Yeah, forgot to think of this. There is a guy running a GT2 Mazda RX7 up here and a couple of seasons ago, had the worst luck, kept blowing motors one right after the other, went through 4-6 motor before they realized that the oil cooler was full of shrapnel and every time they installed the motor, the shrapnel from the cooler would recirculate through the oiling system and kaboom....

 

Not sure what number is was when PN guys ran it. There was an owner between us and them, and he changed the car number. Sorry.

We are most likely not keeping it silver. Our team colors have always been red/white/black. The Legacy(ST car) only has a hint of red and white, and we wanted to go back to a scheme more like our other cars. Most likely the Z will end up mostly white with large red secondary sections and black trim. But nothing has been finalized. I welcome any suggestions for the color scheme, as long as it has some red in it. But I got to know by next weekend, when it is due at the paint booth. Speak now or forever hold your peace.

 

Understood. Jackson offered me one of the cars right after PN decided not to run the series any more. I thought about it as an alternative to upgrading my G35. We talked about a TT with a Motec management etc. But I was really interested in a Lysholm SC, like a Whipple, but no such animal or undertanding of what it took to make it work was available, and throwing a pair of Greddys on it as he tried to sell me, was not what I wanted to do if I was going to go with a motor build and upgrade. Eventually I went with VRT and the Jim Wolf approach when I capitulated to the pragmatic reality that I wanted more power, was not prepared to be a pioneer on lobed twin screw system development, and did not want to wait any longer. His real forte', in my view, was chassis building and suspension, for which I think his approach to the Z was brilliant.

 

Never seen a VQ35 break that bad before, especially an NA VQ35. Interesting.

 

Don't you think it was a driver error on downshift? Like going from 5th to 1st instead of 3rd?

 

Quite possible, it had to be something harsh.

 

Yeah. Jackson is a good builder. I doubt it was a mistake on his part. I would suspect, though admitedly this is total speculation, that the "in between" owner just flubbed it and popped the motor. Then decided he had enough and sold the car.

 

Oh man, I was just reading the write up about you guys in Grassroots by J.G. That was weird. But anyway good luck with the new season. Are you still going to campaign the Legacy or is the Z it?

 

Nevermind I just read the rest of the article.

 

Well, here's your problem, right here!

(Someone had to say it! )

 

We plan on continuing to run the Legacy right now. The ST class is fun too. Eventually though, we plan to be running two Zs. It's just easier to half the number of spares you have to carry. What we learn from this Z this year we will apply to the build of our second car for 2008.

 

Just out of curiosity- if you're planning on building a fresh 350Z from the ground up, what's your estimate on cost? I had the chance to examine the Unitech Grand Am Cup cars at CA Speedway at a practice session and was duly impressed. But it's one thing to buy a used race car for a fraction of the cost to produce a new one. What would be a preliminary estimate for the construction costs of a current Koni Challenge Z? And is the rationale to run one car for rental drivers?

 

So many negative connotations recently with that term "rental" driver. But in short, yes. The idea is to find like minded people who want to build a great Grand-Am team. Since truck and travel are the bulk of our expenses, it makes sense finacial sense to field two efforts. Twice the sponsor potential for only about 30-40% increase in cost of the weekend. Spreading the financial responsibility between 4 sponsorship seeking drivers instead of two just makes good sense. But we aren't looking for rental guys. To clarify, we are looking for teammates.

Alot of the cost of a race car is in the labor to put it together. We do our own chassis fabrication, and all our own install work, and sweat equity really helps the checkbook. Building a new car will be more than we bought this Z for. But since we have no experience with Nissans as of yet, we wanted to buy a known quantity. The second car's price will depend heavily on what kinds of work we do to it, and what kind of data aquisition/instrementation we go for. Those decisions will be based on our experience with this car (now #94). The build could be anywhere between 60 and 90K. give or take. We'll see as it comes together.

 

Nice car! On many occasions over the past few years I've seen those cars in pieces on the ground. Jackson and his crew built those cars extremely wellThey also do great engine work. They built a sweet engine for our ex-GM's Can Am Car. They were a great help to me with my old 350Z. In my quest for speed, I decided to switch to a Z06 in favor of forced induction. It seemed less complicated, and after three+ years I was ready for a change.

Good luck with the new car!

 

Hmmm... don't you think he knows that?

 

Unitech builds some fine cars. I had the opportunity to visit them a couple years back for a suspension install on my Z.

 

It was rumored that Unitech cars cost about $150k each to build. I think BJ said his cars were over $100. One factor in cost is if you start with a brand new car, a used car or a wrecked car. Depending upon you options you can easily save $25k (by going with a wrecked car)

 

+1. They did a suspension job on Mike Cronin's street legal Z, and he was running laps at 1:26 on Streets of Willow (full course with bowl) in it, NA, which is pretty slick for this heavy car on that tight twisty track. Of course, Mike has probably turned more laps on SOW than about anyone. I think he told me it was beyond 5,000 laps at that time, and that was a year ago. Jackson took me for a tour of his facility and we looked over the GrandAm cars during that tour....very nicely framed, clean and simple layouts, top drawer all the way.

 

The motors that Hasselgren is building for the Car&Driver 350Z are $30k each.....

 

Saw the car out at Thunderhill last weekend! It was nice to finally see (and hear) one of these cars in person. It was haulin'! The suspension looked soft compared to some of the other fast cars, but your lap times seem to show that it works for the Z.

Can't wait to see more of the car and its development.