2 days of fun at the California speedway with Speedventures. Sure learned a lot from the people that have more track experience than I do.Met up with a lot of familiar folks, the regulars, and some really fast guys. Met some guys from TrackHQ.com, My350z.com, EVOm forums, and Corvette forums. It was nice meeting all of you guys!




The first day, July 28th was fun. I have never participated in a Speedventures event before, and I must say that it is very organized. The people are very nice. My first session was pretty slow. I was in the white group, intermediate. I focused on learning the line on this configuration. This is a pretty fun track. The car handles great in the pits. High speed stability was perfect as well. I love the high speed S-turn after the back straight then late braking and late turning for the next turn. What a rush!!!!

I hung out with Ed who has a silver 350z on KW Variant 3s, stripped, and on A032Rs. It is pretty cool to find 350z guys to compare lap times with. There was also a guy there by the name of Carl with a stock 07 350z who was running in the Red group (advanced). I found out that he is really a professional race car driver from Sweden and the 07 Z he is driving at the track is a rental car! hahaha!

There was too much traffic on the white group so I asked to be moved up to the blue group (advanced intermediate). By then, I was running with Ed, however, we didnt see each other in the track. What sucks was that the white group skill is noticeably different from the blue group, and I think there were Red group folks in the blue group.Ed and I started comparing times and I noticed that my time is faster. Im slowly pickin up speed as I learn the lines a lot better by watching some of the advanced guys run. My lap times were dropping consistently which made me very happy.

The bad part was that it was pretty hot which caused the car to run slower than usual. I had no overheating problems, water temps were still optimal. However, oil temp was sky high! My oil pressure was low every session because of this. I will never use Mobil 1 oil anymore. I never had problems like this with Royal Purple. hmph! My best time on this track was 1:22.0, slow but as I have mentioned earlier, my times dropped. I actually started 1:27 My goal now is 1:20 seconds.



July 29th, for the first session, I was focused on trying to beat my goal/time of 1:22 and maybe reach 1:20. My car felt great. Although there was still abit traffic at the track because of a slow C6 Corvette in front of me, I hit a 1:19!!!! and the rest of my laps were 1:21!!! WOOOOHOOOO!!!! I was sooo happy. I think that as I get better with my driving, I can hit 1:16 tops on a hot day. Hopefully even lower. Just to give an idea, a GT2 owner was running 1:18 seconds.

I talked to a guy who was tracking his Carrera GT (NICE!) He was pretty fast as well. I think he hit 1:15 or 1:14 that day. It is such a damn nice car too!

Saw Eagle1's car being trailered by the VRT guys. I talked to them for a lil bit but no sign of Eagle1. I was hoping to get a ride on your car @ this track but I think the VRT guys were testing it out or somethin with Billy as the driver.

I ran into another 350z owner who had probably 100+ track experience. I try to keep up with him and watch his lines. Just by watching his lines I was able to hold 1:20 second lap times on our 4th session with temperatures of 100+ degrees, high oil temps, and scrubbed NT01s. More seat time for me definitely. My goal for 1:16 I think is getting close.

High Lateral G!



The Z33 Pilot will be in hiatus for 2 months and will be back in October for California Speedway and Spring Mountain tracks. By then, my Z will have the following:

High capacity oil cooler

New front fascia and vented hood (CWest)

GT Wing

Sparco bucket seat

rollcage

2" thick radiator (maybe)

Some other pics of cars @ the track:
Saturday blue group

Ed's Z

Supercharged G35 in the Red Sunday group



The Z driver that schooled me

Carrera GT




Fastest car @ the track 1:11! Oli!


Enjoy!

 

damn. Its pretty dead. I can hear crickets

 

Paulie,

Nice write-up, pics. Looks like a fun time. Was Daiji and Tyler out there too? I talked to Tyler today, but for a brief second about business. Props on the color matched C-West PFRP lip kit too.

Darrrren.

 

I hate you bro...... I'm jealous! I've been on that track like 5 times and I'm not even close to your times. Even with all your engine Mods I would think I should be 1 to 2 secs behind you. At the end of the day you were doing 1:22's, where did you find more time the next day bro? ( Late breaking, corners ). It was fun hanging out with you, but you better watch out, I'm getting ready. I wrote to Nitto

Dear Eduardo,
The 275/40ZR17 is approved for a 17x9" wheel. We thank you for your interest in Nitto Tires.

Thank you,
Anthony Lee
Nitto Technical Department.

................................................

P.S. You did it man! you set your goals, your in Celebrity terittory now, ( Verena Mei 1:20 ) ha ahha hHahhah ahahahahah Hhah ah. I envy you dude. I hope to be as fast as you someday. Take care Bro........ Peace. let me know when your gonna go again, so I can run with you. Ed

 

hahhaahha! I know theres still room for improvement, Ed. When I was running with the silver Z that schooled me, I know for a fact that the car can go faster. At this time, I can say the car is faster than I am.

I will take some more driving/racing schools so I can really drive the Z @ its full potential. Come to think of it, the pro driver with the Rental Z ran 1:19 and that was all stock. I got suspension/tuned engine/camber/r comps and I ran the same?!? My car should be capable of lower times once I improve my driving. This is just my first year of out so we shall see in this next few months.

Darren, thanks for the compliments. I didnt see Daiji and Tyler though.

 

Nice as usual.

 

great writeup. thanks for sharing some of the fun!

 

Looks like a ton of fun, and some nice cars. Carrera GT!

 

Comparing lap times at Cal Speedway infield is not always the most accurate. Not only are there a few slightly different infield configurations, but half of the course is also made up of cones. I remember back in 2006 at the first time attack I went to (by accident ) the guys were purposly hitting some of the cones out of the way to get faster times. That being said, they aren't going to vary too wildly, but a couple of seconds at best.

Paulie - Very respectable times for your setup! You are a quick learner . See you out at Spring Mountain!

 

Hey Paulie,
Nice write up.
I was there too on Saturday. Did not get to track my car, just stuck to instruction duties for white group (1 G35, 1 M3, 1 WRX, and 1 STi).

I recall seeing your yellow Z out there. Sounded like you had a tramendous time out there. If you've managed to shave time off consistently then you have already won.

I also remember the Sweden dude in the red Z. LMFAO @ it being a rental!?! His 1:19 is impressive for a bone stock Z (not even sure it was a track model) on stock street tires, which meant 1:16 on R-compound such as the NT-01 you're on is a very realistic goal. He was working pretty hard out there ... lots of of impressive slides.

I'll remember to come by and say hi next time.

 

Thanks for the kind words everyone.

Mike B., kinda sucked when the cones were in the way! It happened a few times on both days actually. It made it a whole new configuration of the track and it disorients you while driving because of it

The swedish pro racer rented a car out to check the 350z because hes planning on buying one. What a great way to test drive a car! He beat it up pretty badly it was hilarious! Tires were worn out, the brakes were burnt, and there were some driver side fender damage and rear bumper damage. Kinda reminds me of the movie Jackass.

Well, my Z is now going to be in hibernation from the track and will be daily driven until the fall season is here. I just put on my street wheels/tires today. Im afraid Im gonna be in withdrawal because of this. help!