this past weekend I got a chance to ride in a base model Z with just wheels and tires swapped out on the car I think.. it's pretty torquey and has potential to be fast as it is.. some of you guys should take advantage of the car's potential at the autox, I think the car would be fun not just on the track, but even at autocross events.

here is a video of me driving my own GT this weekend (sorry, no vid of the Z as my camera finally ran out of batteries and I was riding in the car, so no hand-held equipment for the passenger).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ic9jMfe04EI

 

Hmmmm... thats not Ripken stadium is it? AutoX is always fun, and Ripken is 30 seconds from my work

 

Hellz yea.. that looks likeallot of fun.. whats the cost to enter?

 

Last summer/fall I drove my stock touring in about 5 events here. Most legal fun I've had in my Z!

 

http://www.autocrossersinc.org/wp/

these events happen all over, Ripken is the closest to me. When the weather breaks there is usually a good turn out I have seen multiple diffrent Z's of all trim levels there before. Ripken stadium is really easy to get to.

from points south of Aberdeen MD
I-95 north
take exit 85 (Aberdeen)
stay to the left!!
turn left at the light (Rte 22 W)
get in the right lane, turn right at the second light (you will see signs for Wetlands golf course and the stadium) follow the Rd all the way back slowly its a little rough from massive ammounts of construction back there.
The main stadium and parking lot is on the right. You do not need to be a member to participate. Check the link for more details.

I have seen that legacy before, not bad!

My Roomate is at frankel acura getting an s2000 right now! (2/5/06 9:15am) Grudge match starts today, we will be at every event this season battling it out.

 

yes it was

 

anywhere from $20 to $40 (depends on the club hosting the event and if you are a member of various affiliated clubs, etc). National level or Regional Autocross events are anywhere from $60 to $120 which they could span over the entire weekend. Most events are 1-day events which are broken up into 3 or 4 "heats".. larger events are broken up to just morning and afternoon with round-robin 3-'heat' cycles (ie: run the course, work the course, and rest/wait for your turn to either run or work).

 

There's also Fed Ex Field as well (where the BIGGER events are held with some Pro-solo autocross action coming this year, Pro-solo is dual mirrored- autocross courses set up with a drag-style start.. so you race against the other guy and see who finish their side the fastest, then you switch sides and get your time, lowest combined time wins!!!)

I dont travel that far up in Bel Air, but I do autocross at Ripken and I do travel on I-83 a bit.

I think a stock Z (I dont think the trim level matters) are all in B-stock.. the S2000 is in A-stock.. meaning that the S2000 should be faster car overall.. so you and your roommate should duke it out under the handicap index meaning even if you have a lower time, you may still beat him in driving skills (to make sure, you guys can switch up cars and see who's really the better driver )

 

Man that's a lot of stickers...I make it out to Philly SCCA autoxs with my 240 but have yet to do a Ripkin event (can't get my sorry *** out of bed that early). I was considering taking the Z down this past weekend but I have a nail in my rear passenger summer tire and my snow tires which are on now wouldn't fair well. I'll just have to wait until April once my rear suspension is complete and brakes are back on the 240. Looks like it was a good course but I'm sure it was cold as hell.

 

sign up for the afternoon sessions.. some times I sign up in both the morning and afternoon sessions just to get my practice in.. I would run my car in two different classes (one in the morning, and one in the afternoon). That's how I get better at this sport. Back the day, I didnt have all these mods, I ran my WRX stock for a good year (all I had was tires) and learned from there.. you dont need all that fancy stuff until you decide to get competitive, and even then that's when the competition gets even harder. I learned my lesson from running in Street Mod class.. those guys have deeper pockets than a CEO. I was told at national level, there was an RX7 with a full carbon fiber body running at 500 whp in Street Mod class, that's insane just to build a $200,000 car for autox. I guess at that point, it's at the same level as building a top fuel dragster that just makes 4-second passes.

Even this weekend I ran on stock brake pads (because my upgraded ones need heat to work properly). I also ran on r-compounds on 20F, it was flat-out slippery for me, I couldnt build up enough heat in them to stick.. Im sure I could have ran a 42-second run easily if the heat would just stay in the tires. I should have put on my other street tires to drive over the black ice patches rather than having no braking feedback as I skimmed over the ice.

 

Well you should definitly come to some of the AI events (autocrossers inc).

We host events at Ripken fairly frequently (at least when it is warm and our club members are not burned out from the pro season) and will be hosting another series there this year.

If you want to see just how fast a stock Z can be you can watch for Lee (Pro Solo champ) driving my car, as I am kind of slow in comparison. I should see some improvements running the Pro Solo tour as well as the wrap up in Kansas and a full schedule of FedEx this year.

Another good one to watch is Chuck Edmonson in his BSP Z. He finally got serious and has put the right size wheels on his Z for autox.

 

Lee is a fast guy, period. Him and his purple monster of an M3.. I've talked to him of how easy the M is to drive (since he's also driven it for a long time) that the car practically drives itself and there's very little that he has to do to tell the car what to do to make things happen.

Im not sure how "responsive" the Z is because I havent personally driven one at an autox, but from just riding it and hearing a few "negative" sides to the drive by wire, Im sure that something like that is a driver-adaptation that we have to overcome to make the car work for the driver.

 

Results from the last AI event (PAX)...

1T [BS]113 Lee Piccione : Nissan 350Z Orange 44.481 / 44.411 / 43.699 / 43.269 / 43.269 / 35.567
2T [FS]13 Jason Burns : Ford Mustang Gray 45.209 45.281 44.596 44.512 44.512 35.832(0.265)
3T [ESP]175 Brian Burdette : Chevy Camaro Red 44.271 43.476 45.696(1) 43.492 43.476 35.998(0.166)
4 [ESP]41 Sam Strano : Chevy Camaro White 44.212 43.760 43.536 45.642(1) 43.536 36.048(0.050)
5 [ESP]141 Michael Snyder : Chevy Camaro White 44.260 47.190(2) 45.411(1) 43.558 43.558 36.066(0.018)

Judging from the list of names there I would say that Lee is fast... I wish we had some local competition in BS for Lee (I am not competition for Lee) to really gauge the car against...

 

I been to one AutoX and I sucked it up...but I had a lot of fun. Did my first 180 in the Z there.

 

only time to really know is to keep driving and get better. Autox is more about the driver than the car.. best thing to do is to just let Lee drive your car and see how close you can get to him.. Lee will give you a good accurate measure of how your car holds up against the rest of the field.. it's not the car that you need to be concerned with, it's how you are gonna give Lee a run for his money

 

you should try an autox school some time.. talk about learning how to push and ride on the car's limit.. it's a very fast way to learn how to drive the car at 99% of the limit.. when you start to drive at 101% (in theory, you can only have 100% grip, so going over 100% hence my "101%" call out) that's when you end up drifting or plowing the car.. the trick is to go as fast as possible while maximizing all 100% of the grip all the time, it's crazy fun when you are at the wheel and you can just drift on command.

 

Don't get me wrong..it does sound like lots of fun..but how much $? lol

 

I posted the answer back at post #7:

 

^^ I thought the AutoX school would be different from normal AutoX

 

Autox schools can cost anywhere from $115 to $250.. it's usually a 1-day event. more info can be found on (be sure to contact Brian Garfield for the most up to date info on the schools as he's in charge of when runs them):

http://solo.wdcr-scca.org/noviceSchool.php

and

http://autocross.com/evolution/modules/news/