismo once again was very good, obviously there’s still a lot of things we need to improve, but overall the car has a great platform and it handles very well, we just need a bit more power to be able to keep with the top guys on the straights.”

Lawrence Loshak

#04 A.M. Performance / Nismo 370Z

The weekend was great, for me it was an amazing opportunity to be able to step into the pro arena and to race in GRAND-AM with a team like A.M. Performance. It was also a big plus because I got to work with Andrew Armistead (Technical Director) again, we have a great winning history together and good chemistry and understanding. Everybody together did a great job and the car got faster and faster every time.

It was a good race for us, we learned a lot this weekend and now we know what we need to work on for next time. The car handles great, we are definitely down on power still but once we get that figured out I think we can be fighting for the top spots. We are happy with our result but obviously we are racers and we just want to win, and I believe that is possible wit this car and this team.”

In case you haven't yet registered for our newsletter and are interested sign up here: Mailing List Sign Up

Cell · 05-30-2011, 01:14 PM

Will the oil cooler, CSC and flywheel/clutch ever make it into mass production? lol

Mike@AMPerformance · 05-30-2011, 04:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cell

Will the oil cooler, CSC and flywheel/clutch ever make it into mass production? lol

That is the plan, yes.

Mike

red6spd · 05-30-2011, 05:04 PM

Cool stuff!!

happytheman · 05-30-2011, 10:49 PM

Ummmm, I wonder how well the warranty on those three Z's are holding up??

:bowrof l:

Lemers · 05-30-2011, 11:51 PM

I cant find the races on the Speed Channel or any other channel

Zaggeron · 05-31-2011, 07:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lemers

I cant find the races on the Speed Channel or any other channel

They don't televise all the Continental series races, but when they do, it's a week after the race.

thekinn · 06-01-2011, 11:10 AM

All I can find for VIR continental challenge is this crash.. no recap. They do have the Rolex recap.

VIDEO - SPEED - The Motor Sports Authority - Auto Racing, Formula 1, Moto Racing, NASCAR, News, Photos, Videos, Fantasy, Trivia

ChrisSlicks · 06-01-2011, 11:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zaggeron

They don't televise all the Continental series races, but when they do, it's a week after the race.

All races should be televised except for the Lime-Rock race, a one week delay as you stated. The broadcast schedule is listed on the Grand AM website.

05-22-2011, 10:03 PM	#1 (permalink)
AutoX Z Enthusiast Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Houston, Tx Posts: 314 Drives: 370Z Base, Sport Rep Power: 16	Watched the VIR race on speed today. Team finished somewhere in the mid to rear or the pack, they never really got shown. Announcers had some good things to say about the team at one point. Any news from the team on the race? __________________ 2013 SCCA Solo National Champion VVV For Sale VVV

05-23-2011, 07:15 PM	#4 (permalink)
dwntwnall4u Base Member Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: San Diego/ Hawaii Posts: 158 Drives: 2011 370Z AT,S,T,PW Rep Power: 15	Yeah, saw the race replay yesterday. Good to finally see a 370z on the track. They are making nice improvements. Congrats to AM Performance __________________ Working my *ss off for a GTM Rotrex SC to go with my 2006 URD Rotrex SC 4x4 Tacoma.

05-30-2011, 12:06 PM	#6 (permalink)
CasusManage Base Member Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Austin Posts: 12 Drives: Nissan NISMO Rep Power: 15	Update 5/30/11 Hey all. We want everyone to know that we will be back posting weekly updates and deeply apologize for not having any the last couple of weeks. We have some cool pictures for you all this week that we hope you will enjoy. We also want your participation. We want you to post questions on the forum that the team at A.M. Performance can answer in a video. The questions can be anything that you have wanted to know and the team can answer. So please be considerate of others as we will not be answering vulgar, crude, or any other question that are not respectful. Furthermore, when you post the question add a name/nickname, this will be the name the team will use to respond to (if you do not provide a name/nickname we will not address the answer to you). Lastly, we will be taking questions until Wednesday, if you do not get your question up by then or do not get it answered in the video please do not fret as we will be doing more of these Q&A Videos throughout the season. Pictures 1. These are the bushings we've made out of a self-lubricated thermoplastic. These are lower friction and lower maintenence than a monoball joint. 2. Here are those bushings on the car. 3. We ran into the hydraulic release bearing (CSC)/clutch pedal stuck to the floor issue at Barber Motorsports Park. It sucked, and we decided to never deal with that nonsense again, so we made this. 4. We also don't like clutch slip. Or slow-revving engines. To that end, we made this. The stock clutch/flywheel package (including bearing, PP, everything) weighs 38 lbs. This setup is 18 lbs, and even with the metallic clutch discs is really easy to drive. And it doesn't slip even one bit leaving the pit box with hot slicks (5500 rpm clutch dump), the car just lights them up and GOES. 5. Prototype front sway bar. Once we are done testing/developing this piece we will make it out of the appropriate thickness/diameter material and make a blade style adjuster for it. For now it is not adjustable, just for the prototyping phase. 6. Installed on the car. Due to the heim-joints, this bar won't suffer from bushing bind, which is a really common problem with sway bars that is hard to diagnose. Our design makes for a much more consistent performance from the bar. 7. Second chassis (car #05) getting cage wrapped so it can go to powder coat next week, while the third chassis is getting ready to go to the media blaster. 8. Oil cooler setup. At VIR, we never saw oil temp go over 200 degrees. Did I mention our races are 2.5 hours? 9. Lawrence going into Turn 4 early on in the race 10. Our first pitstop! It went surprisingly well, with tires, fuel, and driver change going off without any major issues. The biggest problem was a shoulder belt that slipped under Mike's HANS device, but that only cost us a couple seconds, and will be addressed for future stops. 11. Awesome photo of the car launching back into the race, courtesy of Melissa K. Smith Photography! "At VIR we P16 at the end. We are very happy to have finished our first race, and that was very much the goal for the weekend. We got a TON of useful data and are confident in the direction of our setup and development of the chassis, which will be applied to both cars that will race at Laguna Seca. However, we also confirmed that with the current motor package we are simply outgunned on the straights, and by a significant margin. We are working with Grand Am right now and are going to sit out the next two rounds as we work on the necessary changes to make the car go as well as it stops and turns. They are being very responsive and we have no doubts that when we come back we will be much more competitive. Finishing was the goal for the last race, finishing in the top-10 is the goal for the next race. Stay tuned!" - Mike Sweeney Again post your questions and we will try to get them in the next A.M. Performance video update. Also, keep checking this thread for more great updates on the them.

05-30-2011, 12:36 PM	#7 (permalink)
CasusManage Base Member Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Austin Posts: 12 Drives: Nissan NISMO Rep Power: 15	A.M. PERFORMANCE FINISHES 16th AT VIR A.M. PERFORMANCE FINISHES 16th AT VIR Alton, Virginia – May 15th, 2011 – The A.M. Performance team completed a successful weekend at Virginia International Raceway finishing16th at the Bosch Engineering 200 in only the team’s second ever start in the GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge series. Drivers Mike Sweeney and Lawrence Loshak drove the team’s #04 Nismo 370Z GS car to the finish car in what turned out to be an incident filled two and a half hour race. Loshak had an impressive start from the 21st position on the grid and immediately started picking up positions, but after a few laps had to start all over again after falling to the back of the grid due to a quick spin coming onto the front straight. The rookie driver, who made his GRAND-AM debut this weekend, maintained a quick pace for the rest of his stint and managed to avoid the carnage around him handing the car over to Sweeney during the team’s first pit stop. For Sweeney his two stints proved to be action packed as well, including a close call where he had to drive off the track to avoid a car spinning back into the racing line. Despite loosing time with his off road excursion, the California native quickly got back in the groove and continued reeling in the cars in front of him. Sweeney took the checkered flag in the 16th position, which marks the team’s best result to date, with a best lap of 2m7.896s on his 57th time around the 3.27 mile, 17-turn circuit. For more information please visit amperformanceracing.com and you can also follow us at A.M. Performance - Professional Sports Team - Scotts Valley, California \| Facebook. Mike Sweeney #04 A.M. Performance / Nismo 370Z “We are very happy with how the weekend went for us, we are a new team and we have a brand new car, so finishing our first race is a big accomplishment and an important milestone in our short history. The whole team did a great job, we are really working well together and we just get better every time we are out on track. The race was nuts, people were going off and crashing everywhere, we knew it was really important to just stay out of trouble and get to the checkered safely. The #04 Nismo once again was very good, obviously there’s still a lot of things we need to improve, but overall the car has a great platform and it handles very well, we just need a bit more power to be able to keep with the top guys on the straights.” Lawrence Loshak #04 A.M. Performance / Nismo 370Z The weekend was great, for me it was an amazing opportunity to be able to step into the pro arena and to race in GRAND-AM with a team like A.M. Performance. It was also a big plus because I got to work with Andrew Armistead (Technical Director) again, we have a great winning history together and good chemistry and understanding. Everybody together did a great job and the car got faster and faster every time. It was a good race for us, we learned a lot this weekend and now we know what we need to work on for next time. The car handles great, we are definitely down on power still but once we get that figured out I think we can be fighting for the top spots. We are happy with our result but obviously we are racers and we just want to win, and I believe that is possible wit this car and this team.” In case you haven't yet registered for our newsletter and are interested sign up here: Mailing List Sign Up

05-30-2011, 05:04 PM	#10 (permalink)
red6spd A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Long Island NY Posts: 3,277 Drives: 2010 Z Coupe M6 SPT Rep Power: 22	Cool stuff!! __________________ 2010 Base+Sport 6spd: Stillen G3, FI Non-Resonated CBE, FI Non-Resonated Test Pipes, UpRev Tuned, Custom 24R Oil Cooler, JDM Rear Fog-OEM Harness. ???Whp ???WTQ (Will find out come spring time)

05-22-2011, 10:20 PM	#2 (permalink)
TreeSemdyZee Premium Member Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Kentuck-IANA Age: 61 Posts: 4,887 Drives: '09 370 & ‘14 Juke Rep Power: 27409	They finished 16th. That race was last week. amperformanceracing.com

05-23-2011, 07:55 PM	#5 (permalink)
snaggeltooth Base Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Alabama Posts: 115 Drives: 05 Black GTO Rep Power: 17	Yea you have to give them prob all year to get things tweaked .. I dont know the teams goals but Im betting a top 5 would be a great accomplishment...

05-30-2011, 01:14 PM	#8 (permalink)
Cell A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Chicago Posts: 1,449 Drives: A Garbage Truck Rep Power: 22	Will the oil cooler, CSC and flywheel/clutch ever make it into mass production? lol

05-30-2011, 10:49 PM	#11 (permalink)
happytheman A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Florida Posts: 10,737 Drives: MB 6M Tour/Sport Z34 Rep Power: 1823	Ummmm, I wonder how well the warranty on those three Z's are holding up??:bowrof l:

05-30-2011, 11:51 PM	#12 (permalink)
Lemers A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Izmir, Turkey Posts: 15,371 Drives: 2012 Traverse LTZ Rep Power: 53	I cant find the races on the Speed Channel or any other channel __________________ 2010 Black Cherry Touring/Sport/Nav Now - 2012 Travese LTZ until I leave for Turkey

06-01-2011, 11:10 AM	#14 (permalink)
thekinn Base Member Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Michigan Posts: 206 Drives: 06 350Z LS MT Rep Power: 6862	All I can find for VIR continental challenge is this crash.. no recap. They do have the Rolex recap. VIDEO - SPEED - The Motor Sports Authority - Auto Racing, Formula 1, Moto Racing, NASCAR, News, Photos, Videos, Fantasy, Trivia __________________ 06 Enthusiast MT - v2

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