Well, we went today to Miami for an AutoX and there were two other 350Z's with me, 1 Performance, 1 Touring 6MT and my Enthusiast. If you have not done an AutoX or are hesitant GO DO IT!!!!, it is a lot of fun and addictive you have to do it at least once.

The 350Z is a great car, this was my first experience other than on the street avoiding the snowbirds down here, for those that don't know AutoX is a course in which there a lot of turns and slaloms, the torque on the car is great and allowed me to run most of the course in just second gear, the car cornered pretty well handled the slaloms with ease and the breaks worked great. I ran a couple of runs with the TCS on and a one run without. With the TCS "on" the car still wanted to bring the tail around slightly but corrected easily, with the TCS on you could feel when making sharp turns how the rear would push hard and all of the power or weight going on to the outside front tire and slowed you down. With the TCS "off" the car flows around the turns a lot flatter but look out when getting on the gas, alot of torque applied and you will spin. On the last turn I got on the gas too soon and I started to go sideways and had to stop to keep from going off and into a tree but even with that I was within a second from my run with the TCS on 49.3 vs 50.2 seconds, I would have loved to have another run at it without screwing up, once you get a handle of the car with out the TCS you will get around the corners alot easier. The other guys ran all of their runs with the VDC/TCS off.

Now to the downside, you need better tires if you want to do this more often or trying to be competitive and win trophies, I guess I will start to look for a spare set of wheels. We ran in the B class Stock class with 2 S2000's and 2 911's. They beat us but considering it was all three of us first time we were within 4 seconds of the winner of the class. The two S2000's took the top spots, now before you start, these guys pulled in with little trailers and switched wheels that had slicks on them plus they were experienced and one of the 911's had been running in A class but was classified in B class today the guy was very experienced, so the good side is that three novices with stock tires gave a great run considering circumtances.

 

Welcome to the club! I did my first AutoX back in October (there's a thread about it floating around here somewhere) and had an excellent time.

I also found that a spare set of wheels with race tires will make a difference. I was about 3 seconds slower than my friends S2000 (he's got race tires) and about .1 slower than a stock S2000. I managed to beat a couple people with lots of track time who had similar cars, so everyone at the event was impressed with the Z. I can't wait until the next one.

Congratulations on the run, and I hope to hear about future races!

-D'oh!

 

Thanks, it was a blast, and I am seriously looking at getting a second set of tires to put the closest to slicks but still street legal so I can drive to the events, I don't think I want to change wheels at the event, I would have to have someone go with me or get a trailer. The Z just needs a little more grip and I think we would kick ***.

The second part was the mini Auto show as everyone came around us to look at the Z and ask questions, people loved them.