I got a little impatient with waiting to go WOT, as I was gently breaking in my new Z. I left Aurora, Colorado around 9:15 in the morning on Sunday, a little over 500 miles on the odometer. I putzed around south of Denver for awhile, near Colorado Springs. Ran a few canyons. Drove through the Garden of the Gods. Just meandering around. And then I decided that i could kill two birds with one stone: I could finish breaking in my engine AND grab a quick latte at one of my favorite coffee shops... in the old plaza in Taos, New Mexico. 650 miles later, the Z is broken in, I've spent a beautiful day driving through sunshine and rain in both Colorado and New Mexico...and I've still got a big ole stupid grin on my face: this car is an absolute BLAST to drive!

 

Congrats! Sounds like your trip was a blast!

 

awesome way to break it in!

 

Driving a black NISMO Z from Denver to Taos and back- priceless!

 

congrats, now go wash that beauty!

 

Very nice!

 

Ha, to classic.

 

And making plans attend the HPDE Safety Course at PMP next month!!! Clark... You have cool points with me!

 

You guys are lucky to have such stretched out land to drive and break in cars. Congrats, and sounds like you had some fun, like you see in the movies with their road trips going thru all kinds of scenery.

 

Thanks guys. It was a great little road trip that I will never forget. Sunbaked plains, mesas and mountians, mixed in with equal parts of wet interstates, rainy canyons and slow, soggy tourists -- with a couple of rainbows thrown in for good measure. My wife and I love Taos. Unfortunately, she was too busy with her work to join me for that day of driving around and breaking in the car. When I called my wife, just after I leaving Taos, she laughed and said "You went to TAOS for COFFEE?".

Priceless!

 

LOL How long of a drive was that?

 

Well, dayum!

If you are willing to drive to Taos for coffee, and you enjoy the David Muramoto HPDE class, are you willing to drive to Sandia, NM for two NASA track days?

 

I love days where i just go for a drive without knowing where the hell im going

 

The drive from Aurora to Taos and back was roughly 650 miles. The path that I took wasn't exactlyt he shortest route, but there are longer more exotic (eg twisty) ways to get there and back, too. I left around 9:15 AM and got back at 10:30 that night. I was running a slow pace: I stopped for lunch and dinner and, since I was breaking in the new engine, I was varying speed a lot and not getting on the throttle too much.

Dave: when are the track days in NM??

 

I should mention your my hero.

 

Awesome. I love living in the West for this very reason. Nice to hear you're enjoying your car.

Will

 

Awesome! I love impromptu trips like that. This brought back memories of my overnight trip to Chicago from Superior, WI (approx. 8 hrs one way) some years ago to see an old friend at the airport. I then drove right back. Unfortunately, it was in something a helluva lot less exciting than the Z.

 

It's October 20-21. I posted the details in this thread

Hope to see you there!

 

I think I'll hold off on any out-of-state track meets until next Spring: I don't want my wife to feel like she made a bad decision when she told me to "go for it!" when I fell in love with the Nismo Z. Maybe next spring I can plan on a track event or two down in NM or AZ -- and my wife and I can get some R&R away from the kids for some sightseeing and photography, while we are at it.

As an aside, my wife has been driving the heck out of my Acura Integra in the last week -- and she said she might be interested in a track safety class with the Acura in the future. I'm stoked -- she's never really been into driving for fun! that Integra really is a blast to drive, though: its like a little go cart. Nothing like the Z, but still a lot of fun.