Walter Mitty Historic Races

[26th-Z]

I just returned from the Walter Mitty Historic Races at Road Atlanta. It rained most of the weekend which always puts a damper on events like these. I should have pictures in a day or so. 240Zs showed out in force and I was really taken with how many Zs filled the club corral compared to the MGs, Triumphs, and Healeys as the event was Moss Motors sponsored. But we all know how British cars do in the rain! :classic:

I met Mike Cammarata with his "Macau" 240Z. Check him out on IZCC http://www.zhome.com/Z history/Macau 240Z The car is very well prepared and he is still looking for that nose piece. He mentioned something peculiar about his Mikuni / Solex carburetors in that they do NOT have a serial number engraved on the top cover. Supposedly, they are 44mm throats rather than the typical 40mm? What do you experts know? Mike told me the car was purchased in Guam along with a ton of factory competition parts. It is not a factory prepared group 4 car, and although it was entered in the 1971 Macau Grand Prix (gridded 16th, thus his "16" car number), it did not finish. We did talk about the odd nose piece and the chassis shows evidence of it's mounting, but Mike has all but given up finding it. The car does have a great number of factory competition parts. Very nice.

The one car I drove all the way up to Atlanta to see was not there! Although the Nissan NPTI chassis 8805 was there - and sounding sweet I might add - I was looking for a 1987 March Nissan 87G. wizz me off!

I'll be posting pictures - stay tuned!

[sblake01]

26th-Z, did you mean: http://zhome.com/History/macau240Z.htm?

[26th-Z]

Yes - that's the car. The description is a little on the far fetched side from what Mike told me, but he says he has a ton of documentation and I'm satisfied it is a cool car.

Here's Mike, turn 5:

[26th-Z]

And that beautiful power plant.

[26th-Z]

On Saturday morning, car clubs were invited to tour the track. Of course it was raining, but the line for the Zs was quite long.

[26th-Z]

Jim Fitzgerald 280ZX for sale:

Restored in 2001 to IMSA GTU trim and only vintage race once at Road Atlanta. Second prototype 280ZX chassis in the United States. Raced as SCCA C-Production, Trans-Am, and IMSA GTU. (I have competed against this car) Documented history with logbooks.

Contact Bob Postell (770) 998-8855 x 103

[26th-Z]

It seems I have around fifteen pretty good photos of just Datsun / Nissan stuff from the Mitty. If the moderators want to start a gallery, I'll post them all. They are mostly race cars and a couple of Zclub street cars. The rain was so bad that I didn't want to get my camera out very often and everything was wet and the lighting was flat......

This is a pretty good sampling. What do you guys think?

[gema]

Looks like you had a better weekend than all of us combined!

[2ManyZs]

I put a category in the Gallery for your pics.

Makes me wish I had gotten in touch with all the local Z Clubs about getting together at Brian Redmon's Jefferson 500 vintage races at Summit point coming up on May 14-16.:stupid:

Guess I'll have to remember to do that next year.

[MikeW]

Too bad about the rain. I had planned on going myself but didn't want to drive the Z in the rain. I then thought about going as just a spectator but the weather forecast seemed rather bleak. I watched the local radar but finally just gave up.

[26th-Z]

Ok, twenty photos all loaded up along with a little blurb about the picture. Hope ya'll like 'em! Mike, the rain sucked, frankly. At one point, turn 5 was flooded and cars just went straight off into the gravel.

I saw lots of wonderful cars and I want to emphasize how well the Zcrowd turned out with many cars in the Zcorral. They all looked like they were having a great time. I talked to several guys hoping to find someone I recognized from here. Zowners came from as far away as Texas. My drive was only seven hours!

For those of you who have never been to Road Atlanta, it's a great course set in the rolling hills Northeast of Atlanta. I always thought it was a roller-coaster ride, with many places the car was completely weighted or unweighted. Turn 3 is a bit of a downhill slide between 2 and 4 as is the hill from the bridge down to pit straight. Changes over the years have added safety and several great spectator areas. There is a new chicane just before the bridge which looks exciting and I can see how it was needed to slow the cars down from the back straight.

Atlanta is about as far North as I get, 2ManyZs. I have some friends who get up to VIR with their Porsches. I would love to see Summit Point. The historic races are pretty cool. Cars show up that you would never dream of seeing and the amount of money being spent will stun you. Some guy showed up in a Benneton F1 car painted in early Schumaker livery and promptly stuck it in the gravel. The rain kept a lot of cars inside though.

I saw Jim Downing and talked to him for a while. He is selling HANS devices, now, and maintains a stable of vintage cars. This is Jim working inside the NPTI cocpit.

[HS30-H]

Great photos! Many thanks for posting them and following up with some stories too. Its good to get a bit of 'background' to help with the understanding of the photos.

Actually, Its kind of reassuring to see rain at an American event. I thought you had some kind of deal with the sun out there for a while:classic:

Cheers!

Alan T.