HS30-H

Enrique, I don't think that even Nissan themselves would claim that the cars they happen to have in their collection at Zama form any kind of definitive 'list'. Quite apart from what cars they have in their whole collection, certain cars from the Zama warehouse are often out on loan for display at dealerships and events all over Japan. But if you didn't see a '260Z' in there I wouldn't be surprised anyway; Japan only got the 'RS30' for a couple of months at the very most before they were all recalled to the Factory to have their engines changed and their VIN prefixes restamped. They went from being 2600cc 'Fairlady 260' RS30 models to 2000cc 'Fairlady Z' S30 models - with the Nissan 'hamburger' silhouette stamped over the changes to the VIN numbers. The problem was emissions-related. At that time, Japan had probably the most stringent new emissions regulations in the whole world. Nissan just couldn't get the '260Z' to comply, and recalled the lot. The whole thing was swept under the carpet - er, Tatami mat. Japan never got any 'ZX' S130s either. They were all plain vanilla Zs, Z-Ls and Z-Ts. Regarding this poll, I would say that focusing on ALL the different S30 / S31 models would make it long enough - even without all the S130-onwards stuff. Alan T.

I have a set of the E7220-type Rally Struts in one of my garages. I will go there over the weekend, dig them out and take some photos / measurements. What I can tell you for sure at this point is that the fixed-platform Rally Struts had very long tubes on them ( a fair percentage longer than the standard or adjusrtable-platform struts ). They were used with long springs, and the combination gave a pretty tall ride height and a lot of potential suspension travel. Looking at the period pictures of the Baja car I must say it looks like it would have been on these long Rally Struts, judging from its ride height. The numbers and the dates would tend to point to the car using the Rally Struts originally too. Those adjustable Ampco struts you posted pics of look similar to the later style. I have some Ampco adjustable-platform Sports Option ones and they too have the silver metallic foil labels. I shall have to photograph them and see what they say. I have some Atsugi adjustable-platform Sports Option items - but they certainly have different labels ( although they are also foil ). The majority of true 'Works' gas rally struts I have seen were made by Tokico, and the competition department at Oppama used red Dymo tape labels on them, giving useful data. Some of the the later ( 260Z ) types had green Dymo tape labels. I love Dymo. Have those front struts in your pictures got Halda drive tubes in them? I can see red caps. Are they on both sides? I'll take some notes / photos when I am at the garages over the weekend. I'll also try to dig out some Works strut / damper / spring data from my records. Maybe some of it will match up with what you have. Cheers, Alan T.

You can see details of all the cars - in all the classes - on the Goodwood site I linked to in my first post. Go to the main page, then click on the 'LIVE' ACTION tab, then the 'Event News Live' tab and look at ( for example ) the 'Saturday Practice Times - Combined'. 'Street Fighters' class had cars such as a Triumph Dolomite Sprint, BMW 320 Turbo, Toyota Supra GT, Vauxhall Firenza "Baby Bertha", Jaguar XJS TWR racer, Rover Vitesse and Gp.A BMW M3. Please don't take it all too seriously. Goodwood Festival of Speed is primarily a fun event, and there is more emphasis on 'Demo' runs than any serious competition. Most of the F1 cars for example turn it into a burnout and donut opportunity to wow the crowds. I think the names of the classes give a sense of the fun element, and the groupings do not always make complete 'period' sense. Hopefully NickH will chime in on this thread with his own impressions, once his feet come back down to earth...... :-)

Sorry, can't do that. It's against my religion Can't you delete some of those later models to make space for the brothers and sisters of the '240Z', '260Z' & '280Z'? Probably too late now. Don't you just hate whiners?

I can't vote. I have two first-generation S30-series Z cars that don't feature on the list......

Found a site with an action shot of Big Sam at Goodwood: Action shot

The NZ Herald article states that the accident involving the Z happened at Kerepehi on the Haruaki Plains on Sunday ( 26th ). The accident involving the British tourist happened "....on State Highway 1 between Cambridge and Hamilton on Thursday" - which would be the 23rd.

Some 'bonus' pics from Goodwood....

'Big Sam' - the well known 240Z race car - was invited to participate in the 2005 Goodwood Festival of Speed here in the UK. Owner ( and classiczcars.com member ) NickH drove the car up the hillclimb course, and was rubbing shoulders with some fairly legendary names. I was there on set-up day ( Thursday ) and official practice day ( Friday ) and managed to take a few static pics. See them here: Big Sam - Goodwood 2005 See more information about the event at the official Goodwood Festival of Speed site: Goodwood Festival of Speed Cheers, Alan T.

Put them all up. Let God sort 'em out.....

Hi 26th-Z, The picture shows the car in the 1975 race. The same car ran again in the 1976 event, ending with a fatal crash. The car was an ex-SCCN Works circuit race car from Japan, and not the ex-Works rally car that it was pretended to be by the attachment of the rear number plate. We've covered the subject on this site before a few times I remember. jmark, Hard to recommend any one book in particular. You might need a collection of Japanese 'mooks' ( magazine books ) and even then they tend to miss a lot out. The definitive book is still waiting to be written.......

Well, on the true Works rally cars the damping rates were not adjustable on-car in the field. The damper units were made at the Factory rand that was it. Changing bump and rebound was only possible by re-valving, which meant stripping and re-gassing. Those numbers seem to relate to the later style units. Are you sure that they are correct? I would have expected them to have the E7213 second number on the BRE Baja car, or even to be the extra-long E7220 "Rally" struts with the fixed platforms? The E4622 second number doesn't seem to show up until around late 1975 according to what I'm looking at. Have you got the right numbers? Are they Atsugi, Tokico or Ampco-built units? I think you will struggle to find genuine parts to rebuild them with. If it is just the seals that are at fault then you might be able to find equivalents, but any of the other internal hardware is rocking-horse sh*t. Why not consider putting cartridges inside the original outer tubes? Yes, I have first-hand Factory data on the true Works cars - but it is pretty complicated and you have to understand what was matched with what. As usual with race cars, the specs were something of a moving target, and you need to be careful not to confuse yourself. Please don't mix up the Sports Option / Datsun Competition parts with the real Works suspensions. The Works competition department took the Sports Option parts and built new / modified units from them - with different parts, specs and hand fabricated details ( such as the tubes for the Halda drives on the front legs ). They were quite different. I can try to help with regard to the spring data you need, but I'm scratching my head at those E4622 numbers you quoted because they seem to be later than they should be. The full numbers are stamped onto the strut tubes, aren't they? Were these the units that have been on the car all along, or were they sourced separately?

Emil, Let's talk about this in PMs and emails. jmark, My current avatar image depicts SCCN works driver Moto Kitano crossing the finish line of the "Race De Nippon" event, held on 12th April 1970, in his SCCN works Fairlady Z432-R. He shared the car with fellow SCCN works driver Masahiro Hasemi, and they took pole position and won the race overall as well as their GTS class. This was the first major race win for the S30-series Z car worldwide, I believe.