I thought you would like to see the Z in it's natural element.
I was running with the Checkered Flag Racing Association. They are a great bunch of folks. You are required to have experience to run with them, but it is great fun running your Z next to a wide variety of cars, including Ferraris, porsches, Z06's, Evos, mini's, and open wheel vehicles. And since it is a private group you have to be invited by a member, which drastically reduces the "A-hole factor." What is also nice is they will black flag you for unsafe driving. Three black flags and you are done for the day. Guys driving expensive cars don't like driving with A-holes....go figure.

I liked the track, but had a tough time finding a good line on the Andretti Hairpin Turn and couldn't quite get turn 11 down. As a matter of fact, I went beyond what the VDC could handle a couple of times. It was a slow speed turn, so we just laughed our way through it. My uncle mentored me throughout the day and was pleased with the results. He said he was extremely impressed with the speed I was carrying through Turn 4 and 10. It felt great to come up on someone in Turn 3 and time it appropriately to hit turn 4 well enough to take them. I managed to take a Z06 doing that. I lapped the Z06 during the set, so I think it was an inexperienced driver.

My uncle blew a belt on his Z06 early in the day...ending his day...so I let him drive my Z. Damn....he put the Z through it's paces while only driving at 7/10 of his ability. He passed the Porsche Cayman S driven by a great driver which just goes to show you....driver ability trumps car specs. While I trust my uncle with my life (he did save it when I was a baby) I will say, by the end of the set, I was praying for the checkered flag to pop up. I think he scrubbed off more rubber and brake pad during his one set than I did my entire day.

There was one othe Z driven by one of the very experienced group, so I parked next to him. Nice guy. We talked Z's and he had turned a touring edition into a track vehicle. During the "race event" he actually spun his car going through turn 11, but was able to right himself and maintain his position....that was good driving.

I think 5 or 6 cars went off the track. Most we able to keep on running. There was a caddilac however, that left the track on a flatbed towtruck. He broke it bad coming out of turn 3.

There you go...now I have to wash my vehicle and check it out for mechanical issues.

Marc Mc

On Track Photo Credits: Head-On Photos (www.headonphotos.net)

 

nice, sounds like fun. Stock rubber hold up well?

 

Awesome. I love that second pic!

 

Stock rubber held up fine. I don't know how many more miles I will be getting out of them though. Two track days takes it out of them.

The second shot is on the famous "Corkscrew". It's a heckuva a drop. You need to have you line right. They changed the track as it used to be big rocks off to the right, which would hurt bad.

 

Looks like a fun day.

 

Marc,

Right on!

I'll be doing thill tomorrow.Laguna is such an awesome track and would like to do a day there(on 4 wheels) at some point.

Do you have any other days booked at thill/laguna/buttonwillow? Maybe we can hook up at a trackday.

Nice pix.

 

Right now, the next track day I will be doing is T-Hill with CFRA in October. Hopefully I can get the day off from work. Then they go to Searspoint, but I don't know if I will be able to make it.

That would be cool to race with another Z.

Later!
Marc

 

That sounds like a lot of fun, I bet it was a blast. I was at that track last year watching the ALMS championships and it looks like a pretty tough track. BTW Im curious, how did your brakes hold up?? Are they stock, and did they start to fade?? I really want to track my car, but I have a feeling I should at least upgrade the pads and lines.

 

hows ur car after all did u get any rock chips?

 

The brakes held up fine. I have the Track package which comes with the Brembos. They did the job and we experienced no fade.

As far as chips....none noticed yet.

 

o man i'd love to take my baby out to laguna seca and let it free u r a one lucky Z owner
==========
06 white Z33 tein springs, rs-r exhaust more to come

 

If you like that one, you'll enjoy this one also (high-res):

http://www.we-todd-did-racing.com/we...MXk1NDE%3D.jpg

 

MAN! I always wanted to try that track out.

 

Im glad you had a good time Marc. Maybe we could hook up at CFRA's Thunderhill event in Oct and talk shop!



Jason #21

 

Why do they taped the headlights "hurricane style" on that Z32?

 

I was gonna ask the same...whats with the taped headlights?

I would LOVE to run the Z on the track though, that would be hell of a lot of fun.

 

i wanna take my z there sooooooooooooooooooo bad

 

keep the rocks from cliping your headlights... because when your doing 100+ behind someone it isnt nice on your headlights nor window nor bumper..

 

Thats what I figured it was for but I wasn't positive.

 

Some also require the taped headlights so you don't get glass all over the track in an accident situation.