part 2 (part 1 can be found here: https://my350z.com/forum/showthread....threadid=98809)

Knowing I've got the stability control, I would push the car really hard on the turns. Trail brake really deep, trying to get the *** end to come out and try to drift the car around the turns like I do with my 300ZX TwinTurbo. Fortunately I could get the tail out, but once I got it out, the stability control was working to bring everything back in. After a few laps, I found myself fighting with the stability control, trying to hold a drift, trying to hold a yaw, but it kept bring the car together AND slowing it down by cutting power! I don't think I could get this car to spin even if I tried!

Suprisingly, as I was going around the track, getting faster and faster with each lap, improving my braking, and my confidence around the turns, I was catching and passing cars I never expected! passed a few 350Zs, 300Zs, Porsches, BMWs, and a few other cars,

My next session out, the same thing, but I was even faster. Rain was either really hard, or really soft. but always there. I love driving at the race track in the rain! Eventually, I saw my buddies R34 Skyline GTR way up ahead. I thought, "No way.. I'm actually catching up to the Skyline.. This is great!" Eventually I caught up to him, and passed in the middle of Turn 3, on the outside of turn 3! For those that know Thunderhill, that's just amazing! I couldnt' believe the xA was holding like it did in the rain! After passing him, I passed his girlfriend driving her supercharged 350Z too. She's actually a pretty good driver too. Well, immediately after passing them, I got black flagged. I didn't understand. I didn't do anything wrong, and my passanger also thought I didn't do anything wrong. Going in, I learned they the flaggers thought I made a dangerous pass in Turn 3. I felt I gave him plenty of room in turn, and the exit.

Not wanting to have bad vibes with my buddy, and also wanting to rub it in that I passed him, I approached him at the end of the session.
"Hey Rob, Can I ask you something. There's something that I think your feeling that I've never felt before and was wondering if you could explain it to me. I've never driven a TwinTurbo Skyline GTR out on the race track and and got passed by a 1.5L 4 cylinder Scion. I've never had that feeling before and was wondering if you could explain it to me?" :lol: he just looked at me... couldn't even say a word... while I was laughing, and my buddies were laughing... Anyways, I then asked him, all serious, if I did a clean pass on him, because I got black flagged and was wondering if I left him enough room or if I pinched him off at the exit. He still wasn't saying anything. So I appoligized if I didn't give him enough room, I didn't mean to create a situation like that. He then said,
"Your pass was fine. It was clean. I'm just F**king pissed that a Scion passed me." :lol: Then his girlfriend, "Man, you didn't want to be in my car when you passed me too. I was swearing up a storm!" :lol: Man, we were laughing our asses off for the next few minutes.


Well, the rest of the day progressed pretty good. I was actually suprised to have people coming up to me and complimenting me on the car and the driving. They could see that I was keeping up with other people and passing many many others. A number of people were asking what I had in the car, what kind of engine, etc... Others were asking for rides to see what this car was all about too.









One guy that road with me was laughing almost non-stop for the first ~5 laps. "Oh my goooood your not braking yet! Holly sh*t, your braking soo f**king late!! haha.. Holly sh*t!! Oh my god, we're going sideways!!! haha.. This little car's going sideways!! hahaha... We're passing another 350Z hahaha.. we're going sidways again!!! hahaha!! Your braking later in the wet, than I do in the dry in this little car!! hahaha!! We're going sidways again!!! The dash is singing "ding, ding, ding" every turn!!! Passing a BMW and 300Z TwinTurbo!!! hahaha... Your braking sooooo friggen late!!! hahaha... sidways again!!! hahaha Wow, this is a great ride!!! I'm going to sell my Z and get a Scion!!"
In the end, everybody had a great time. Nobody was giving me any more crap about the "slow" Scion. Although it still was slow. EVERYBODY would blow by me in the straight, but man I ate lots of people up in the turns!! A few of my faster buddies wanted to see how she was on the track because they all heard how fast it was and all the cars it was passing. When I did see those buddies on the track, they were definately faster than me and got by me w/no problem. I wasn't suprised. Just because you've got a fast car, doesn't mean your a good driver!!! But these guys WERE good drivers behind fast cars.

Talking to my buddy later with the Skyline GTR, he was telling me that he was actually having a lot of trouble driving the car because it was AWD, and he's only been driving RWD cars. I actually could definately relate and understand. Driving cars like that requires a totally different techique and you can't do the same thing to the car at the limit. I will give him that, and actually believe he would have been faster once he got more familier with the car, but hey, I got to take advantage of my opportunities as they happen. In the end, I really did pass him. :wink:






<b>Well, in spite of the rain, and occational downpour, just about everybody still enjoyed the day and would still go to another event even if it rained.[/b] Next year, we've got 5 events reserved with the track.
[b]Jan 29,30 (Sat, Sun)
June 28 (Tues)
Nov 26,27 (Sat, Sun)</b>
If some of the other Scion folks here want to go, come on down. I tried talking about this event ahead of time a few times, but nobody showed up. Maybe somebody will show up at one of our future events.
Cheers,

 

Nice video of a 350Z doing a reverse 180 into the skid pad and drifting around it after, that happened at the event!

http://rabbit.circa.ufl.edu/albums/alvin/MOV00456.mpg

 

I was fortunate enough to have witnessed the scion in action...just amazing! Fortunately, I was in Group A, so I never got passed. But, the fact that I'm in group A probably means I would have been lapped several times! That was a great event Lee :-)

 

Hey Lee. Congratulations and thanks to you, Dan, Bill and Martin on another successful event. I think everyone who has attended a ClubZ track day would agree that ClubZ always does a bang up job.

We had a pretty good turn out of Nor Cal 350 guys (and girls) from this board. Hopefully we can inspire a few more Nor Cal 350 owners to come out in January!

Looking forward to the 2 day event in January.

BTW- I drive the silver 350z with the CF hood.

 

Yes another great clubz event.

signed,
anxiously awaiting dry event with Scion

 

roomer has it that with the owners reciently recieved profit sharing check, Scion just might be wearing wider tires with Hoosier slicks to embarrase people in the dry, instead of it's all season tires in the wet. ; ) (I hope...)

Glad you guys had a good time and hope to see you all during the weekend date in January. We are about 80% confident that we will run Clockwise on one day, and Counterclockwise the following day! That should be a lot of fun!