Dai Yoshihara's 350Z roadster Time Attack Car
 

I thought you guys might be interested in one of our new projects

http://www.motoiq.com/MagazineArticl...tack-350Z.aspx

Making a roadster competitive is sorta tough but we are going to give it a crack!

Good read. Wonder why they chose a "true" coilover in the rear though, doesn't SPL's site mention how the seperate spring and shock setup is superior?

In the article we explain why it was done to reduce unsprung weight and overall weight by taking the load off the toe link. This allows a much lighter toe link, an a lighter spring assembly.

The advantages of having the spring separate from the shock are that there is no friction creating side load due to spring kink on the shock shaft which can make the suspension more supple.

With high quality dampers like KW, the issue of sticksion due to side load is greatly reduced due to the large internal bearing aera and the high quality bearings used by KW.

Looks awesome!

Sweet another Z for RTA next year!

Do they allow turbo kits on NA cars in the street class? The Z's need them in that class. Most cars that make it to the podium in that class are FI .

Ah, so I'm confused then...I guess both kinds have their pros and cons? Always wondered why certain coilovers give you the choice of either setup.

I'm not a suspension guru, just referring to the link on SPL's site where they say, "Therefore, for better handling, it is desirable to have the spring in the stock location."

http://splparts.com/main4/parts/Z33/...oiloverFAQ.htm

In street class anything goes, except the cars have to run on tires with a UTOG of 140 or higher, they have to have a full interior, full exhaust, no lexan and the heater has to be in place. You can add a turbo or supercharger. Its a pretty cool class and its dominated by S2000's for the RWD class.

Both have there pros and cons. If you wanted to have the rear springs in the stock location and wanted to hace adjustable ride height and corner balance the rear you have to run SPL's awsome rear arm and a big NASCAR style 4.5" race spring.

The SPL rear arm is the best but its a big billet CNCed part and if you run 4.5" springs, you sizes and rates are limited. There are a lot of posibilites with a 2.5" rear spring, its the most common.

Going to a coil over conversion probably saves 20 lbs or more and all of it is unsprung.