When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
As I start my 34th racing season, here's a preview of the dates, circuits, and series I plan to race at for 2021:
April 30-May 2 LaJunta Raceway IceBreaker Rocky Mountain SCCA Divisional May 14-16 Heartland Park Topeka KVRG SCCA Majors May 29-30 Pueblo Motorsports Park Home of Heroes SCCA Majors June 18-20 Worldwide Tech Raceway St. Louis SCCA Majors July 2-4 High Plains Raceway Freedom Sprints SCCA Majors August 20-22 High Plains Raceway Last Chance SCCA Majors Sept 25-Oct 3 Indianapolis Motor Speedway SCCA Runoffs Oct 15-17 LaJunta Raceway Pumpkin Sprints Rocky Mountain Divisional
Beyond attempting to win as many races as possible, the goals are to win the 2021 Mid-States SCCA Majors, Rocky Mountain Divisional and SCCA Runoffs titles. Beyond racing the Touring 3 350Z this season, we may have some other surprises in store for the year.
Beyond attempting to win as many races as possible, the goals are to win the 2021 Mid-States SCCA Majors, Rocky Mountain Divisional and SCCA Runoffs titles. Beyond racing the Touring 3 350Z this season, we may have some other surprises in store for the year.
Great luck to you.
Even though you are not closer, it may be a great idea to travel west in the Z to attend.
Or, you can wait until next year, when the Runoffs moves to Virginia International Raceway and we go east to race. You'll see (restricted) Zs racing against BMW M3, Ford Mustang EcoTech, Honda Civic Si, Porsche Boxster/Cayman, turbo Solstice Marda RX8 and MX5 Cup cars.
Or, you can wait until next year, when the Runoffs moves to Virginia International Raceway and we go east to race. You'll see (restricted) Zs racing against BMW M3, Ford Mustang EcoTech, Honda Civic Si, Porsche Boxster/Cayman, turbo Solstice Marda RX8 and MX5 Cup cars.
Just looked carefully at your race schedule.... Runoffs at the Brickyard!?? Whoa, might have to do the pit crew thing again. 500 is a bucket list item but the Runoffs at Indy would be right up there!! Whoa..... whoa..... hello, calendar?
Just looked carefully at your race schedule.... Runoffs at the Brickyard!?? Whoa, might have to do the pit crew thing again. 500 is a bucket list item but the Runoffs at Indy would be right up there!! Whoa..... whoa..... hello, calendar?
Mic- as you know, you're welcome on my crew at any time! Right now, I'm trying to figure out whether to rent a room or perhaps a house, in Indy for the Runoffs. So let me know what your schedule looks like and we'll make it happen. BTW- the '22 and '23 Runoffs will be at VIR and that's one helluva racetrack- you might want to expand your bucket list (I know I have).
Mic- as you know, you're welcome on my crew at any time! Right now, I'm trying to figure out whether to rent a room or perhaps a house, in Indy for the Runoffs. So let me know what your schedule looks like and we'll make it happen. BTW- the '22 and '23 Runoffs will be at VIR and that's one helluva racetrack- you might want to expand your bucket list (I know I have).
Should clarify for public consumption.... "Mic as Pit Crew" means dining out with the team then sitting around the paddock scoping out the competition. And eating hot dogs and fritos in the grandstands. Tough job but someone needs to do it.
Should clarify for public consumption.... "Mic as Pit Crew" means dining out with the team then sitting around the paddock scoping out the competition. And eating hot dogs and fritos in the grandstands. Tough job but someone needs to do it.
Just to clarify this statement, what Mic means as pit crew is he'll be pouring over data logs to find where the nut behind the wheel can put his right foot down harder and faster to get that last tenth of a second. Either that, or tearing down that VQ35HR (with specific Nissan engineering secrets) to extract a few more horsepower. Did I mention that Mic is also Illusion Motorsports official press officer? Besides documenting the days leading up to the race, he'll also skillfully put a muzzle on the famously opinionated driver who creates nightmarish headaches for PR.
Besides that, THEN it's all hot dogs and Fritos in the grandstands...
The first race report for 2021 has more to do with the preparations for the race season. This week was the first test of our repairs to the ECM failures of last season. Over the winter, the entire main harness for the HR was pulled, checked and repinned. There were some sections of the harness, from the drive-by-wire throttle pedal to the ECM, that were found to be slightly damaged and possibly causing intermittent shorts in that section of the harness. These sections were repaired/replaced and properly soldered in place before that entire bundle placed in a wire harness to protect it.
Obtaining a new 23710-EV12C ECM was not cheap or easy, but came loaded with a stock tune and ready to go. After plugging everything in, we crossed our fingers and turned the key. The HR started right up and !there was full throttle control. The next step was to get a fresh tune done with the 32mm restrictors mandated this season. I'd procured an appointment later today to get that done. After a change of tires, alignment check and finishing loading the trailer, we should have had this Z ready for battle exactly one week before we'd tow to our opening race.
Unfortunately, that's not what happened. After getting the trailer hitch on, the trailer setup and the Titan backed up, I found the HR would no longer idle smoothly and worst of all, had almost NO throttle response! Crap- we're dead in the water...AGAIN.
As I start my 34th racing season, here's a preview of the dates, circuits, and series I plan to race at for 2021:
April 30-May 2 LaJunta Raceway IceBreaker Rocky Mountain SCCA Divisional May 14-16 Heartland Park Topeka KVRG SCCA Majors May 29-30 Pueblo Motorsports Park Home of Heroes SCCA Majors June 18-20 Worldwide Tech Raceway St. Louis SCCA Majors July 2-4 High Plains Raceway Freedom Sprints SCCA Majors August 20-22 High Plains Raceway Last Chance SCCA Majors Sept 25-Oct 3 Indianapolis Motor Speedway SCCA Runoffs Oct 15-17 LaJunta Raceway Pumpkin Sprints Rocky Mountain Divisional
Beyond attempting to win as many races as possible, the goals are to win the 2021 Mid-States SCCA Majors, Rocky Mountain Divisional and SCCA Runoffs titles. Beyond racing the Touring 3 350Z this season, we may have some other surprises in store for the year.
Good luck my friend. Thank you for sharing the dates. Whenever you can, please post some photos or videos of your races!
The first race weekend is here and I won't make it. While there's still hope for the T3 Z, I simply cannot commit a FOURTH ECM to the effort until we develop a new hypothesis about what is causing all these failures. We're going to take Rob Fuller's (of Z Car Garage fame) advice and see whether it's a problem with reprogramming and matching the throttle bodies to the new ECM, but since the shop is on the other side of town, it'll have to wait until after the weekend.
I'm headed to LaJunta anyway, as dual roles of a tech worker and Colorado Region SCCA official. If the Z were running, I'd also be a driving instructor for the driving school that starts today. But I'm wearing enough "hats" this weekend, and after conferring with the chief instructor, decided to concentrate on the other duties for the weekend. With the loss of this weekend, it'll be difficult to defend my Rocky Mountain Divisional T3 title from last year, but that's reality.
The other project I'm working on closer to home is the resurrection of the GT3 Z project. This tubeframe car is quite different than the Z33 (although it looks like one) and one of my good friends has been working to complete some major aero mods and maintenance/repairs to get it closer to a runner again. Who knows? Maybe I can get a few shots of it when I return next week.
The first race weekend is here and I won't make it. While there's still hope for the T3 Z, I simply cannot commit a FOURTH ECM to the effort until we develop a new hypothesis about what is causing all these failures. We're going to take Rob Fuller's (of Z Car Garage fame) advice and see whether it's a problem with reprogramming and matching the throttle bodies to the new ECM, but since the shop is on the other side of town, it'll have to wait until after the weekend.
I'm headed to LaJunta anyway, as dual roles of a tech worker and Colorado Region SCCA official. If the Z were running, I'd also be a driving instructor for the driving school that starts today. But I'm wearing enough "hats" this weekend, and after conferring with the chief instructor, decided to concentrate on the other duties for the weekend. With the loss of this weekend, it'll be difficult to defend my Rocky Mountain Divisional T3 title from last year, but that's reality.
The other project I'm working on closer to home is the resurrection of the GT3 Z project. This tubeframe car is quite different than the Z33 (although it looks like one) and one of my good friends has been working to complete some major aero mods and maintenance/repairs to get it closer to a runner again. Who knows? Maybe I can get a few shots of it when I return next week.
Bummed out. But as we all know, racing can be hit or miss and it's a reality we face weekend to weekend. At least have fun this weekend, dude. Hope that Rob's solution works out to get you back in the hunt for the remainder of the season!
Personally want to see the GT3 Project detailed. Seem to recall seeing at least one pic of it.
After working on the ECM problems this past week, it's decision time. We managed to resurrect the third 23710-EV12c and get the T3 Z to run using a combination of UpRev Cipher and CONSULT 3, but now there's not enough time to do any test or tuning before this weekend's race in Topeka. With no local dyno or track time available today or tomorrow, I'm unwilling to trust that everything will be OK before towing the 500 miles to HPT for the SCCA Majors this weekend. Call me timid, but once bitten, twice shy.
After working on the ECM problems this past week, it's decision time. We managed to resurrect the third 23710-EV12c and get the T3 Z to run using a combination of UpRev Cipher and CONSULT 3, but now there's not enough time to do any test or tuning before this weekend's race in Topeka. With no local dyno or track time available today or tomorrow, I'm unwilling to trust that everything will be OK before towing the 500 miles to HPT for the SCCA Majors this weekend. Call me timid, but once bitten, twice shy.
As much as I want you to resurrect your season and defend your championship, that's a pretty fair haul to make on speculation that all is well with the ECM. Personally, I'd wait until you can do the test n' tune locally. But that's just my take from afar.
It's coming up on Memorial Day weekend and as Mic has suggested, I've scheduled a test day before the next SCCA Majors race. Tomorrow (5/28/21) at Pueblo Motorsports Park I'll have a chance to shakedown the race Z. After several problems at the MoFab dyno shop, we were able to wring out 8 more HP using the latest UpRev tuning tricks with the mandated twin 42mm restrictors. If everything goes well on the test day, I'll take on five other T3 cars for the Majors races both Sat and Sunday. Should be hot and dry for the Saturday race, but Sunday has a chance of rain. Either way, I'm looking forward to the challenge! Fingers crossed...
2021 SCCA Race Campaign
