alright my delema has been going on all winter, well since last trackday in october
i have been getting out to the track a little more each year with the z
i know from experience about track dedicated vehicles(sportbikes) its tough on them

i am wondering how many are running track set up car on the street?
with lsd
high rate springs/ highly dampened shocks
clutch/flywheel
seats/ bar
adjustable camber
have there been any adverse wear items, bushings/balljoints/longterm effects?

i am borderline buying a vehicle for the track, safety in mind

any answers or thoughts

 

I'll weigh in here: I drive our 350 at track events a few times a year either when my 300 is down or it's too hot out for it. It (the 350) is our DD and has very few bolt-ons. I change to aggressive pads and a dedicated set of wheels/tires, and off we go. It has been relatively problem-free.

My 300 used to be my DD AND track car, with all of those upgrades that you mentioned. It clearly is an older car, but it has been maintained meticulously from day 1. The bottom line, in my opinion, is that if you are going to be driving your car hard at track events on a relatively routine basis (monthly or more), you need another car for DD. We were amazed to find seized and nearly melted wheel bearings and worn control arm bushings, etc.

If you don't want to turn your ~$30k Z into the track car, there are a lot of good options out there to be "THE" track car. Heck, if it's a 350 you want to track, I've seen 03s push $12-13k already, as well as many other options. Or, you track the 350 and get a back-up beater for when/if the 350 is down.

$0.02.

 

My Z has been a dual purpose vehicle for 3 years now with no issues other than having to swap tires and brakes for each event. No unusual wear items although I would keep a close eye on your front wheel hubs as a number of people have had them fail after repeated track abuse. I have witnessed this twice so far. I plan to change my as a preventative measure in the new year.

The plan is to convert my car to become a dedicated track car but that's because I wamt to race it door to door in NASA Performance Touring class as soon as it's prepped accordingly.

 

A car used regularly on a race track has much higher inspection and maintenance requirements then a dedicated street car. This includes a regular parts replacement schedule for items, specific to the particular car, that have a tendency to fail.

350Z front hubs are mentioned above and those would be on the replacement list based on some schedule. Time's up, pull the parts and replace with new ones. Inspect the old parts and adjust the new replacement date based on the inspection results.

You can't just drive the car until something breaks. You need to be proactive and inspect/replace parts before they fail. Losing a right front hub at 140mph in a sweeping left turn will most likely be fatal.

 

yep i already understand maintenance schedules changing

as far as a daily driver mine is hardly that i have a suv and bikes to get around on (the z is under a cover from nov. to april anyway-- michigan)

i have an 03 track with 17k and original trans that i bought new

my main question is how far have you guys gone without pulling the car off the street?

i have track wheels and brake setup and i can live with the 450lb springs and sways right now on the street

the problem is i have a seat comming for track days only

and i was wondering what brought the dedicated track cars to the breaking point of pulling them off the street.

 

Sponsorship.
I don't know many cars in the 350 world that are track-dedicated (i.e. no street use) that are not sponsored...

 

My z is basically a dedicated track/drift car with the occasional weekend cruising. My only complaints for dd is the stiff spring rate, and the cars so low it scrapes over most speed bumps.

 

not racing right now but maybe in the future

i have always had at least one vehicle in the garage that never saw the street ie motorcycles.

i dont think that preping a car for the track involves sponsorship. 5k to prep a car is not that much it's the initial price of the car that hurts

having 30k that i don't feel like driving on the street is my problem

$250k no sponsor. that makes the z as a track only car a bargain

 

how much and what do you have done ? what spring rate?

 

I have those mods and then some, and I do track and daily the car even with the 650 front and 700 lbs rear T2 springs.

I have been replacing important items this year, since it has reached 50+ thousand miles. I have done all the bearings, studs, tranny , JWT clutch and flywheel, plugs, and even had the rear end rebuilt. All I have left is the belts.

Before I go to the track I change the oil, diff fluid, and bleed the brakes. I have front rotors I change along with the pads, and then I do the rear pads. By using dedicated rotors for my track pads keeps me from bedding in them every time I swap them.

I drive to the track and so far, I have always been able to drive it back. The only issues I have had:

Stripped rear stud- drove home on race tires, had to dremel rim to cut stud.
Bad 5th gear synchro- replaced under warranty, defective tranny.
Locked diff- this happened recently,had sub par diff fluid that got too hot and broke down. Improved on the trip home (3.5 hours). Changed out fluid, everything is good.


I believe with a strict maintenance schedule and responsible driving at the track you can definitely do both with the same car.

 

My experience has been that the 350Z and modern track modifications for use as a Recreation Vehivle (the track RV) make the spectrum from street snoozer car to track RV pretty easy. It takes me about 1 hour at the track to switch out brake pads, adjust front camber, put on track wheels/tires, adjust the schocks, snap in the belts off the roll bar, and put that little "brake before the straight" yellow tape on the steering wheel and the piece of masking tape that says VDC off (both reminders for the over 40 crowd).

The use of a handy dandy HF track trailer with a drop out hitch, and a track wheel rack and tool box makes it slick. I hour and you have pretty respectable track RV. And then another hour to put it back to very comfortable street mode. It is all made much easier with a good low profile jack, rubber jack slot pad, and a good power socket wrench.

 

Most of the sponsored ones are slow with good marketers behind the wheel (with the few that actually compete in sanctioned races). There are several 350s floating around as exclusive track cars - however, I will consur that they are far and few between, which to me is still surprising.

 

My G is a daily driver, as well as my weekend track vehicle. I have changed the sways, added a good bit of body reinforcement and bracing, changed the brakes to a Stoptech F/R BBK, and run a F/I setup. I also have track brake pads and tires that I change out for track use.


However, I have NOT changed the springs/shocks. If I do end up doing so, I will be going with wither the TEIN EDFC and Comfort Sport coilovers, or the Tanabe Sustec -7's, with their electroniocally adjustable setup, because I really don't want to compromise my daily driving. Both of those setups are electronically adjustable, so I can run soft for daily driving and stiffen it up for the track.

I have also kept the full interior and sound system, as well as all the rest of the creature comforts. I don't plan on changing any of that. So, I will never be completely competitive, but I will still have lots of fun.

 

Tein CS valving bias towards comfort and Tanabe's progressive rear coils make them both poor choices for the track.

 

Exactly what I was thinking.

 

Thanks I was hoping you would reply in this thread.

 

Yes, if you are going towards an all out race car. I am not, as I stated. I want to maintain my daily driving comfort (or as comfortable as the sport suspension is) and still stiffen it up for the track.

 

Actually, that number is growing fairly fast. I would even hazzard a guess to say the 350Z (2003 models first) will become as popular in the grassroots motorsport area as Miatas and E36 BMWs. The price point has just reached the right point, and it has shown success on track. The only vehicle I see that could hamper that is the Kappa twins, but they are still pricey.

The other question the OP needs to think about is will this just be a track car, or will you start trying to be competitive at some point, even for fun. Once you dice into that area, you really need to decided if you want to just have fun, or try to win. Winning usually takes a dedicated car in most classes.

I am at the same point of decision now.

 

yep
right now i have learned how to max out street tires a long time ago
the driver mod is going well and the learning curve is leveled off, just seat time needed to have more fun

i am running the **** out of the r compounds with my stock shocks and 450lb springs. just looking for the next step and wondering when my kidney's/.wallet are really gonna take the hit.

i am just looking at the future for nasa tt events. not so much to be uber competitve be to have the competion blood flowing again. set up for t2 is so so critical it would drive me nuts to run scca.

 

Good topic

More on that please. What seat are you getting? Is it a full race seat that won't bend/brake in case of a roll? Do you have a roll bar already?

Just more things to consider...