This year the SCCA Runoffs head to Road America for the fall racing classic. In the class I compete in, Touring 3 (T3), it looks like Ford, BMW, Honda and Nissan will battle it out on the 4.0-mile circuit that snakes throughout the Moraine forest. This year the 350Z has been given restrictions (40mm flat plate restrictors, 3325# minimum weight and 245 max width tires for HR powered Zs) in an attempt to equalize competition. Racers from throughout the country will make the journey, to Wisconsin, including West Cost racers like Eddie Nakato, whose Spec M3 had a top three finish at the 2018 Sonoma Runoffs.

But Z33s figure to be in the fight in the 30-car field, with nine Zs entered. Based on their records, I'd suggest two 350Z pilots have the best chances. Derek Kulach of New Mexico and Rob Hines are both past National Champions and have been T3 frontrunners all season long. Currently, my Z still lacks a functional ECM that failed at the last SCCA Majors race, so I'm still scrambling to get the car ready for the 1,075-mile tow Run in early October, with three days of qualifying, the T3 race will be shown via internet link on October 9th at 10 am. Stay tuned- and here's a link to the SCCA posting on the race:

https://www.scca.com/events/1995744-...onship-runoffs

 

Guess this answers my question to you on that "other" 350Z site.... still sans ECM. Good luck, bro!

 

Yep- been searching for a #23710-EV12A for weeks , but no joy. TONS of auto Z33 ECMs on the market, but not any manual ECMs. Thanks for the luck, but it's bad news when you need it BEFORE the race! LOL

 

For 350Z fans who think their cars are no longer relevant in 2020, it's interesting to see no less than NINE Z33s entered in Touring 3 at the Runoffs. And T3 has the biggest entry of any of the SCCA touring classes (T1-4) with 30 paid entries. There's also two 370Zs entered and we'll see how they fare against the BMWs and Mustangs on the fast sweeping turns and long straights of Road America.

 

What lap times are you expecting for the Z?

 

The last time I ran at Road America was 2013 and best time was 2:40.49. I'm hoping to dip into the 2:39 range and beyond this year.

 

Good luck David. My friends are heading there and it sounds like quite a trip.

 

Update? You sort out the ECM issue?

 

Update- I'm not even at the track and tearing my hair out. Had to order a new ECM from Nissan Motorsports. Good news is it should be delivered tomorrow, bad news (for all of us) is that Z33 parts may soon be NLA (no longer available) as Nissan parts support goes extinct. Hardware aside, I've still got to figure out how to get base programming to function and get ECM-BCM communication up and running. THEN I need to reflash with my UpRev race tune (from talking with them, they no longer use Osiris or Cipher) from the ROM files. All this makes the nut behind the wheel nervous!

 

Ehhhhhhhhhh..... But I know you well enough...you'll get it all sorted well before the tow-out. But in case you still need it, GOOD LUCK, BUD!!! There's manju in your future just for making the Runoffs!! Congrats!!! (Looks like Shuei-Do IS OPEN!!)

 

Nice! Almost 10 seconds faster than me, still finding more time each time I go up there.

 

Road America looks like my kind of circuit, enjoyable even if you are not winning. Best of luck and don't forget the videos.

 

Videos!? We're trying to get this car to START and RUN! Don't talk to me about blankety blank VIDEOS... LOL

 

Personally, I love all of this.

 

Update #2: after purchasing a new 23710-EV12C ECM from Nissan Motorsports, it still took some careful electronic work to get the TBs to cooperate. Realizing this was a more complex problem than I could handle at home, I ended up taking the race Z to my local Nissan dealer and paying for a couple of hours of diagnostic time. That, plus using my spare accelerator pedal assembly and ECM seems to have addressed the problem. Next step will be getting the race tune reflashed and drain the tank of race fuel. Runoffs rules mandate the use of a chemically marked Sunoco fuel to make sure everyone is in the same boat. The plan is to start the 958-mi trip to Road America next Friday and be ready for qualifying October 5th.

 

Update #3: had the Z on the dyno the other day to confirm that everything is running reliably at WOT. Good news is the HR will howl right up to redline. Bad news is the output is almost 30 HP down from where it was when UpRev tuned it back in 2011. Not good for a power track like Road America. I went ahead and reflashed the ECM with Osiris to make sure it had the 100 octane full race tune. The final pull showed the car had a slight increase and filled in the torque curve, but no dramatic gains. Since I didn't have a baseline tune with the SCCA-mandated 40mm restrictors in place, I have nothing to compare it to. SIGH

Not that I have the skills to perform a tune by myself, but I wish I could devote the time and effort to make more power rather than just fix the car. Not a good situation going into the Runoffs, but I've gotta make the best of the cards I was dealt.

 

30 ponies down?! Where’d they go? Tune? Ehhhhh.

Well, give’em hell, David! Pullin’for ya!!

Two days to Ship out! Stay safe on the road!

 

You halfway or more there yet?

If you can grab a few pics of the other T3 Z cars, it'd be great! There was a fair shortage of them at Sonoma and if they all show up this year, that'd be very cool to see!

 

Made it to Fond du lac, Wisconsin tonight. Tomorrow, I'll be at the track and get through tech, registration and unload. I'll also have to purchase some "tagged" 100 octane fuel SCCA mandates for the Runoffs. You have to "scrub" whatever fuel you have in your tank, and replace it with the tagged unleaded race fuel and have it tested. Lots more stuff to get ready, but too boring here to mention. But at least we're here!

BTW- it rained all day through the midwest and if you paid the $850 practice fee for the track, well, you might have worked on your wet setup, but the rest of the week is gonna be dry. Glad I didn't pay for such a waste as that!

 

Derek Kulach's T3 350Z. Team car to Richard Baldwin (with same graphics)!