Yes.

It’s called BA (Brake Assist) and it’s never OFF. It monitors the time you took going from throttle to brake pedal and how much pressure you apply to detect a “panic stop” situation. It cuts throttle some and apply maximum brake force for you.

Handy on the highway, not so good when left braking on a track (time from gas to brake of zero seconds…).

 

With Zs, if the ECU feels that there is crazy Gs being pushed or irratic driving, then even with the VDC off, it will throw a slip light on. With my Nismo LSD if I spin out it will always throw the slip light on. I've continued runs after this has happened and no trottle was taken out of anything, the car still drove the same. I'd say I could notice these things. Does anyone have confirmation that this is just a warning or default?

 

I've got a copy of Best Motoring's evalution of the Z under track and autox conditions. I have a 2003 Touring that has TCS, but no VDC. However, the truth (according to BM) is that every model except Enthusiast has a version of the VDC built into the electronics. Many of the Japanese tuners know this, and select that model exclusively for tuning. I think cristoc already knew this.

I primarily autox in my Z, with one or two track events per year, plus several runs an the Tail of the Dragon (very similar to the Togue in Japan). On the track, this system does translate into a slight push, but for the novice, this is much safer and faster than a car that has significant oversteer. In autox, I don't see any adverse effects (I do occasionally left foot brake, but only for certain elements) as long as the TCS is off. If you forget it, the brakes can really bog you down on a corner exit, ruining your times.

I'm no expert, so take this advice as you see fit. However, I have figured out a couple of things that can suprise you. I shot off-course twice while autoxing unexpectedly. I believe that both were due to the systems interference. In both cases, during a high speed slalom bounching off the rev-limiter in second, the LSD hooked up while in a light four-wheel drift. Wheel turned or not, the car immediately shot in the direction it was pointed. I believe the power blipped at the rev limit, and grabbed rear traction just as the power was comming back in.

On the Dragon, while trying to induce a drift (showing off), the car bogged and began to push. I found that if you used the brake to initiate the slide, the electronics kicked in and caused this. But, if you initiate the slide with throttle lift alone, the system left you alone to drift to your hearts content. BTW: The Tail of the Dragon is the worst possible place to attempt this, so don't!

 

That's interesting... my car never seemed to be braking as it was cutting out. It was more of a no throttle reponse during hard cornering and subsequent corner exit. At first, I thought I didn't have enough gas in the tank, but after filling it still persisted. So, out with the Yaw Sensor and that seems to have solved the problem... for the most part. I have had it cut out on occasion since then, but assumed it had something to do with the ABS system, since that is still active.

Has anyone else ever experienced that 'no throttle' effect? Maybe I had water in the fuel or something else???

 

All it takes to chop the throttle is the brake lights being on (which are on way before the brakes start slowing things down). I've found this feature to accept a heavy dose of throttle (with the brakes on) before it cuts power...which allows for proper heel-and-toe operation...but left foot braking easily crosses this threshold.

It's interesting that someone else mentioned the VDC light going on after a spin. I had this happen twice when I purposely thrashed it into a 360-spin on some wet pavement. The second time (when my brother was driving), it stalled the engine and permanently set the VDC light on. We cycled the ignition key on-off-on and it went away. I just always thought that it set the light whenever the yaw-rate sensor was overloaded (probably to scare the crap out of people and make them think they just broke their new car). For all I know, it probably sent an email (via satellite) to Nissan to warn them of my abuse!

 

Try and be smoother when applying throttle and you'll won't set the TCS into panic.