Joy Ride Friday

B&W_Evader

Just finished the breakin on my Z and got a chance to go burn some fuel. Attached image is the route I took with the green line marking no traffic in front of me and the red line marking where I was forced to drive slower. Overall great ride. Started out on highway 9, this road always has traffice but I got really lucky. Saw a few speedsters on the oncomming side so figured it would be safe to open it up a little. You can hit 100 in a few of the straights but I didn't push it that far. Maybe hit 90 but I still need to get used to the car. Then got into traffic and saw 3 cops, one parked in speed trap fashion, then a highway patrol, obviously heading out to catch the friday joy riders. HAHA, beat his a$$ to the punch! Slow going through highway 1 and the first part of 152. Then it cleared up and was able to open it up on the downhill. Not too bad but was a little soft on the accellerator to make sure I didn't overheat the breaks. Read too much about breaks to push them all the way. I'll wait for upgrades before doing that. Then the side streets on the way to Hicks road were all good. Think I hit 90 a couple times in there too. Think I freeked out one some other joy rider driving a Civic as I blew past it. Hicks road was awesome. Used to race the road when I first started driving. Even evaded a cop once on it. Record speed when I was young from stop to stop was 10 min, 2 sec. Night run, 2am with 2 friends in the car driving a supped up 71 Ford Capri. Don't ever think I'll be doing it that fast again. Took me about 12 mintues 15 sec. to finish it. Used cell phone clock so it's not a real accurate time. Fast but not nutty fast. Best day out driving my Z yet!

Attached Images

weekend.JPG (174.2 KB, 75 views)

onzedge

That looks like a nice drive. I love those roads.

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kenchan

nice~

Red__Zed

Looks like fun!

UNKNOWN_370

Awesome. I have 226 miles to go till the break-in ends.. Can't wait.

DarkZide

You arent going to fade the sport package brakes unless you are on them for 100+ mph stops back to back several times in a row. Spirited street driving will be fine.

I've taken my car on the Tail of the Dragon many times and never once have I gotten it to fade, or into limp mode.

B&W_Evader

Good to know about the break fade being better than what I'm giving the car credit for. Guess I'll just keep pushing harder till I find the limit. Couple upgrades I want to do but just lack motivation...

Break Pads / Fluid / Lines - I'll be motivated once I see break pad smoke coming out of the fender wells.
Oil Cooler - Once I see it get over 270. Only high temp I've had so far was on the very first day. Not sure why I haven't seen it a gain but I'm pretty happy I don't. Was afraid I got one of the hotter running engines but it's treating me pretty well right now.

ONZEDGE... Had a 71 240z too! Great car, one of my all time favorites. Lost it in a turn at about 110 and ended up rolling over before I got the ticket for reckless and evading. 2 days hard labor for the one LOL

DarkZide - get a google image for us of that road.

shadoquad

I concur.

Last year, when the Z caravan I rode with went to Zdayz, we drove 11 hours down, hit 28 coming up to Fontana, and the difference in brake quality was never more stark and defined. Red__Zed and I were the only two driving on base brakes, and we experienced tremendous fade at that point. I had to downshift to stop at the last stop sign, because the brakes did not respond at all. When we asked the handful of other Z drivers about it, none of them experienced any fade, and they were all on sport brakes.

Red__Zed

To be fair, the dragon is not exactly tough on brakes.


Realistically, unless you are absolutely killing it, or going downhill...brake fade is not an issue on the streets though.

B&W_Evader

Hicks Road definitely has elevation change in it...
Found this on a Cycling website: Up on the north side, down on the south.

Hicks Road (North side)
distance:
5.1 miles from Camden to Guadalupe Creek
1.0 miles from Guadalupe Creek to Mt. Umunhum Rd.
climbing:
420 feet from Camden to Guadalupe Creek (1.7% avg)
740 feet from Guadalupe Creek to Mt. Umunhum Rd. (14% avg)
This is tough… the opening rolling miles, including the short and steep climb to the dam, hardly prepare one for the steep grades which follow. A cattle grate partway up the steep section is threatening, but can be survived if conditions aren’t too wet. Doing this climb in a 39/24 is a struggle—even with such gearing, fit riders will be wishing for more on the steepest slopes. Once at the summit, a very short (50 meters, approximately) descent brings one to the unmarked intersection (to the right) with Mt. Umunhum Road. This out-and-back sidetrip is highly recommended. Mt. Umunhum Road effectively combines with Hicks to make a single, extended, and quite difficult climb—of those listed in this document, only Bohlman-On Orbit-Bohlman is tougher to those with typical road gearing.

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Hicks Road (South side)
distance: 1.6 miles from Alamitos Road to Mt. Umunhum Road
climbing: 700 feet from Alamitos Road to Mt. Umunhum Road
The south face of Hicks isn’t as terrible as the north side, averaging only 8.6% (9.8% over the steepest 0.8 miles). Nevertheless, when combined with Mt. Umunhum Road, it makes for a challenging total climb. There is a cattle guard at the base of the climb, considerably less daunting than the one on the north grade.