2015 Nissan Contingency Program
 

Nissan Motorsports has released the latest contingency award program for the 2015 SCCA Majors road racing program. The 370Z will be supported at the highest level as a "current" model, along with the R35 GT-R and latest Versa. The popular 350Z passes into the same category of racecar as older models like the Datsun 240Z, 510 or Nissan 300ZX and 200SX in the program.

For the SCCA Majors series, properly registered Nissan Z34 racers can earn $500/$250/$150 for 1st/2nd/3rd placings, if there are at least five cars competing. Nissan racers using either current and past Nissan models who win a Majors season title in any conference earn an additional $1,000 for the class championship.

Not sure if there are that many Nissan road racers left here, but further details are available at SCCA.com under the SCCA Majors program. Since the Z34 won Touring 3 car at the Runoffs last year, I wonder how many 370Z pilots will compete in the "semi-pro" Majors series for the coming year? :driving:

Over 100 views of this thread in two days, but no responses from anybody interested in road racing the 370Z?

I would love to break into road racing at some point but I move around to much. I am curious to see what happens when more Z's are used though

NASA is our organization. I will run TT3 this year but, I don't think thier is any contingency for TT. I'll be at 11 to 1 so not to competitive yet. I would love to get into Spec Z which has pretty good support from Nissan I'm told.

Was really hoping this was SCCA Solo instead of road racing. Simple fact is road racing requires a pretty hefty bank account while autox is a little kinder to the bank account.

As far as road racing goes, there used to be quite a few 350Zs racing in SCCA. But the 370Z has not been quite as popular- it's expensive to prepare and the T3 rules don't favor it either.

Good luck on making it into road racing at some point!

Any Nissan racer can register with Nissan Motorsports and get discounted parts support, but time trials have never gotten much manurfacture support. Spec Z will have a similar payout to the Nissan SCCA program, but also receives help from BFG tires.

Unfortunately, solo is truly the entry point for motorsports and doesn't garner much manufacturer support until you make it to Nationals. Nissan Motorsports may have a contingency program for Nationals later in the year, but that's about it for cash prizes.

:iagree:

I just wish Nissan would take a page out of Mazda's book. I know Mazda has a contingency for national level events for SCCA solo.

Just noticed your from CO. Shoot me a message if you make it out to MMP for any events this year.:tiphat:

not much you can do with this really, they need to open this up to any timed event really besides just SCCA, ie Global Time Attack, Redline Time attack etc would be awesome

Yeah, call me when they support time attack. I have emailed them about it and it's still "no".

Mazda is the only company I'm aware of that has a marketing campaign built around motorsports. Nissan's program is pretty much in line with what Toyota, Honda, BMW and VW offer. Ford, Chevy, Hyundai/Kia and Dodge have even less (or nothing). Most of those marketing decisions are based on return-on-investment (ROI) data. Mazda's program, while admirable, has been far from the norm for many years now and there's little to no ROI data to support copying it.

I've raced at MMP many times and wish there were any SCCA road race events there this year!

Although maybe there isn't a direct number attributable to it, their support get's its ROI in different ways imo. Namely things like Spec Miata and all its awesome glory, a zillion people that will buy the new Miata, goodwill etc. Let's face it, no one buys American muscle as a track car.

Nissan's biggest problem is name brand recognition. They have started to step it up with pushing the Nismo brand, but they have a lot of make up work to do. For example, this year at Mazfest in CA, there were over 5,000 people attending in California. Subi fest had probably 15,000- they completely packed AAA speedway. That's probably as many as they get at nascar races. In comparison, I bet 1000 people would not show up for a Nissan/Nismo event.

Don't get me wrong I love my Z, and I think nismo is moving in the right direction, but they need to put their mouth where their money is so to say-it's guys like you and me that are out doing track day events, amateur competitions, time trial events, and car shows.

They are missing out on a lot of free press.

fwiw here's a quick list of manufacturers that offer contingency programs for SCCA Solo.

Honda - $100 for class win
Subaru - $150 for class win
Mazda - $300 for class win
Mini - $250 for class win
Scion - $200 for class win
Toyota - $200 for class win

We're not talking big money here but every little bit counts when you're funding your own racing hobby.

Here's a link to the latest Nissan Motorsports catalog:

https://www.nissanusa.com/nismo-web/...talog-2012.pdf

It's got the toll-free ph # on the front page to call for more info. Lots of cool parts to check out as well.

Not to go too far OT, but this is a bit misleading. All of these are for the ProSolo or National Solo Tour ONLY, not your local SCCA Solo events. In any event, Nissan has decided not to participate in either of those competitions, and so have plenty of other car manufacturers who have cars out there. As a Nissan racer, I wish there was more support for ALL grassroots competition programs, but it's not my only criteria for my participation.

NASA TT3 here. Free stickers is the best we get.

Hehe, move to Cali Tak, we at least get parts discounts!

I'm not going to be mean or political here, but NISMO USA :gtfo2:.

This is due to the way Nissan runs their financial year, April through the end of March. The SCCA Majors season starts in January, so they released some details early. Still, it costs nothing to register and IMO is worth doing each year.

BTW- NISMO is Nissan Motorsports International, but each regional area (North America, Asia, Europe, etc) has the ability to do their own autonomous program. While the North American program has a very small operating budget, the very fact it exists at all is good news for Nissan racers.

So T3 rules don't favor it but it had pole, fastest lap, and won the Runoffs. Something change for 2015?

btw the discounted parts aren't even that great, if you have a good hook up you will get the same price and wont take forever to ship, I prob wont even take my time to apply for this year

When Paul Stclair was at Nismo. I could get parts for about half price. Since he's gone. Everything is list price. And there isn't much in the Nismo catalog for the 370Z. :shakes head:

haha yup and Kevin and I make better nismo ducts lol

Quoted for truth.

I could rant for an hour, but what it comes down to is we get no love.

Mazda, Subaru, Toyota, Honda do. That's why 10's of thousands of people will buy the new Miata, STI, '86, Type-R, and not the new Z.

And what this inadvertently does is make every Nissan shop and service department hate Nismo USA too!

To quote an example from today, one of mine and martin's friends was looking for brake bleeder valves, he calls a dealer and they wanted 40.00 for a set of 4 brake bleeder valves for a nismo 350z!

Zucks lol

Rules haven't changed, but the Z's reputation led SCCA to mandate a higher weight and intake restrictors. For the Runoffs, excellent driving and preparation helped, but the driver also had Hoosier connections that allowed him to run several sets of the new A7 R-compound tire. That was the key, and a first lap melee behind Dave allowed the Z to stay up front.

But even then it was a struggle- I saw what was left of the A7s after that race and there wasn't much (corded). If Dave had any more pressure, or the Mustang driver had not panicked at a last ditch attempt, the Z might not have emerged the winner. The SCCA tech crew ordered the Z torn down and--to my knowledge--is still the only 370Z competing in SCCA T3 competition for 2015.

For us west coast time attack junkies, please tell us what the "SCCA's reputation" of the Z is? For us out here, it's a good enthusiast class time attack car. martin is working on it becoming a good limited class car. everyone seems to agree it is not a good "street" class car. Serious question.

Our specs are basically:

Enthusiast: Full interior street car with bolt ons, 200 wear tires, no engine mods, no non oem Aero. 2 way coils, sways, and springs allowed. Allowed driver seat replacement only.

Street: tire limits, 5"/roof limit on aero(no active). , turbo 57mm and SC limits 68.5mm, no lexan, still 200 wear tires(I think), can remove full interior,

Limited. Lexan permitted cept windshield, CF body panels allowed, body geometry modifications allowed, no turbo/SC MM limits, UTQG 60.

Not sure how that stacks up to SCCA classing, but can tell you we would get totally screwed in the street class.

From the 240Z onwards, the Z has had an enviable competition record. With National Championships for almost every model from the S30 through the Z34, the Z has been viewed as an overdog for some time now. The SCCA competition racing board (CRB) currently has given the Z34 and the Z33 (HR-powered) one of the highest weight penalties (cars must weight 3400# with driver) in the T3 class. The VQ37VHR must also utilize air restrictors (50 mm) to limit top end.

Of course, there's other classes where you can race the Z unrestricted and at a lower weight, but you get to take on cars like the C7, Ferrari 430 comp. Porsche 997 GT3 and the like.

And I would say the same is true out here in TA. Since our enthusiast class has a 45K off the lot list price cap, the only cars conceivably faster than it in its class are either cars that are built to spec and a few years old, or , that's about it really. Old M3's, Old C4's, etc that have depreciated and have been designed to win in that class. However the Z has big challenges being competitive in the "street tuner" class. Namely HP/Weight issues with the tire spec vs boosted up 2500 lb cars. Would be very expensive to bring a Z34 to that level when instead you could build a 240SX which has dominated TA out west in those types of specs.