I found some photos from my last autocross. The car handled great and turn in was really good compared to a buddies Z I drove. There was quite a bit of body roll that hopefully a front bar as some shocks can help with. The diff was giving up towards the end of the run. I don't know if reducing the body roll will help with that or if the diff is shot.







Photo credit Andy Seipos

 

Nice pics.

 

I reported the brake pedal having a bit too much travel after completing the brembo upgrade. 1 week later and the pedal has a great feel. Kind of strange but I'll take it. I even had a friend drive it to make sure I didn't just get used to it. He liked the pedal feel, nice and stiff even with the stock rubber lines.

 

Hi eye-5, looking good!

Wouldn't hurt to bleed the brakes some more just to be on the safe side...

 

Signed up to instruct with Gridlife Music & Motorsports festival Midwest the weekend of June 10th. It's a great event. 3 days of track day, time attack, drift demos, music festival, camping and a car show. http://www.grid.life

The HPDE and Time attack spots sold out in 1 minute. Insane. I know they are holding some time attack spots for previous competitors (hopefully me). We will see.

 

Subd. Good stuff!

 

sub'd as well.

Personally, I'll pass on Gridlife, "but you kids have fun!"

 

Gridlife gets a ton of hype so I see why it is easy to hate on. However, the guys that put it together really are good dudes. I got my start with HPDE at WMHM5 (Western Michicag Honda Meet) back in 2005. These are the same guys that have been putting those on for over a decade.

Chris Stewart is behind Gridlife and he does marketing / advertising for a living. He really knows how to market. Thus the huge hype behind the events. The concept is to get car people that don't track to try it out. He used to be a car show dude and one of his friends practically made him come to an HPDE, he was hooked. He's just trying to do the same for others. Believe it or not, it is one of the most attitude free HPDE events I do.

Not to mention, there are actually females at this event that aren't someone's girlfriend or wife. It really is a good time.

 

^ oh for sure. It's just I've played in bands and toured, etc, but it just doesn't sound like my thing (thousands of people), nor do I really care for EDM/Dubstep, etc, but yes, all feedback has been positive and I'm sure its a great time, etc. Should have clarified - I don't hate it, just not my thing.

 

Here is a pic of some of the after track partying / camping that was at WMHM last year.




That is about 30 people in/on a chop top crx with a keg in it.

 

Here's a pic of the camping / paddock situation during the first Gridlife event.

 

I too have been in bands since I was 21. EDM is definitely not my type of music. The choice of music is really just trying to get the younger demographic into the event. Get them hooked while they are young.

 

for sure. I was doing bands at 15 till about 32 or so, and I just got kind of bored with it over the years / after you do so much with it "without blowing up", etc., (although we toured Europe and most of the US, fun!) but yeah, looks like a great time, just not my thing. I think I know one of the guys on the CRX, lol. Very cool.

so, autox question - looking at a front sway and front control arms. Sway to get better turn in, control arms more negative camber up front, and eventually go to 265 square setup, up from my 245 right now. Do I "need" rear camber bolts or arms for any specific reason, if the stock setup is already doing -2.+ in the back?

 

I'd get an adjustable front swaybar.

I don't think you need rear camber bolts. There is adjustment in the rear built in. If you go more camber in the rear, you might run into traction problems with acceleration. It would also be difficult to balance understeer/ oversteer front to back with too much camber in the back.

Yes to the front arms. The front is the main issue, it could really use more camber up there. I hear the Kinetix front arms are STU legal. The others have spherical bushings that would not be legal in STU rules if that makes a difference to you.

I do have narrower wheels up front per street rules (stock width) however, I'm running 275/18/35s tires all the way around. It helped with turn in just having the wider tires up front.

 

Awesome,thank you. I wont touch the rear setup then.

Yes, waiting on a seller to get back to me about an adj front Cusco bar and Cusco FCA's. I will probably go with those, and I only do a handful of autox events a year with the BMW club in their open class, so no concerns there for regulations/rules.

Wow, you are running the 275's with no rubbing, and just with the FCA's up front for that alignment? I wonder if I should try to go that big or stay with 265 to be safe.

 

I'm all stock up front suspension wise for class rules and no rubbing issues. I do have to add a front sway, just haven't done it yet. I can do that per the rules as well as shocks that I also have not done yet.

Per class I can do catback exhaust, shocks, drop in air filters, one sway bar (front or rear), and plus or minus 1" in diameter on the stock size wheels. Nothing else. I did do -1" diameter in the rear so I could have the same 18" diameter wheels front and back.

 

Interesting on the rules there. wow, so 275/35/18's and no rubbing on stock front suspension.. amazing. It sounds like if I run the FCA's then, I should have no problem with rubbing with the same size tire?

 

I plan on running my 350Z Touring in CS this season as well. I assume you're running a 18x9/19x10 (+- 1") size right? What offset are your wheels? Are we allowed to increase the tire size from what OEM had in CS? Thanks, can't wait for season to start in my region.

 

Yes I'm running the 18x9 35mm offset in the front & 18x10 38mm offset with a spacer to bring it within 5mm (per the rules) of the stock offset of 30mm. The rear is -1" diameter from stock so I can run square tires. Fronts are 18" in diameter so no change there.

The rules do not dictate tire size, only stock wheel size. whatever will fit. My 275s in the front are a tad pinched and the 275s in the back are a tad stretched.

If your car is an 07 or 08 touring, you will have to do what I did and convert it fully to a grand touring to run those wheels (brembos and aero package) . If you are an 2006 or below, you are stuck on 8" & 8.5" wide wheels.

 

I see, awesome I might be doing this.

I have an 06; the 06 Grand Touring had the same wheels as the HR Grand Touring wheels as well.

I'm not sure if my year had the aero package I'll have to look into it, brembos are definitely on the list. For the aero package I need the rear diffuser, lip wing (?) and the chin/splitter? I noticed my 06 has a chin/lip (whatever the proper terminology is) Is that different on the GT? Thanks.