It was great to meet the Schuitemaker Team, they were great and friendly entertaining our
inquisitive minds regarding their 350Z and mods. Here are some pics of the day.

Gues who is baby face walking across.




Here are some more pics and clip.
http://www.sfzcc.com/Events/Miami250/

 

I'll take both please! (referring to the girls)

 

Would that be our own BJZ? Nice pics. Were the ladies part of the crew?

 

Yeap, that is our own BJZ. Great guy. The two chicks were great eye candy but not part of the team
I don't think they could have been able to concentrate with those South Florida girls in their crew

Here are a couple of more shots taken by fellow member slaponte

 

The things I noticed on the car :

- They run the stock shifter.
- They have a grounding kit on it.
- They run the size tires I have been asking about : 245/40 and 275/40, but on 17's.

I didn't like how it sounds down the straight. Tone is high (to my taste)...

I think they did really good, considering is a new car and much is still to be developed/improved.

 

It was great meeting everyone down there. Restarts in the Z after yellows where not fun. The lack of tq really put us at a disadvantage. I fell back to about 7th or 8th and was able to start running cars down on the long runs and up to 2nd in GS2.
We then took a gamble on lap 50 during a full course yellow, waiting to see if the overall leaders would pit allowing us to receive a wave around and gain a lap before our driver change.
The whole team did a great job and things are going forward.
The next two rounds should really let the Z's handling and braking shine..............
Phnx is only 2 1/2 weeks away, and we will have the Z back up at Mid Ohio this Friday to get a little more testing in.

 

BJ-
what did you finish?

 

Yeah, I noticed the lap 50/yellow move. Didn't quite worked out. You guys came into the pit just as the pace car turned off the lights. It was then a race to get out before they came around....

One thing I have to say, the car looks SOOOOO good on the track. It just belongs there. Wow.

 

7th in GS2
15th overall

 

BJ,
Watching the lap times you didn't appear to drop off much even after 50 laps. The fuel tank of the Z being 20 gallons should also be an advantage. Obviously the longer runs help the car as much as the restarts hurt it. Is someone monitoring the GA officials so that you know what the pace car is doing? Don't mean to be a smart a%*. T & S, data acquitision & monitoring race control during a race are things I used to do for our team. The strategy of endurance racing is a huge part of the deal. Miami & Daytona probably aren't the best tracks for the Z. Maybe Phoenix will be better. Actually for a brand new car I think ya'll have done well to be as close as you have been to the more developed Cobras, M3's, Firebirds & Porsches. We got our first win in GA GT with Bill A./Rick F. driving at Phoenix several years ago. Hopefully it will be lucky for you too.

 

The pitstop thing was a huge gamble, but it was probably the best option we had. Knowing now how the rest of the race went,, we should have stayed out and raced for the lead and waited to see if we got another yellow a little later. (which happened) but if It didnt then we would be pitting under a green flag condition. We took the other option which was pitting under a going green condition vs. full green. Grand Am had not been saying how many laps the caution was going to be then the pace car lights went out. Its a gamble. We had to wait and see what the overall leaders who where right in front of us where going to do. (Two of the overall leaders stayed out.) This gamble would have been huge ig the leaders pitted= 1 lap on the Gs2 field.
The other thing to realize here is that this is a new car and we are still in the "lobbying stages" with it.............7th wasnt that bad of a place to finish.
We def are down on power even to the E36 BMW's which you can plainly see at the track.... Things are happening and we are progressing at a very good rate. In morning warm up we where second fastest and went .6 faster than in qualifying.

 

I didn't mean it in a critical way at all. I know it is a gamble sometimes...

The car looked great and you guys are doing a great job.

 

Yeah, the Z looks great11
I really like that Nismo body kit. Unfortunately, I got stuck working OB/GYN ER at the hospital on Sunday so I didn't get a chance to see it in person.

Hey BJ, I saw the car up at daytona and I was wondering what you guys have done to the car since then and if your planning on running the INJEN exhaust as well as the intake.

 

BJ, congrats to you and your team on a good race. Keep getting quicker!

One question:

Lack of torque? Why do you say that? Just curious.

 

I believe he means compared to the V8 Cobras & Firebirds. I believe the E36 M3's are running the 320 HP Euro motors too. Dwnshift how do you feel the handling & braking compare to the other cars?

 

Lack of torque compaired to al the other cars in the class (V8's, twin turboed 6's and the Euro M3).
Well John wright (Wright Tuning) has been doing his homework with the 350EVO suspension line. The improvements we have made to the car have all been our own suspesnion parts. We are surely being out motored at the moment.
We are currently running the new Nismo headers which gave the car a little more TQ than we had at Mid Ohio, Injen CAI, and a couple other little things. The point being is that we are running a stock engine for the most part and we are able to run in the top five. Once we get some power...................we are going to be dangerous.
BJ

 

Dwnshift,

Any idea what a complete EVO suspension kit will run price wise? I am wondering how it will compare to the NISMO pricing? PM me if you need to?