dkmura

iTrader: (64)

After a long off-season, it's time to start planning for the upcoming Colorado and national race schedule. While the SCCA continues to do no favors for the Z in terms of competition rules, I support the Rocky Mountain Division (RMD) and plan to run as many local races as possible. Like 2015, the Z will attempt to compete in two classes (Touring 1 and Touring 3) and earn two divisional championships in the same year:

April 30-May 1 High Plains Raceway- RMD Championship Touring 3
May 14-15 Circuit of St. Louis- SCCA Majors Touring 3
May 28-29 Pueblo Motorsports Park- SCCA Majors Touring 3
July 2-3 High Plains Raceway- SCCA Majors Touring 3
July 23-24 Pueblo Motorsports Park- RMD Championship Touring 1
August 20-21 High Plains Raceway- RMD Championship Touring 1
September 19-25 Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course- SCCA Runoffs Touring 3

Seven weekends from April through the end of September doesn't sound like much. But it means the Z will have to have an almost faultless reliability record throughout ALL the races to finish in the points. No guarantees (there never is in racing), but here's one racer looking forward to having some fun in the Z's natural habitat.

MicVelo

Good luck, David!! You know we're all pulling for ya!!!

Results/recounting of events as they are available!



Mic

JBJ

Good luck this summer. Hopefully I'll make a few PDX's this year.

dkmura

iTrader: (64)

Thanks guys- the good thing about plans is I like having some goals to shoot for. The bad thing is it only takes one small variable to go wrong--among thousands--and there go those goals! Spent yesterday going through fluids, brakes and electrics to make sure the Z is ready before loading it back onto the trailer. I realize even this level of preparation is minimal compared with the pro shops that prep their customer T1 or T3 cars. It does illustrate how durability remains an integral part of the Z mythos.

dkmura

iTrader: (64)

Uh Oh! SCCA just released the following statement:

The SCCA Club Racing Board has announced its intention to re-position the Touring 3 (T3) class, with expected adjustments coming mid-season to reduce the pace of the front of the field.

The primary goal of T3 is to provide a platform for sports cars and sedans with high-performance, four-cylinder engines serving as its benchmark. When the Touring category was revamped in 2013 to absorb Showroom Stock, the resulting T3 class became faster than intended, with larger-engine, six-cylinder cars setting a performance benchmark that many four-cylinder cars could not achieve.

For 2016, many of the front-running cars in Touring 3 over the last several seasons, including, but not limited to the BMW Z4M, Ford Mustang V6 and Nissan 350Z and 370Z, will have two places to run—in Touring 2 or Touring 3. Many already have a dual-classification, and others will be classified in T2 soon. Data collected this season and last will dictate adjustments in early June 2016 (after Mid-Ohio) to reduce the pace of the six-cylinder cars that exceed the performance parameters of the class.

In 2015, Touring 3 became the first to fall below the 10-entry mark at the Runoffs®, meaning the race winner was not formally crowned a National Champion. Since then, the class has been bolstered by the inclusion of the 2016 Mazda MX-5 and MX-5 Global Cup car as well as a spec BMW E46. But the addition of these cars is just one step toward a healthy T3 class.

“There are a lot of cars in garages or racing elsewhere that should be competitive in T3,” SCCA Club Racing Board Chairman Jim Wheeler said. “Unfortunately, the pace of the class is currently a little too fast to be attractive to these cars, and many others that are now coming into the market. While we have made some additions to the class in 2016 that should help its overall health, we need to dial the lap times back a little bit to put the class into the appropriate performance window.”

BryanH

The Z has to be really heavy in T3 right? Is it much lighter in T2 trim, and can it be competitive there?

dkmura

iTrader: (64)

My T3 Z has to weight 3,450# coming over the scales AFTER a race. Since SCCA just re-classed the Spec Z line in T2, they didn't change the weight one bit. That may come later on, but for the time being, the Boss 302 Mustang and C6 Corvette are the top cars in T2. Sorry for the inadvertent edit to your post- I was actually trying to respond to your question.

BryanH

Shows what I know about Touring classing. I thought Corvettes were T1 cars. So what SCCA is saying is that T2 is for big power V8 cars and T3 is for MX-5 Cup cars. There's no place for anything in between? Odd.

dkmura

iTrader: (64)

Corvettes are classified in T1. The C7 is a limited prep T1 car, while the C6 Gran Sport also plays with few restrictions. In T2, SCCA put weight and restrictors on the C6 Z06s last year and there was a lot of complaining by the Corvette camp. Gotta admit, the Comp Board is into equal opportunity- they **** everybody off!

BryanH

And I thought autocross classing made little sense sometimes.

Brakes and tires must be heavily taxed by 3400+ race weight I imagine.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do!

03threefiftyz

iTrader: (25)

I have no interest in racing at that type of weight. I'm almost 500lbs less rolling over the scales after a session.

dkmura

iTrader: (64)

Yep- I feel the same way. Last year, I pulled all the lead/steel ballast from my Z and raced in Touring 1. While there's no way anybody will ever make the equally ridiculous 2400# minimum weight for that class, it was fun to drive with no ballast. Of course, the Corvettes, Ferraris, Vipers, etc. in that class simply walk me, but that's one of the unpalatable choices we have in SCCA road racing today.

JBJ

Would another Touring class help? Or would it just thin out the classes that are already established?

It seems as though SCCA and NASA have both done a good of upsetting racers over the winter.

dkmura

iTrader: (64)

When I first started racing some 30 years ago, SCCA already had established several showroom stock classes: SSC, SSB, SSA and SSGT. They're roughly comparable to the current T4, T3, T2 and T1 classes today, but with the addition of Spec B for small hatchbacks (Versa, Fit, etc).

No matter how you cut the cards, there's usually one car or package that has an advantage in each class. That's just the history of both the SS and Touring classes. As an example, in T2, that car used to be the Corvette C6 Z06. Restrictors and weight made the Boss 302 the king of the hill last year, so the rules added weight to the Mustang this year. Plenty of SCCA racers simply swap rides each year to stay in the "right" car.

Not me. I'm a Nissan racer for better or worse. The Z33 is a package I've been racing for years and have spares and support for. And while it remains a powerful RWD sportscar that's requires skill and daring to drive, these mid-season rule changes are unsettling. There's no way to know what kind of T3 package I'll have going into the Runoffs...

B Esquire

Sorry for the plug here, but have you considered NASA Super Touring? ST3 is a perfect fit for the Z with the new average HP rule. And you can race it sub 3000 lbs!

dkmura

iTrader: (64)

I've raced in NASA for several years: qualified and raced back in '07 at the Mid-Ohio TT3 Nationals with my street Z. Went back the next year and finished sixth in PT3 in door-to-door racing. Both times were a mixed bag. Yes, there was always someone to race with (even if it was a Thunder Roadster mixed in to the unlimited group that PT3 ran with). You had to watch out for the Daytona prototypes that were so much faster than anybody else! Getting lapped by much faster cars and whatever the imaginary car of the year wasn't nearly as much fun as racing in SCCA IMO.

While I keep my eye on NASA, my overall experience has been more satisfying with SCCA. If only they could quit screwing with the rules.

dkmura

iTrader: (64)

This upcoming weekend is the Rocky Mountain Division SCCA opener. High Plains Raceway is a 2.55-mile circuit located about 60 miles east of Denver, CO and will be where we kick off the season in the middle of the country. Weather forecast calls for rain on both Saturday and Sunday, so I may get the opportunity to run some new BFGoodrich KDW-R rain tires I've been saving. With two races each day (four total), I need reliable finishes to start the season with.

Lots of fast cars in my run group this weekend: Porsche 911 GT3, BMW M3 E46, Audi A4 turbo Quattro, Mustang GT500-R and others. While most of these are in other classes, we are still racing to gain position in the race. With the possibility (probability?) of rain, that promises to jumble the field even more. In my experience, the 350Z is a good car to drive in the wet and I look forward to the race weekend.

JBJ

Good luck David. Wish I could make it out there this weekend.

reserved

iTrader: (18)

ST3 is huge here in Mid-Atlantic region this year. But I just don't see the Z would be competitive. My whp is 258 and my car is gutted. I just don't see how I could get to a power ratio of 10:1

Pengu

iTrader: (9)

My goal this summer is hit a track a few times. I've never gone and want to learn how to really use my Z.

Love the post and look forward to continuous updates!