For 2025, the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) has issued extensive changes to its road racing program. Without going through the extensive rule changes, it's easier to simply say several classes will be deleted, and qualifying for the SCCA Runoffs will be more expensive and difficult. Despite these hurdles, my T3-spec 350Z will be racing in SCCA Rocky Mountain Divisional and Mid-America Conference Majors competition as I celebrate my 70th birthday. As of today. my proposed schedule for the year includes:

April 12-13- St. Louis Worldwide Technology Raceway (roval circuit)
April 24-25- LaJunta Raceway (airport circuit)
May 31- June 1- Pueblo Motorsports Park (traditional road racing circuit with drag racing front straight)
July 5-6- High Plains Raceway (traditional road racing circuit)
August 23-24- High Plains Raceway
September 29- October 5- SCCA Runoffs, Road America, Wisconsin.

Depending on results, this schedule may be modified during the season. For 2025 the 350Z flat plate restrictor will be opened slightly from 47 to 49 mm. Minimum weight for HR-powered 350Zs will be 3250 and the largest tire size allowed is a 255-width tire. Let's get on with the prep.

 

The first Mid-America SCCA Majors race in St; Louis resulted in a fourth-place finish on Saturday, and a third on Sunday. The roval circuit was fun to drive after several years. Good to get out at speed with the Z!

 

Congrats on the finishes DK - How many spec zs were running that weekend?

I have firm plans the evening of Sunday (April 27) so Hallett is out, but I could make Saturday and early Sunday races. I owe you a phone call!

 

We rarely see many Spec Zs come out to play. On Saturday, Mike's Solstice GXP was hounded by a 370Z built specifically for T3 and they had a great race for the lead. I couldn't match their pace and pointed them by. Our first RMDiv race is next weekend at LaJunta, so I won't be going to Hallett. My commitment is to ensure that racing remains viable in Colorado and I support all our local races. Talk to you about tech issues when you get a chance!

 

Although not technically part of the race campaign, I'm coordinating the Colorado SCCA display at the 2025 Colorado Auto Show and brought the Z in fresh off the race in St. Louis last weekend. We had cars featuring Track Night in America (TNiA), time trials, solo, rallycross and of course, road racing. This year, we got a Spec Racer Ford V3 and an older Formula Ford. I hope Mic looks at the FF in this pic and gets a blast from the past!

 

Quite the weekend in La Junta -

It was a great weekend for myself (on many fronts). I got my SCCA competion license by a slightly unconventional means (private instructor) versus a SCCA sponsored group class/novice license/three race path. Decided to sign up for the driving school and take it as a complete noob (which I feel like I am) and it was a really good experience. It also helped getting familiar with the course (as I have never driven the La Junta track before) and I have a single open lapping session in the miata at HPR.

Had a few things to get sorted on the car for tech and I was able get on the course for both the school sessions and the practice sessions. It’s a relatively short course (1.2miles / 7turn) that was built on grounds of a former miliary training airport/base and now La Junta Regional Airport. Chatting with one of the old-timer corner worker, he said the track has been around since the 50s or 60s - not sure how much truth there is to this??

The school was really good and offered quite a bit that one-on-one (inheriently) cannot - such as the group driving … at best, we had 3 vehicles on the track during the one-on-ones where we had 10-12 cars (of all power levels and track trim) to contend with. Doing the one-one-one licensing was very important and it did a better job of race/track strategy, racecraft, and one-on-one learning/coaching that you wouldnt get in the SCCA schooling. All that to say - I feel pretty fortunate to have done both programs and if SCCA offers the driving schools at other tracks I will attend.

Saturday offered the morning practice/qualifying and its what I was expecting - I didnt qualify great (I think I may have been the slowest car out of all the classes) but there were only two spec miatas but even the Spec7 RX7s were quicker than me. I didnt mind though - really just trying to take it all in and improve/get better/learn the car/have a good time. The second race was better - I believe I finished 2nd to last(lol).

Sunday was a little more intense as the driving school attendees were able to race with everyone - so a few more spec miatas and a few more spec7 rx7s. I was only able to complete two of the three races due to a schedule conflict. Had a good practice & qualifying first thing in the morning and race 1 I think I finished 5th from last and race 2 I finished 4th from last. And I’ll mentioned that the finishing results are subjective and relative to the field that participates. Also (in the case of the Spec Miata) there are some grey areas and daul regulations (between SCCA Spec Miata, on a nation level and Rocky Mountain Region Spec Miata).

Overall, a ton of fun and the people at the track were great - I think SCCA under-sells how tight-knit the ‘true’ racing community is. Its almost an exact opposite of the street racing, stance guys, import vs. domestic, show vs. go, etc type crowds.

My wife loves taking pictures and messing with ChatGPT so here are some of her finest ‘creations’ (and I use that term loosely) -

and - a huge hat-tip to DK, he was instrumental in getting my car tech’d up in Denver and always a great ambassador to the racing community! Thank you again Dave!

 

Interested to hear what Dave thought of the event and I think he did pretty good -

I think the next event is in Pueblo towards the end of May

 

James has put together a nice thread on LaJunta and yes, I had a great time at the IceBreaker event. Comparing it to my experiences at the St. Louis Majors a few weeks earlier was interesting. While I enjoyed both SCCA events, LaJunta offered much more seat and race time than any Majors event in the country. Besides the driver's school, there were FIVE complete regional races on tap. These races count towards the 2025 Rocky Mountain Division Championship and while limited to 20 minutes offer valuable race experience from flag-to-flag. In qualifying, I was surprised to find the Z in third as we had cars like a Porsche Cup 997, Corvettes and several FP and other quick cars in the races.

For these weekend races I decided to use up some well-worn tires before they aged out too much. However, it was also useful to find that some of the 18" Enkei wheels I've been using were causing some fitment issues due to the 255 size being allowed this year. So, in some ways, it served as a test session for getting THAT sorted out. LaJunta puts a lot of stress on the LF being a clockwise-oriented airport circuit. It reminds me of Big Willow in that the fastest turn requires drivers to look ahead and focus on a far-off grain silo to line up your car for a good turn-in point in T3. For the races, we had three heads-up (normal) starts and two inverted starts for maximum experience and passing challenges.

I had a blast racing with everybody and managed to finish anywhere from third to sixth (overall) without any contact or damage to my Z or any other car. Better yet, I managed to time my passes to not disrupt any of the class battles going on each race. We did have a SM have a brief flash fire, so a full course yellow or white flag session was also used on Sunday. Racers from four states were racing at LaJunta in the closed wheel race group and I enjoyed every lap of wheel-to-wheel battles we had over two days in SE Colorado. Congrats to James for making it to LaJunta, and I'm sure the race experiences he had will serve him well into the future.

 

Used to be, we had lots of Nissans racing in SCCA. At LaJunta, I was the only rep available, but I miss the S30's, 300ZX, Sentras or Roadsters of the past.

 

Great shot, great coverage, great PR!

I'm not familiar with that FF. Looks like a pretty early car (wanna say 60s, early 70s?) Either way, can't recognize the wide front end/small air inlet configuration. ("My" Crossle 32F - Rent A Racer - had an air inlet as wide as the nose piece) Or possibly a later car looking like a shapewise evolution resembling a Spec Ren or Ford? All I know is with my Pleistocene era back issues, I wonder how I ever got into one! (Had enough trouble looking at your T3-Z and imagining myself fitting myself past your roll cage at Sears/Sonoma. Recall I didn't even try? Haha!

 

Mic- you're right, that FF is a 60's-70's model- a Lola T-340 with a sportscar nose. Believe it or not, I remember calling Haas Imports in Chicago back in 1971 and talking with a gruff sounding man who told me I could get a Lola kit car shipped to me in Denver for about $5K. That gruff sounding guy was Carl Haas, who went on to build the Newman Haas Indycar team. If you could find a used 1600 cc Pinto motor you could finish the car yourself and have a state-of-the-art FF for SCCA competition. But I had NO money and even less mechanical skills back when I was 16, only a burning desire and belief I could get onto the racetrack and be a success!

So much for our Pleistocene era(s). Now, the T3 Z has a full containment OMP safety seat and if Mic thought it looked like back trouble before, it got a whole lot harder to get in and out! But there's a silver lining to all of this: as an old racer, I'm still living the dream and it motivates me to keep working out (both strength and CV) to keep my back and the rest of me in good shape. There's great value in that, and I hope James felt some of the joy and freedom you get on the track!

 

I had a great time!

Been busy since La Junta but planning on Pueblo this weekend.

I’ve driven Pueblo once with a buddy’s car on an open lapping day and have a track map and write up to study-up with. The wife and I will be down there tomorrow to quick-tech and grabbing dinner with said buddy and ready to run on Saturday and Sunday.

Ted advised me to put a different seat in the Miata that’s be a little less constrictive. I registered for the SM Major class … so here goes nothing!

 

I'm guessing that my run group (with only five cars) will be combined with yours. Since LaJunta, there's a new windshield (cracked and pitted), new transponder (lost at St. Louis on the banked turns), reworked ballast, radiator baffles, and cool suit lines in the Z. How're you enjoying the Spec Miata? Next week I'll be testing a 2025 MX5 for Redline Magazine.

 

Used tires were part of the story this past weekend at the SCCA Majors at Pueblo Motorsports Park. While it put the Z at a disadvantage, it was made worse by the defective transponder I bought. In qualifying no times were recorded, so I started last in the 18-car field. My T3 rivals headed the mixed class field, but despite the disadvantage, it was fun using racecraft to work my way past cars on my way back towards the front. I ended up finishing sixth overall and fourth in class, which ironically was where I finished both days. Top speed in the Z has been down- I usually see speeds in the 125-128 MPH range, but this weekend, I was only seeing 118-120.

Adventures galore this weekend, as a huge rain/hail storm blew through the track Saturday evening. We were right in the middle of a brake change and it was like picking up Brembo parts in the shower! Finished the job amid amazing dual rainbows and orange skies. Also, noted the clutch was not releasing properly, and while we drained and refilled the clutch master, I probably should've changed the clutch slave. I found making the downshift from fourth-to-third was not as clean even with a good blip.

Solved the problem by driving around it. Rather than hold fourth gear to redline on the front straight, I short shifted at 6500 RPM into fifth and found the shift back into third much easier during Sunday's Majors race. At least I only lost one spot in that race and didn't damage the clutch or engine by missing a shift. Still, fourth place finishes--even against top level competition--was not what I was racing for. But blasting around the 2.2-mile PMP circuit (great variety of turns, elevation and camber) was a good consolation for the gateway from May into June.

 

Quite the weekend for sure … I botched my weekend tech inspection in La Junta (a little miscommunication and a bad assumption) so I made sure to review the supplemental and we were allowed to quick-tech Friday night. Coincidently, Mr. DKM did my annual inspection and also did my weekend inspection as well. It was pretty cool to have the ‘calm before the storm’ both literally and figuratively on Friday night. I got tech’d, got my trailer situated (more on that later) and the wife and I headed out for dinner and to the hotel for the night.

I was in Group 3 (which was most the lower powered/momentum cars) and we were paired with Group 7 (which were the mid-level powered cars - z33, T3 solstices, a BMW z4/3 series) and it seemed like we had the early practices / qualifying / races each day. (Which I didnt mind).

Ive done an open lappy day at Pueblo Motorsports Park about 3years ago and I only got two sessions in after taking a car off-track and some rocks got lodged in the bead of the tires so I didnt continue. All that to say, I had a very skiddish feel for the Saturday Morning Practice and Qualifying session. And I used the first half of qualifying more of a practice session than an actual qualifying.

Put down a 1minute 57.7second qualifying time on Saturday Morning which put me towards the back of the pack. There were four spec miatas running and three of us were essentially new and the 4th was a very experienced and very good driver - incredibly fast. I was on new tires for the weekend and they felt great … I’ve only been on hoosiers for 1.5 days in the z for my driving school. I had a few fish tails and one ‘off track’ moment but the car was a blast.

In Saturday’s 20minute race ended up taking 2nd and it was a great ‘back & forth’ with the three new drivers in the Spec Miatas. There was a H-Production Mazda 626 sedan and I was able to pass him and he ended-up being a bit of a block on the two other miatas and it essentially secured me the 2nd place finish (in spec miata) with about 3 or 4 laps left in the race. Im mixed feelings about it but thats racing. 11th overall and 2nd in SM for Saturday, best time was a 1minute 58.6second lap time.

Sunday had a qualifying session that I mostly used as practice, condition, and testing different lines and different gearing combinations. I did not have a valid qualifying time due to issues with the transponders … It was not only DK that had issues … everyone did. The solution was to driver closer to the inside of the long straight to get flashed by the reciever placed on the inside of the track … I also moved my transponder from the drivers side to the passengers side … I believe I used my 1min 57sec time from Saturday for Sunday’s race start…I sorta didnt care bc I wasnt setting any track records and at this point its just experience and becoming better.

Sunday’s race was 35minutes long (after some slight changes in the schedule) and I got this info a little late and came dangerously close to running out of fuel! But it was a good lesson on driving a little more conservative and selecting gears based on what turn/straight was ahead. Luckily did not run out of fuel and did not experience any fuel slosh/starve … so I need to re-think how I fuel and subsequently my ballast too. I was essentially in 2nd place (for Spec Miatas) the whole race with the exception of about 1/2 a lap where I missed a 2nd to 3rd shift (went to 5th) and it bogged the car down pretty good … luckily it happened right before a sequence of turns (Turn 5 / Turn 6a / Turn 6b / Turn 7) that I have a load of confidence with and I was able to make up time lost and took the position back with two strong corners leading into the 1/2mile straight… I did far better on Sunday … and I was turning 1minute 54second to 1minute 55second times pretty consistently and a few times above that when I was getting passed from bigger cars and some questionable cornering. Best time for sunday was a 1minute 53.7second lap. 3rd place miata did have a wheel bearing issue towards the end of the race that really slowed him down.

So got a new trailer - previous trailer (28ft steel)was a little too much for my needs and it was tearing-up my transmission. Ended up finding a new 20ft aluminum down in Texas and took what I sold the 28ft trailer plus some extra cash and pulled the trigger on this new trailer. I love it - exactly what I wanted and Im in the process of building it out. A few plausible culprits of the transmission woes … Its Ford’s 6R80 (six speed) in my 2016 3.5liter ecoboost. The truck is tuned and I have definately had some fun with the high performance tune and the optimized daily tune…I believe the truck is in the 550 to 600ft-lb range on the performance tune … so the shuddering transmission could be due to my lead foot, the truck has 135k miles on it, and I’ve towed plenty with it. The transmission shudders when towing and lower RPMs, and when boost climbs over 5psi to 8psi.

My wife is sorta batty about taking pictures (might be due to some tax write-offs?? I dont know)…

 

After giving some additional thought about this, I came to the conclusion that changes to the layout at Pueblo Motorsports Park (PMP) are more likely the primary culprit in the loss of top speed. Over the past three years, in particular, PMP has changed the layout of the turn leading onto the front straight. This revision requires a late brake in my T3 Z and a sharper turn onto the fastest part of the circuit. Previously, the line leading onto the front straight was much longer radius turn and thus more exit speed onto the straight. There were many shunts or near shunts as we blasted over the start line of the dragstrip, so this revision was probably appropriate.

 

I dont have a good recollection of the turn leading into the straight but it is always intimidating (at least in my humble experience) - between the bi-polar grip or slip condition and the consequence of failure when done wrong.

I believe I am going to miss the HPR event and most likely the Ozarks event as the wife and I will be travelling and wont be back in time … super bummed to not run Ozarks.

Not too too much going on with the car:

I did pick-up two replacement (spare) front wheel hubs (as they can be problematic on the miata chassis). And purchased two sets of hoosiers (enough to finish out the season) was planning on running two race weekends on each set. Also bought a set of custom / motorsports grade earplugs / wired headphones … I typically wear ear-plugs anyways but wanted something I could plug a radio into.

Getting some build-out in the trailer as well … finalized some hammy-down engineered hardwood flooring and got e-tracks installed. Got LED strip lighting wired and installed on the ceiling rails, winch installed, purchased two AGM deep cycle (125amp-hr) batteries that will be part of a small solar setup (thinking single panel) to run 12volt chargers, lights, winch, etc. And want to install a small workbench in the nose of the trailer (more to come).

And bit-the-bullet and had the F150 transmission replaced … Wanted to have it done at Ford but they wouldnt warranty it due to the tune … so had a local shop do it … diagnosis was my line pressure would go to zero psi (which was causing the transmission shuddering). But its fixed and wanted it done in-time for the HPR event (sorta as a test) and any hiccups worked out before the Ozarks Race.

 

Interesting start to the SCCA Majors Freedom Sprints race at High Plains Raceway. As expected, hot temps and worn tires made for slippery conditions at the 2.5-mile circuits. My Z lined up 8th on the grid after qualifying with the BMWs dominating the top spot. There were 21 cars in the mixed field and it took two pace laps to get the start properly lined up. As the green flag fell, I diced with an EP Lotus S7 and gained position, but could already see the front runners start pulling away. As the race developed, I could see dark rain clouds forming on the horizon and wondered if we'd have a wet race before the end. I chased the FP leader in a tubeframe Mazda for most of the race, but he pulled away as we began catching lapped cars. By the checkered flag, it stayed dry as I finished 7th overall and 5th in class (out of 8). After getting back to the pits, the clouds opened up and a thorough soaking ensued.

Sunday's Majors race looks like more of the same, with a 36% chance of rain during the time out group 3/7 race goes out. Will those rain tires on the trailer rack finally get some use?

 

Sunday, July 6, 2025 was a bit chaotic with both decision-making and the weather. First, the rainstorm did come, but the heavy downpour came too late to actually mount up the set of wets and too short in duration to offer any advantage. A bigger mistake on my part was trying to allow two cars from another class to race each other at the start of the race. These production cars are quick, with race slicks and full-race engines. But the car ahead of me at the start missed a shift (or had a shifter failure) and my Z got caught directly behind him as the pack surged past. It took me two laps to track down my original position, but I made clean passes and avoided any contact. Eventually, I found myself fourth in T3 and closing on third, but finished up two seconds back as the checker waved.

Here it is, almost 40 years after I started my race career and I'm still learning. Survived the heat on this July weekend and still loved the intensity!

 

Happy the event went well - I was very bummed to miss it … my wife and I had some medical appointments we needed to tend to. It would have been a absolute great opportunity to pickup points in spec miata! I do plan on catching the race in Hastings and then the final race at HPR. Current down at Ozarks (more to come).

How are you doing in the overall points race for 2025? How is the nissan holding up otherwise?