Just finished my first season in Spec Z at Miller Motorsports Park. Racing at a reasonable cost! Posted some pics in my album if anyone is interested...

 

how did the miata's fair against the Z's on the track?

 

I would love to do this.

 

SCCA right?

 

That looks like so much fun.

 

The Miatas actually do pretty well through the tighter turns. The Zs can usually take the turns a little faster due to the 10 inch wide tires we are running. On the straight though... you can't even see them in your mirrors at the end of it!

We are racing in NASA which is similar to SCCA. They usually have events at tracks all over the country and now have two national events for the eastern and western United States.

We had such a great time this season. We should have close to 10 Zs lined up for next year. Zs are going to be the next affordable race car. Definitely a step up from the Miatas. We are running times comparable to many of the stock 911 turbos out there.

 

Hexed- congrats on your first full season of racing. Can you provide an estimate of what "reasonable racing" costs for a full season? For example, the actual build cost of your Z excluded, what did tires, brakes, maintenance, entry fees, travel, etc. end up costing? How many weekends did you do?

 

Dk I know you asked for expenses outside of the build but I'll just lay the whole thing out in case anyone would like to know what they need to get started. So I have about $18,000 of expenses into Spec Z including the car this year, which I picked up slightly damaged for about $4500. That is a lot of money! However most guys are building race cars for $50,000 or more that are not much faster than our Zs. That is why I say reasonable. Racing costs are never that sane! In fact we are all a bit insane if you ask me. But it is something I always dreamed of doing and the maintenance costs are really not bad compared to most hobbies.

You can incrementally build it and do HPDE and TT until the car is ready to race. You will need to start in HPDE anyway if you haven't been to the track, so you would have time.

There are some Spec Z guys right close to you at High Plains Raceway near Byers. They would be happy to help you get the ball rolling I'm sure! We just went out there, great bunch of guys.

Once you go out though you will not be able to stop! You will be addicted. I don't know to many people who haven't come back once they start. You will find a way to get the money to go out!

I did most of the work myself except the cage to keep costs down. I also wanted to make sure I could fix most things quickly if anything broke at the track.

Coliovers $2700
Cage $3000
Fire Sys $400
Wheels $1300
BFG R1Tires $1300 X 2 replaced midway through season
Fire Suit $300
Helmet $250
Gloves $50
A Arms $350
Fire Shoes $100
Test Pipes $100
Rotors $400
SS Lines $150
Brembos $1100
Hawk Pds $400 replaced fronts midway $225
Brake Ducts $100

Events
NASA is about $180 per day or $300 per weekend (Event) for two full days of track time
I did about 8 events this season, but you can go to however many you want

I was able to keep my Z street legal believe it or not, so I was able to keep travel costs down. Miller is about 45 minutes from my house. I can also fit 4 racing slicks in the car to get out there as well.

 

Hexed- thanks for laying out your expenses for this year. No worries about getting me started in motorsports, though. This year will be my 28th year in racing and I've raced in both SCCA and NASA over the years. My Z was the RM Spec Z Champ in 2012, but is currently in SCCA T3 trim.

Looking at your list, I'm surprised not to see a Wavetrac or NISMO diff in there. Did you manage to make the VLSD live for a full race season?

 

Awesome!
What are the requirements for a "Spec 350z?" I've got an extra Z that I was planning on making into a track car, so knowing the actual specs would be great!

For example, I found THIS for Miatas, but am unable to find anything about Zs.

 

I wish this was in northeast ohio

 

Since I've recently picked up a 2nd Z as well I've considered starting a Spec build with it, although I'd have to go all the way through the HPDE line to get my comp license. Happy to see some spec Z races happening in the mid-Atlantic, was tons of fun a few weeks ago at VIR, and I even caught a ridealong on one of the spec cars in HPDE 4.

 

Haha! Sorry DK, didn't realize who I was talking to. Yes the VLSD seems to be working out ok for now. We were thinking we would need to replace the diffs but so far only one of us has done it. Those NISMO diffs are hard to find and I believe they are the only ones you can use for Spec Z.

 

Here is the offical rules doc on the NASA site.

NASA Spec Z Rules

 

I believe this is your region... Looks like they have Spec Z going out there.

Nasa Midwest

 

So have you raced with David Dirks then?

 

If you have two, may as well right? The performance difference is quite astounding. I was grinning ear to ear the first time I got it out on track. Sounds like you are on your way. HPDE is great fun too, racing was just the next step. Hope to see you out there soon!

 

Now I regret not buying a z I saw for $3,000 last year that was slightly damaged in a flood, it would have made a great car to start with.

 

You will find another. Seems like all the cheap Zs are in Florida when I check! Flood cars can be problematic, from what I have been told, lots of electrical gremlins.

 

Yep- both Dave and Ashley.