HS30-H

Hi Lachlan, Glad you liked the pics. Go back to post no.28 on this thread and look at the attached photo of the Nissan Racing School car on the cover of the Sports Option list for the HS30. If you look closely you can see just what they did to the front valance corners to give tyre clearance on full steering lock with those wide wheels and tyres. Some of the Works cars were cut away and re-rolled in this area too. Once they started getting their super-wide aero kits on it was no longer necessary - so you really only see it for a short period on the race cars. On the street was another matter though. My ZG has had its lower front panel clearanced in this area at some time in the murky past of its street life in Japan, and you can see clearancing on many other cars too. One restorer in Japan has a constant turnover of cars coming to him these days to put right all these old indiscretions..... Cheers, Alan T.

For Emil, A front-on colour shot of Yanagida's car from May 1972:

Go to Goodwood in June. Maybe the car won't quite be doing 'what it was meant to do' - but at least you can see and hear it be driven up the hill with enthusiasm. Got any details of the 'motorsport history' for this car? And is that a sunroof under those bricks and cardboard?

And another couple: First up, a 432 ( probably the one of the same Nissan Racing School cars again ) pacing one of the Grand Champion series races at FISCO in mid 1972 ( a rare colour shot ). Second, a view from the outside of the first corner banking at FISCO looking back down the main pit straight at another 1973 Grand Champion Series field of sports prototypes with a gaggle of Works and privateer GT2 class Z cars behind them. All these being led round by a Z pace car wearing the ZG/ZR aero body kit. Probably another one of the Nissan Racing School / SCCN cars. Enjoy.

Found another pic of one of the Nissan Racing School cars carrying out Pace Car duties. This time its a Formula Junior / 'FL500' single-seater race in July 1972:

Hi Emil, Glad to be able to help. I think the Fujimi kit is a good example of the 'artistic license' of the kit makers. They had the moulds and tooling for the standard Fairlady 240ZG, and - like many kit manufacturers - decided to release a version with different box art and decals to maximise the use of the tooling. The box art and the model kit itself do not accurately represent the actual car used as a base for the kit version.... Yanagida's car did evolve gradually ( from a 'short nose' car, as I mentioned above ) but I don't think it ever looked exactly like the box art illustration of the Fujimi kit - which is lovely all the same! I agree about the paintscheme and stickers, they do look good. Replicating the car as per the Fujimi box art would be a lot cheaper and easier than replicating the true look of Yanagida's actual car. That might be a useful thought to keep in mind. Take a look in my Gallery here for pics of a real Factory-made 240ZG as reference. Cheers, Alan T.

This is complicated. The EBBRO model was based on the restored 240ZR owned by NISMO. This car was originally one of the Nissan Racing School fleet, and Nissan don't actually know exactly which race car this originally was ( or don't want to tell ). They restored it to a livery / paint scheme that was used by one of the original SCCN Works 240ZR race cars, but almost certainly not this particular car. So EBBRO made a model of the NISMO-restored ex-NRS fleet, ex-Works 240ZR that was painted to look like another car. Complicated. Emil expressed interest in replicating ( I think ) Yanagida's car per '72 Fuji 1000km spec. It should be noted that this car was wearing the Works 'Type A' Overfender and airdam set over its ZG panels, whereas the NISMO-restored car is wearing the much wider and more extreme later 'Type B' Overfender and airdam set over the same ZG panels. Note the differences. Here are some pics to help illustrate those differences: Taken at the 2002 NISMO Festival at Fuji Speedway, pictures of my friend Shigeru Terashima's green / white / black 240ZR replica ( Type A aero package ) and the NISMO-restored genuine 240ZR ( Type B aero package ). Also a photo of Mr Haruhito Yanagida himself in the pitlane on practice day, with Terashima san's 240ZR replica ( which he drove at the Festival ).

It does indeed, and will be seen at the Goodwood Festival of Speed next month - driven by owner Mr Nick Howell and guest drivers. I'm sorry to say that a lot of the 'history' of 'Big Sam' quoted on zhome.com is inaccurate. Probably not the fault of zhome.com - but it needs to be corrected / updated just the same.

Replicating a car that still exists might be seen as a slightly strange thing to do, especially in the same country.

Hi Emil, I'm guessing that I know the particular car you are referring to. The clue is the Fujimi kit..... It is almost certainly based on the car driven by Haruhito ( 'Haru' ) Yanagida, who went on to found tuning company 'CENTRAL 20' - specialising in Z cars. Yanagida started his race career as a privateer back in the late Sixties, driving a Fairlady SR. He joined the Nissan Racing School as a pupil and became one of their top graduates. He started racing a Z as a privateer, but was soon elevated to semi-Works support and became one of Nissan's SCCN team drivers. He received Works parts for his car, and quickly became one of the most successful drivers of Works '240ZR' race cars. He was particularly noted for his skill in wet conditions, and earned the nickname 'Ame no Yanagida' ( rough translation would equate to 'Yanagida of the rain' - or perhaps 'Rain Master Yanagida' would be more in the spirit of what was intended ). He had a fairly long race career, even taking the wheel of Touring Cars and Group C machines. 'CENTRAL 20' became more of a focus for him after his race career ended, and is still going strong ( they have produced many parts for the Z33 ). Yanagida's son became a race driver - another graduate of the Nissan Racing School - and ties up the Z racing history of the Yanagida family very nicely, as he became one of Nissan's Works drivers of the JGTC Z33 cars. Yanagida senior's car ( like most race cars of that era ) was something of a moving target in respect to its specification. It started out as a 'short nose' race car, but was then upgraded to the full Works 'ZR' aerodynamic package ( the first of these was nicknamed the 'Type A' package ) which is the configuration your Fujimi kit illustrates. The car was updated frequently, eventually being fitted with the 'Type B' aero package and taken far beyond the standard Works ZR spec - with the addition of extra aero parts ( including a 'Batmobile' style double rear fin arrangement ). If you want to replicate the car in its 1972 FUJI 1000km race guise ( as per the Fujimi artwork ) then you will need to obtain a replica of the full Works 'Type A' ZG/ZR aero package from a Japanese supplier. These replicas are still being produced by more than one company. I helped a friend here in the UK source one a couple of years ago ( he is building a replica of the 1975 / 1976 Le Mans 24hr race car ) and the quality was fine. There are lots of other things to think about ( suitable wheels and tyres to fill up those huge arches for example ) and you will want to have a car that has a bite to match its bark. Yanagida's car was pretty fast and featured some rather exotic mechanical specifications, but you don't need to replicate these to get the same feel. These Works-associated race cars are something of a pet subject of mine. I'd be pleased to try and help you with any further research if I can. Here are some reference pics of Yanagida's car. First shows him being overtaken by the Lola T290 of Urushihara, and second with the McLaren M12 of Sakae looming in his mirrors. Third is a closeup 'mood' shot in colour, and finally a portrait of Yanagida himself from mid 1972. Hope that helps. Cheers, Alan T.

Eric, 'Nagai Denshi' is the parent company ( Oyagaisha ) that manufacures the 'Ultra' ignition systems and componentry. The scans that I posted are the instructions that I received with the CDI and MDI systems that I purchased from Ultra. If you look at the bottom of the page it even says 'Nagai Denshi' in big letters. You asked about the ignition system components on the PITROAD website ( scans from the KAMEARI catalogue ) and that's what I posted about. Not the full 'Ultra' lineup. Alan T.

The Pit Road site annoys me because they simply scanned the Kameari catalogue pages and stuck them up on their website. Most of the prices are now actually out of date..... Basically you are looking at two different types of ULTRA ignition system there: Ultra's CDI ( Capacative Discharge Ignition ) is actually a licensed version of the Lumenition system, with an optical trigger replacing the points in the stock distributor. You can buy this system on its own. Kameari's Ultra CDI + Kameari distributor kit combines the Ultra CDI with Kameari's own distributor casting and improved internals - with it's obvious benefits over a tired stock distributor. This is the kit I have and which I pictured above. The Ultra MDI ( Multiple Discharge Ignition ) system is another step up in ignition power that can be utilised in combination with the above systems if desired. Don't ask me to compare any of this to the MSD parts, as I know next to nothing about them I'm afraid. See the wiring diagram scans below, which I hope will explain the method of use and the combinations much better than I can myself:

I have one. The KAMEARI distributor kit includes an ULTRA electronic ignition unit. Ultra have been making electronic ignition systems since the late Sixties, and have a pretty good name in Japan. The distributor body itself is a special casting, and has improved internals over the Nissan ( Hitachi ) Electronic distributor, but the Nissan cap is interchangeable. One of the good things about buying a new distributor is that it will of course be more accurate than an original ( often worn out ) unit with tens of thousands of miles on it. If you live in Japan, then the Kameari kit is a reasonable price and kills more than two birds with one stone.

Derrick, SPIRIT GARAGE make the stainless system you can see fitted to my car in the above photos. It's a good quality piece and should last a long time. They have special offers on these from time to time, so maybe talk to Itagaki san ( the owner ) and see if he will do you a deal. Spirit Garage are in Gunma ken, so maybe you should take a drive up there. Itagaki san might even show you his race car - which is pretty impressive. Spirit Garage tel: 0270 620441 Good luck, Alan T.

We have discussed the Japanese market dealer options on this Forum several times, and the twin pipe exhaust system ( standard equipment on the 432 & 432R ) was included: S30 Japanese market dealer options HS30 Japanese market dealer options The standard front diff crossmember on all S30 / S31 models ( for all Export markets as well as Domestic ) had two exhaust-clearance cutouts for good reason...... I have the Spirit Garage stainless steel twin pipe system on my ZG, and can vouch for its quality. I also have a genuine Nissan ( mild steel ) twin pipe system which will be fitted to my 432R replica. See pics below:

Or the Porsche driver wasn't actually all that good a driver in comparison to the guys in 'lesser' cars? I think fuel consumption should have been similar, if not actually in the favour of the Porsche. Only a 2-litre remember. All joking apart, that 906 should have walked it. It was a purpose-built race car, and the Z should not have been able to keep up had they both been prepared and driven to their maximum potentials. Kitano beat it, and he was one of Japan's all-time best. That was probably enough on the day.

Eric, I asked that question a long time ago, and was told that the regulations for most of these JAF regulated races stipulated a minimum length of breather pipe for the 100 litre endurance tanks. I think it is safe to say that they made them that long for a purpose. When the regulations forced them to use bag tanks inside alloy housing a bit later, the breathers seem not to have been necessary any more. The regs changed pretty quickly in the early Seventies. Just as a little bit of a fun diversion ( and at the risk of going off my own topic ) here's another Japanese race pic featuring a pace car. Unfortunately, its not a Z pace car - but considering the cars behind the pace car are 'on topic', and the fact that the Porsche 906 in the group got beaten outright by a Works 240Z ( tee hee ) , I thought I'd post it anyway......... Alan T.

And here is a car appearing to be in a similar spec ( although I can't say for sure if it the same car or not ) carrying out pace car duties at the 'Race De Nippon 6 hours' event at Fuji Speedway on 10th April 1971. GTS-3 Class and Overall winners of the race were Hasemi and Takahashi in their SCCN 'Works' 240Z, with Miyakodaira and Teranishi in another 240Z following them home in second place. The photo is not a very good one - but Z pace car photos from Japanese events are pretty hard to come by......... Alan T.

Getting back on topic a little, here's a pic of one of the Nissan Racing School Z cars that was probably used as a pace car in races at FISCO and Tsukuba during 1971 & 1972. This is a scan of the part of the front cover of the November 1971 'Sports Option' parts catalogue for the HS30 '240Z' model which had just been released for sale in Japan. As can be seen, the Nissan Racing School car pictured is sporting the Overfender kit and a chin spoiler.

Its hard to quote race weights for the two different models without having to resort to a little bit of generalisation, as the specs on these cars were changing so rapidly during their race careers that they become 'moving targets'........ But I do have data showing that the Works PGC10 ( 4-door ) race cars were running at around 960kg weight in late '69 and early '70, whereas the Works KPGC10 ( 2-door ) race cars were being tested and developed at around 1045kg in late '70 and early '71. My "interesting" quote to Gav was hinting at something that is kept fairly quiet to this day. Namely that the first Works GT-Rs were sometimes running somewhat light in comparison to their homologated race weight, and were reputed to have very *special* bodies indeed :tapemouth Alan T.

Would make a bloody expensive coffee table. This is a re-list I think. I didn't see what it went up to last time without meeting its reserve, but it probably won't sell on Yahoo without a lot of direct contact in the background ( he says it is "rebuilt" - but that covers a whole host of possibilities ). Ahmed, Actually I don't think the brake and clutch master cylinders on an LHD shell would interfere with the S20 exhaust manifold all that much, if at all - but the steering shaft would be a factor. It would require a custom manifold to avoid the LHD shaft. A smaller battery, and battery tray mods, might be needed to clear the induction side ( esp if using the original S20-type air box ). I've certainly not heard of an S20 in an LHD S30 body ( there were no official LHD S20-engined models of Z or Skyline sold to the general public ), but I have heard tell of at least one S20 engine being in the USA. Be aware that - as a 'Skyline' engine rather than a 432 engine - the oil pan on this Yahoo auction engine will not fit into an S30 body. The 432-type sump, oil pickup and pre-filter and the 432 dip-stick location would need to be used. Alan T.

As a kind of branch to this thread, and with reference to that now-locked USA pace car thread, I thought I would post this photo. It was taken from a Japanese magazine reporting on the final round of the 1970 Can-Am ( Canadian American Challenge Series ) races - the "L.A. Times Grand Prix' - which was held on 1st November 1970 at Riverside Raceway in California. The photo shows a fairly stock looking 240Z - which I would assume was almost certainly an HLS30U road car - being used as a pace car during the race. Caption ( in Japanese ) under the photo implies that this was the first instance of a 240Z being used as a pace car in the USA. Alan T.

Hi Ben, Yes - they were almost certainly the Kobe Seiko magnesium 8-spokes as offered in the Sports Options list for the 432R, but possibly only the 8j x 14 size ( which was the only size listed in the first Sports Option list for the PZR ). I think it might be the Dunlop race tyres that are making them look so wide. They only just fit under the stock arches..... I think the pace car / Nissan Racing School car was a 432 upgraded to 'R'-level specs, with all the Sports Option suspension parts / plastic panels / acrylic glass / 4-point cage / stripped interior and Ikeda Bussan seats with 4-point harnesses. Probably not too much in the way of engine tuning. Without doubt the spec would have changed fairly regularly. Within a couple of months of their debut almost all the Works PZRs were wearing Overfenders and starting to sprout the vestiges of aerodynamic aids - especially in the front grille area. I'll post some more images of later cars in this thread after I scan the images and make proper notes about them. Stand by. Zedrally, No sunroofs on these Works cars, I'm afraid. PhilUK, The sketch may have originally been in colour when the artist did it, but it was only reproduced in b/w in the 1970 literature that I have. Sorry. Cheers, Alan T.

Hi Gav, In that particular race the 432s were up against the PGC10 4-door GT-Rs ( this was before the debut of the 'K' 2-door ). The weight issue must have helped, but there were races where the Z was beaten by the GT-R overall even though they were racing in different classes. Incidentally - the 4-door GT-R was lighter than the 2-door, which is interesting isn't it? Bambikiller240 & Alfadog, I doubt that this particular car survived its Nissan Racing School career, and I have certainly never heard tell of such a 432 surviving. The only Nissan Racing School Z car to survive as far as I know is the LY-engined 240ZR that NISMO restored a few years back - which is a much later car. Unfortunately it was probably the case that the cars were worked to death and then split for spares or scrapped within just a few years. ChrisA, The emblem that you see on the centre of the grille is the 'SCCN' ( Sports Car Club of Nissan ) steering wheel / leaves / tricolour shield emblem. SCCN was in effect the organisation that the Works team drivers belonged to ( and were employed by ) and which entered the Works cars in the races. The Nissan Racing School was also part of the SCCN organisation, along with the NDC ( Nissan Drivers Club ). The Katakana script around the rim of the steering wheel on their emblem reads "Nissan Sportscar Club" - which does not actually match up with the SCCN acronym...... I am attaching a photo of an SCCN sticker below: MikeW, Don't forget that this particular race was not actually the race debut of the Works cars. You might be more impressed to hear that the race debut of the Z car was on 18th January 1970 - in the "All Japan Suzuka 300km" race. SCCN works driver Moto Kitano was leading the race in his 432R until he was hit broadside by another car - destroying the first Works 432R race car in its first-ever event. 1GENZED, The Nissan Racing School was set up initially to recruit and train drivers to become members of Nissan's race teams. They mainly operated out of Fuji Speedway and Tsukuba Circuit, and the teachers themselves were Works drivers and SCCN team members. This was purely a race driving school, and was not set up to sell Nissan products, or to instruct customers who had bought Nissan cars in how to drive them - so the comparison with Bob Bondurant's school would be a good one. They used many different types of car, ranging from Fairlady roadsters, Sunny Coupes, Skyline GT-Rs, Cedric and Gloria stock cars right up to single seaters. The school was still running until recently - so they would have used many many cars over the years. See the photo below of an early Nissan Racing School 'starter pack' of text book, FISCO course map and Nissan Racing School sticker. Alan T.

After a discussion arising from a recent thread, I took a closer look into the question of 'The first Z pace car'. That is to say, the first S30-series Z car to be used for 'Pace Car' duties in a race event worldwide. I have been encouraged to post this information here on the site for all to see, so here goes: The first instance of use that I can back up with solid documentary evidence, data and pictures is at the 'Race De Nippon' event - held on 12th April 1970 at FISCO ( Fuji Speedway ) in Japan. This 6-hour race included 'TS-II', 'TS-III' and 'GTS' classes, with two SCCN ( Nissan's works team ) Fairlady Z432-R cars entered in the GTS class. Car no.1 was crewed by aces Hasemi and Kitano, and car no.2 was crewed by Teranishi and Yokoyama. The main challenge to the two Z cars for overall victory was to come from a gaggle of Skyline GT-Rs in the TS-III class, a brace of very hot Mazda rotary coupes also in TS-III and a couple of quick Isuzu Bellett GT-Rs running in TS-II. Several Fairlady SRs were running head-to-head with the 432-Rs in the GTS class, and as these were pretty much at the end of their development period they would have been well-sorted and still fairly quick. The no.1 432-R of Hasemi and Kitano took the overall and GTS class class win - covering 959km over the 6 hours, with Skyline GT-Rs following home in second and third positions. One of the Mazdas came in fourth. This was the worldwide first ever race win for the S30-series Z car....... A pace car was deployed more than once during the race, and it is this car that is the subject of this thread. It was a Fairlady Z432, and was actually one of the cars that was part of the Nissan Racing School fleet - which was based at FISCO. For this event, JAF ( the Japanese Automobile Federation ) 'borrowed' the car from the Nissan Racing School, and used SCCN race team driver Yasunori Toshimori as the Pace Car driver - accompanied by a JAF official in contact with the Race Controller by radio. As one of the cars in the Nissan Racing School fleet, the 432 was prepared for fast circuit use - with many of Nissan's own 'Sports Option' list and Works parts fitted to it. It would certainly have been able to keep up a reasonable speed on the circuit, especially with Toshimori driving. Below are pics of the car in question. First pic is of the car being used in the race after an incident. Second is the same car in its Nissan Racing School livery. Third is a nice illustration of the same car in some Nissan Racing School publicity, and the fourth pic is a portrait photo of SCCN team driver Yasunori Fujimori, who drove the Pace Car illustrated. I hope this is of interest to some site members. Alan T.