Took the Z on its first track day. The car handles great out of the box, the only thing I would do is get a full suspension and some better tires. As far as Buttonwillow, its a really fun track. Lots of turns and a couple of straights. A couple of turns are really technical. Lots of runoff so if you go off you dont really have to worry about hitting anything. We ran the track CCW in race configuration #1. My best time was a 2:12. Don't really know where that stands, but I timed a couple of the cars in the other groups and I was pretty close. So I guess not bad for the first time on this track in a new car. Overall the car handled great in stock form with stock tires. I have some pics to post but I have to do it the old school way(develop,scan,post) since I don't have a digicam. I'll post them as soon as I can.

As far as the club I ran with, TCRA, they are a cool bunch of guys. They are a little more on the hardcore side than other clubs, per what people that have ran with other clubs/organizations told me, probably because they have a racing series. So it was a bit intimidating. When I get pics up you guys will know what I mean. The majority of cars there were really high performance. And I felt funny driving my car to the track instead of having a trailer or garage on wheels like everyone else. In all, they are probably not as beginner friendly as other clubs, not because of the staff, but more because the guys your running with. Again, probably because of the race series they have. All the time trialers want to get into the race group and the racers, well...they race. Again, this last weekend may have been the exception.

There was a CS 350z racing also in the time trial group and a Brickyard that showed up to watch. Anybody here?!? To the CS Track owner, I'm jealous. You have some really nice cars!

Pics coming!!!

 

Isn't that a bit like saying "oh, she's hot, she just needs braces, a nose job, to lose 100 pounds, and do something about that stutter"?

If the handling was great why would you change anything except maybe tires?

 

Actually, thats why I added "out of the box", in other words, bone stock. Aftermarket handling/modified is totally different. So maybe I should have said for the Z being stock, it handles great, but with some modifications it will handle better, as some people on this board have proven. Anyways, great is a long ways from perfect. Does that answer your question?

I do have one question to those that have been at Buttonwillow before. If your running from the Sunrise turn to the Sunset turn are you going CW or CCW???? Anyways, we ran from Sunrise to Sunset, whatever that is.

 

Got the pics scanned and uploaded. Sorry, not to many action shots since these were taken with a disposable camera. Mostly pics of the nicer cars that were there at the event.

http://briefcase.yahoo.com/importriders@sbcglobal.net

Click on the "Buttonwillow" folder.

 

If pit lane was on your left as you drove down the front straight, you were going CW. If it is was on your right, CCW.

As I mentioned in another post, if you or anyone else is interested in a less-intimidating time at the track, you might try one of Buttonwillow's own High Performance Driving Clinics. We have a great group of skilled and experienced instructors, and almost all the cars that show up to run are driven to and from (a key point!) the track. Most participants get as much or more track time than they can handle in a single day. Remaining schedule is as follows:
May 11
July 27
December 20

More dates could be added. Check the site for updates, and feel free to ask questions.