Car and Driver article about 370Z
 

June 2014 issue Car and Driver has a nice little article about used 370Z's being a beasty little car that will get you into the performance catagory for not much money. Nice to see. They did talk about the go-round they had with brake failure with the 2009 Nismo test during the 2010 lightning lap event, but that's just fair warning.
Z Meets Wall: We Investigate Why the NISMO Z's Brakes Failed at Lightning Lap - Feature - Car and Driver

jk

what's the moral of the story?

C&D: Base model stock Z isn't track ready? :confused:

Z owners: Duh... :shakes head:

:icon17:

Buy a certified pre owned from Nissan and get in cheap. The Z posts performance car numbers ... etc.

jk

The idea they had to be told that, for serious track use, new pads, fluid and brake cooling shoud be addressed is asinine. In other news, the sky is often blue and water found to be wet.

:tup:

It wasn't a Base model though.

Cliff's notes:

370Z NISMO-model brakes fail at track and a crash resulted.

C&D try some experiments with upgraded pads and then add upgraded fluid. This helps but doesn't "fix" the issue.

C&D determines that Nissan directed too much air away from the braking system.

"Our suspicion is that Nissan got a bit greedy in its quest for today’s all-important fuel-economy numbers and boosted the Z’s aerodynamics a little too far by cutting back on the amount of air directed through the wheel wells to cool the brakes. Key takeaway: If you intend to track a Z, don’t use the base pads, upgrade the brake fluid, and be sure to install brake-cooling ducts."

that article is from 2010.

Timely

True that, but they brought it up in the current article in the June 2014 edition. I should never have linked the 2010 article. They also talk about the oil temp issues. However, it pulls way to much from the intent of the current article which was to say the Z is a no kidding great perfromance car that you can get from Nissan through the CPO program for under $30K. With a good warranty to boot.

jk