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The first round of the KC from Daytona is on Speed Channel today the 10th at 8pm Eastern time.Should be one or two of the old Performance Nissan cars running with their new owners.
Yeah, that was the Playboy 350Z that placed 4th. It was leading for a while but the V8 Mustangs just took over at the end. Does anyone know if that Z was N/A or turboed? It looked underpowered in the straightaways compared to the Mustangs.
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MY STABLE: 1991 Red Mazda Miata | 1996 White BMW 318i | 1996 Red BMW 328i | 2003 Red Nissan Frontier | 2005 Red Nissan Titan | 2006 Silverstone Nissan 350Z | 2006 Red Porsche Cayenne S
Yeah, that was the Playboy 350Z that placed 4th. It was leading for a while but the V8 Mustangs just took over at the end. Does anyone know if that Z was N/A or turboed? It looked underpowered in the straightaways compared to the Mustangs.
If I'm not mistaken all the cars are N/A for the Koni Cup (Grand AM) races.
If I'm not mistaken all the cars are N/A for the Koni Cup (Grand AM) races.
That's what I suspected. That Playboy 350Z did well though staying with the two Mustangs and that BMW M3(?).
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MY STABLE: 1991 Red Mazda Miata | 1996 White BMW 318i | 1996 Red BMW 328i | 2003 Red Nissan Frontier | 2005 Red Nissan Titan | 2006 Silverstone Nissan 350Z | 2006 Red Porsche Cayenne S
Maybe those spec Mustangs need more ballast to even things out. 5.0L with 11.0:1 compression...that's some serious horsepower.
I wonder if a new HR-based engine will help the Z become more competitive? Are any of the teams using this new engine yet?
When I'm doing an HPDE, the acceleration down a long straight of my stock'ish Z is barely better than a stock engined 3.0L e36 M3 with 200lbs less weight, but poorer than a stock e46 M3 with 200 lbs more weight. The DE-based engine is reliable so far, but power output seems unimpressive.
The Z's in Koni Challenge are normally aspirated, stock engine cars. The Z may have the following mods done to the powertrain to be more competitive:
NISMO rod bolts
Rev Up lower intake plenum
Cold air intake system
Koni Challenge Spec cam set
Full custom exhaust system
7.25" dual disk clutch set
Upgraded limited slip differential
Any engine management system (next season it must be a Spec Bosch system or stock ECU)
Any fuel system upgrades
98 octane fuel (should get the 300 HP number on 93 octane as well)
That is all we can do. The Z runs at a minimum weight of 2900 pounds. The rest of the speed in the car is made by suspension and brake upgrades. The Z's certainly do suffer for the lower power level, but we make up some of the ground on a HP track like Daytona with our better dynamics.
The car I was driving was underdeveloped both in the chassis and engine departments. For the race, we were making about 30 HP less than our NEAREST competitors, with an AWEFUL power curve as well. The power curve was peaky and jagged, with only a rush (a relative rush...) of power right near redline, which was also set too low, at 6900 rpm. We made a decent showing, under the circumstances. You can read more about it in two threads. The first covers the race and events leading up to it:
The other thread concerns the engine power program, and how we have done with it. We have made it so that we are pretty close to the power level of the other Z's now, and we hope to eliminate the gap in due time.
Koni Challenge on Speed
