The Official 370Z Autocross Thread

[AutoX Z]

Originally Posted by boardkat

don't do it!! if you're just running locally and don't know what you're missing, you'll save yourself a tonne of cash in the long run!!!
.. and with vorshlag so damn close....... one conversation with terry and you'll be trying to figure out how to come up with *another* 3k+ for a set of AST 5200's

Yea its a slippery slippery slope. Im thinking my plan is to hang out till the national tour comes to town next season and use that to get a better perspective on where my driving is at. After thats over I can start spending the big bucks.

[boardkat]

Originally Posted by AutoX Z

Yea its a slippery slippery slope. Im thinking my plan is to hang out till the national tour comes to town next season and use that to get a better perspective on where my driving is at. After thats over I can start spending the big bucks.

you've got a great benchmark in eric jones. if you can run with him consistently, you're on the right track.

[Ruff]

Originally Posted by AutoX Z

I'm so tempted to get some A6's but I just cant justify the 3 grand it would take to get an extra set of stock wheels and the tires. Also as it is right now I'm winning BS by over a second consistently and PAXing top 10. Maybe next year for divisionals...

Sounds like the 370 is quite a bit better then the 350. Doesn't look like Eric Jones run your events, shame.

Not dogging on your local club...but after scanning through your list I don't see many drivers who ran nats...and probably not nationally competitive. Rob Snider, your top paxer at the last event came in 17th out of 21 in CM. I see Jim Kritzler, he took 10th in BSP at Nats with a 117.838

Lol, if you consider my run clean (cheating I know ) I ran a 119.297 so he got me by a little under 1.5 seconds over the two days. He only had you by 2 seconds at your guys last event. Was he running Hoosiers then? If so, I'd have to say goodjob to you, and makes me think the 370 is going to be a very potent car. Looks like Brianne Corn is a hell of a driver as well.

Its hard to benchmark on paper with me only looking at an event or two. But if you want to benchmark against good drivers, it would seem they are the best you have locally. Keep up the good work, can't wait to get my hands on a 370!

[IMWEZL]

I want A6's on the stock sport wheels but yeah $3K+ a little too much to spend especially since I'm deploying soon.

Man I wish I could place top 10 in PAX or FTD but that is highly unlikely unless I transform myself into the Stig. Not with these drivers

http://www.sccahawaii.org/2009results/08-16-09.pdf

After deployment I'm looking at possibly attending some sort of race school just for shoots and giggles...maybe I'll learn something or just waste money.

[Ruff]

Originally Posted by IMWEZL

I want A6's on the stock sport wheels but yeah $3K+ a little too much to spend especially since I'm deploying soon.

Man I wish I could place top 10 in PAX or FTD but that is highly unlikely unless I transform myself into the Stig. Not with these drivers

http://www.sccahawaii.org/2009results/08-16-09.pdf

After deployment I'm looking at possibly attending some sort of race school just for shoots and giggles...maybe I'll learn something or just waste money.

Evoschool ftw if you want an auto-x orriented school. Chris, Diana, and Curtis are helluva benchmark for you.

Best of luck to all 370 and 350 drivers! Sorry if I sounded like a jerk the past few days. I want to see all Z cars do well since the recent ones get a bad rap for autox. Let's just not get the 370 bumped from BS!

[ChrisSlicks]

Yeah, I can second Evolution Driving School. First year I did it I started with the 2-day phase 1 & 2, my times dropped dramatically as a result. It's all about car placement and being as early as possible. This year I did the phase 3, it wasn't as rewarding as it was more about data analysis than driving and the instructors couldn't find anything wrong with my technique. It's not cheap, but it is a good investment if you are serious about the sport.

[boardkat]

Originally Posted by ChrisSlicks

Yeah, I can second Evolution Driving School. First year I did it I started with the 2-day phase 1 & 2, my times dropped dramatically as a result. It's all about car placement and being as early as possible. This year I did the phase 3, it wasn't as rewarding as it was more about data analysis than driving and the instructors couldn't find anything wrong with my technique. It's not cheap, but it is a good investment if you are serious about the sport.

+1 for evo schools. did ph1 and ph2 this summer; the ph1 was more about seat time than anything for me, but having a previous DS ITR nat champ show me the ropes definitely got me thinking about how i could be doing things differently. ph2 was very beneficial for me, though. the mental course walks coupled with "instructing the instructor" really force you to think ahead all the time, and to be cognizant of what cones are really important.

i'll be doing ph3 next year. i've got the maxqdata quantum/video setup already, so having a day to spend doing analysis should reinforce/open new doors in that aspect.

seat time, seat time, seat time!!!

[IMWEZL]

I'm pretty serious about attending the school. I have autocrossed since late 07 and I love it. Used to race an SRT4 with many mods, a set of A6s in S-Mod but the competition was too tough and the lil Neon made too much torque steer even at low boost settings with the big turbo.

Saw the Z sitting at the dealer one day..fell in love and enjoy it more than the SRT4 when auto-x. I even got Curtis to drive it during fun runs. I was just amazed. With both of us in the car he knocked off three seconds from my best run on his first lap.

That's when told myself to hold off on any mods, stay in BS and work on the driver mod.

[pgrmstr]

Has anyone mounted up some R compounds yet? What size? 295/315 A6 fit ok?

Anyone at Lincoln check out the 370 in BSL to see what she was running? I know she had a good number of interested people helping her....as in National Champion caliber folks....

Any knowledge of an adjustable front bar...or just a bigger static bar?

I've been anxiously waiting out this season, but chomping at the bit to get some R compounds and start the development.....sure wish I live in the south with a whole winter of test and tunes ahead of me...

Of course.....the always painful wait for Koni to get something out. Spent many seasons waiting out tentative delivery schedules from them so elected to not even try this year....but still no word

[boardkat]

Originally Posted by pgrmstr

Has anyone mounted up some R compounds yet? What size? 295/315 A6 fit ok?

Anyone at Lincoln check out the 370 in BSL to see what she was running? I know she had a good number of interested people helping her....as in National Champion caliber folks....

Any knowledge of an adjustable front bar...or just a bigger static bar?

I've been anxiously waiting out this season, but chomping at the bit to get some R compounds and start the development.....sure wish I live in the south with a whole winter of test and tunes ahead of me...

Of course.....the always painful wait for Koni to get something out. Spent many seasons waiting out tentative delivery schedules from them so elected to not even try this year....but still no word

learic was on 295 A6's square on sport wheels w/ the 35mm hotchkis FSB and stock shocks. i've spoken with strano, and he has no plans to fab up an adjustable FSB similar to the one he made for the 350Z; he mentioned that the hotchkis bar he sold learic was working well. in any case, i've got a question into a higher up @ cobb, but haven't heard anything back yet.

lee mentioned shock development for the 370Z in the works, but told me not to expect anything until 2010. vorshlag is hoping to have some AST's to sell before the end of the year.

as an aside, ruff and i were sitting behind junior and learic at the banquet. ruff joked with junior about running the 370Z in 2010, to which he responded with something to the effect of "hell yeah!".
he looked drunk (we definitely were), i hope he was joking!

[pgrmstr]

I've heard that from Lee in the past, promising june, then july, then before Nats, only to be left empty handed so have little confidence in his tentative dates...

I was gonna call terry and ask about the AST as he has been getting them for everything the past couple years so that will be THE choice...so that's good news...

And Jr has enough rides at his disposal....keep him outta the Z

Based on what you saw with the 295s on the rear, any concern about stuffing a 315 in there?

Trying to get me some used Corvette rubber from Aquilante down the road to mount up for a couple local event in Oct

[Ruff]

Originally Posted by pgrmstr

I've heard that from Lee in the past, promising june, then july, then before Nats, only to be left empty handed so have little confidence in his tentative dates...

I was gonna call terry and ask about the AST as he has been getting them for everything the past couple years so that will be THE choice...so that's good news...

And Jr has enough rides at his disposal....keep him outta the Z

Based on what you saw with the 295s on the rear, any concern about stuffing a 315 in there?

Trying to get me some used Corvette rubber from Aquilante down the road to mount up for a couple local event in Oct

I hope Jr was joking, considering on tuesday he was talking about how slow c-5 vettes fealt compared to the c6 he was driving. So with his rational, the 370 should be too slow for him.

I didn't have a close look at Learic's car, but it sounds like 315s should fit. The only downside I see is if the 370 is anything like the 350, it sucks having staggered tires for auto-x. Square setup ftw. But since you are going to be running local events and getting used rubber, all the more power for you to try! And please post up your feedback, results, etc!

[pgrmstr]

Why does having staggered tires suck? Is it just the ability to rotate the tires or is it a handling thing?

Looks like the AST solution Boardkat mentions won't fly as they are only developing a coilover, not something that will use stock springs so that"s out for stock class.

I guess we're just at the mercy of Koni at this point for any adjustable dampers. I wonder how different they are from the 350 dampers...

[boardkat]

Originally Posted by pgrmstr

Why does having staggered tires suck? Is it just the ability to rotate the tires or is it a handling thing?

Looks like the AST solution Boardkat mentions won't fly as they are only developing a coilover, not something that will use stock springs so that"s out for stock class.

I guess we're just at the mercy of Koni at this point for any adjustable dampers. I wonder how different they are from the 350 dampers...

****, maybe that's why i haven't heard back from terry yet. i'm gonna give him a call. i've got questions out to pen$ke and moton in the meantime. SOMEBODY is gonna want to take the money i'm willing to throw at them, lol.

[boardkat]

Originally Posted by boardkat

****, maybe that's why i haven't heard back from terry yet. i'm gonna give him a call. i've got questions out to pen$ke and moton in the meantime. SOMEBODY is gonna want to take the money i'm willing to throw at them, lol.

heard back from moton - they've got a motorsport DA coilover setup w/ custom mounts ready to go, but no shock drop-in i'm waiting to hear back from the US rep about a possible stock fitament (he's at the petit le mans this week), but i'm not holding my breath.
on the other hand, i had a very productive conversation with terry this morning. no promises yet, but i'll keep you updated as we move along. keep your fingers crossed!