I'm building the car with the goal of SCCA STU autocross and HPDE this year. I was considering buying the KW shocks and Nismo diff with an eye towards Spec Z in the future (couple of years, see if the series is still around, oh and if I have the resources).

Has anyone (within the last year or so) bought the Nismo Diff Kit from Nismo (not the wavetrac)? What was the cost? Was it a kit (bearings, seals, stub axle, bolts) or just the differential. I see there are 2 approved Nismo diffs, but my research on the web resulted in little availability. Anyway, I thought I would ask here first before completing the registration with Nissan.

 

A few people asked me what happened at Nationals.
I has the car gone over and everything checked before I trailered down. I was one of a few cars who didn't have dyno or scale issues.
On Sunday, the car started popping out of gear. All my pumps were on and running fine. Finally on lap 8 or so, about half way through, pulling out of T1, something rear end wise broke and ended my day.
The shop put the car on the lift when I brought it back. I was thinking diff. Turns out it was the left axle that broke. They suspect the trans popping out of gear was due to the axle causing a drivetrain bind. They checked the diff and trans and both are fine. Replaced both axles and the car is good to go. Ran it ar VIR in October with no issues. Looking forward to car updates and 2015

 

Any new builds planned for 2015? Looking forward to some Spec-Z racing this year!

 

Is it me or does this class seems to be dying already? I really hope not.

 

Just visited the Nexgen Motorsports shop in New Orleans last week and they had seven to eight Spec Zs in various stages of preparation. Beautiful shop with first rate equipment, so I expect they'll be a serious source of Spec Z entries for some time.

 

I only see two registered at VIR for this weekend. I wish I had a comp license, I could probably get on the podium.

 

Eric and Devin...That should be fun to watch.

Eric, is Phil not coming?

 

Im looking into building my Z for next year, 2016... how big is the presence in the northeat/midwest area... im in MI. Any advice to a noobie with setup? Anything that can save time/money/frustration is appreciated!

 

The best advice is not to scrimp on safety equipment and driver ergonomics. Go to a good race shop and pay for a weld-in cage that meets the specs. You'll also want to have them build seat mounts and have you sit in the car to accommodate your individual preferences (including where to mount the shoulder harness). Worry about the performance parts AFTER you get this done!

 

I am in Ohio and in the NASA GL/MW region there are not really any Spec Z's running around. There was one guy I recall running a lot of the MW events, but he just sold his car and/or is trying to sell it. I think there is another guy running now, but I am not sure. I wish the following was bigger. I would have loved to have some local competition. I moved on to ST3.

To see for sure, check the results from last year in the two regions and see how many showed Spec Z.

 

I was going to run SpecZ but I lost my contract and was barely able to afford to go to "free" track days the last couple of years. Cage is likely going in this year but I don't think I'll be able to get the car to meet the 50/50 rule for NASA with the rear quarter panel damage. Probably another year or two just running 3Balls events.

 

I'm just considering going PTB. Not that many 350's on track in general in this area. Plenty in autox and drifting but that's pretty much the extent down here, that I've seen.

 

It has died in both Northern and Southern California. In NorCal, we started with one car (hi!), but we had four more builds going at the time. Over 2014, I sold my 03' SpecZ and bought an 07' to build, but noted that the other builds were dying. Two decided to enter USTCC and one transformed into ST3 due to low car count. The fourth is done, but - to my knowledge - hasn't entered any SpecZ events, just TT. It's likely I will merge over to USTCC as well.

 

The fork is in.

There were 2 drivers 'round here but I have not heard much this year.

 

Sad to hear it's dying already.

 

It doesn't interest me in the least. Building for TT3 and eventually ST3 here....

 

No USTCC Scott, come race ST3 with us!

We have 3 350Z's, with another 2 on the way, one I am building for a customer later this summer. Plus some BMW's and an S2000, we are going to have pretty decent car counts for the rest of the year.

With your 07 HR you should have no trouble making a competitive ST3 car.

 

Admittedly the "2 drivers 'round here" have had trouble getting to the track this season (big bump in work business and significant home projects/priorities). I hope to be out starting July.

There are actually 4 Spec Z in NC, one near DC and another build pretty much done (working on comp license). That'll make 6 in mid-Atlantic (5 at the moment). Hoping to get 10 or more at East Coast Nationals (had 8 last year and I was the only one from MA). SE has a couple and NOLAN has about 5 I think. NE has some too I believe.

That's what I know of on east coast.

 

There hasn't been a single Spec Z driver this year in SE at all. I don't foresee any SE racers in the East Coast Championship this year.

 

There are actually 3, but they have been spending all of their track days at VIR getting ready for nationals.