Just got my Sept. '08 issue of Classic Motorsport today. It has a small write-up on the MSA gathering last April, and a great article on Carl Beck's BRE Baja 240Z! Good Z stuff!

A picture caption from the MSA coverage:

"Few cars can claim the era-spanning good looks and thrilling performance of Datsun's classic Z-cars."

I knew it was coming up, and just got my tshirt from subscribing!

Will

Oh good, I just ordered all the back issues I could with Z-car stuff, and the newest one just incase. Now I'll have a weeks worth of reading to do when it arrives.

Its so sad that we get better Z related material From CM then we do Nissan Sport.

Sport Z used to be the coolest mag, now its nothing but a new car commercial

Blue 72, how did you get the back issues? Is there a list of the copies available?

Hi Guys:

Here are a couple of my favorite pictures from the Classic Motorsports photo shoot. First one shows Mr. Brock attempting to get the exact angle and light to capture the rear suspension etc. Keep in mind that is cool for Florida that day, and the wind was blowing about 30 knots all the time... You can see the loose sand blowing across the hard pan on the beach, behind Mr. Brock and the car.

Second one shows Mr. Brock standing with his Z - as tall as he is, I don't know how he ever fit in it. Reward movement of the seat is limited when the seat back hits the fuel cell.

Mr. Brock spent about 4.5 to 5 hours shooting the car. Must have taken a couple hundred pictures. Over-all I thought the guys at Classic Motorsports did a nice job with the article. A friend of mine is working on a Video... so I might be able to Post a few clips at some point.

Thanks for the kind words, guys. Glad to hear you liked it.

deadflo, you can get back issues at the Classic Motorsports online store: http://classicmotorsports.net/store/#backissues/ and take a quick scan through the back issues here: http://classicmotorsports.net/issues/

For anyone unfamiliar with Classic Motorsports, you can get a free issue to try it out, no obligation. Just go to http://classicmotorsports.net/try/ and ask for one. I think if you do so within the next week or so there's still time to get the Sept. issue.

Hi Guys:

TrackSide Photo in L.A. has been covering the Off-Road Races/Rallies since 1970. A few of their photo's were used in the Classic Motorsports Article. If anyone in the Classic Z Car or Sports Car Community is interested in Pro-Rally / Off-Road competition - TrackSide has a great web site to browse. You can order any of the pictures from them at fairly reasonable prices.

http://www.tracksidephoto.com/

70's Baja Races at:

http://www.tracksidephoto.com/gallery/index.php?category=gallery/1970s/73Baja500/Cars&start=0

For Example:

BRE was not the first team to run a Datsun 240-Z at the Baja. The first picture below from TrackSide Photo's shows the 240-Z entered by Thiel Motors of Modesto, California in 1970.

Morton/Brock ran a PL510 together in 1972 (second picture below). The story of that adventure was captured in Sylvia Wilkinson's book "the Stainless Steel Carrot". That is where my interests in the Off-Road aspect of BRE and Datsun's partnership began; as there was no coverage in the typical "Sports Car" media in the U.S. of the day.

The BRE Baja Z wasn't the only car ran by BRE in 73. They also ran a PL510 shown in the third picture below. There is a color image of this 510 on the BRE Web Site....

The BRE Web Site also has several historic photo's in their photo archives. It's a neat sight to visit as well. http://BRE2.net

FWIW,

Carl B.

Has anyone found the Sept. issue on the Magazine Racks at retail outlets yet? Every magazine stand here is still selling the July issue. Of course no one that works at these places has any idea of when to expect anything to arrive.

I've tried Boarders/Barns as well as the usual Drugstore/Grocery store racks...

thanks,

Carl B.

Hastings will have it out next week.

I looked around at the same places as you Carl with no luck, so I just went with the free trial issue that TBaxter mentioned above.

-Mike

Got mine in the mail today. Nice article Carl. Congrats.

And for those of you who subscribe to AutoWeek, the 50th Anniversary issue is out listing the 240Z and Yutaka Katayama in their "most significant" article. The picture they use of the 240Z is Mr. K's yellow car with the ZG nose. Something to smile about: think of the most significant automobiles and people in the automotive world in the last 50 years. We keep good company.