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Compelling evidence the roof was crushed in Canada in 1969:

FYI: Brake reservoir caps seem to be different.

Block blue colour seems to be a bit on the darker richer side of stock. Again it could be the camera. You will want pictures of the underside as well. It is very important to inspect.

Front grill and rear tail light finishers look nice but they seem blacker and shinier than normal. It could be the camera. Also you would want original wheels and hub caps.

Oui Oui Monsieur !

Everyone that I can see that has the worm gear. Correct Nissan hose clamps look like this:

On ebay now. http://www.ebay.com/sch/ericbauer/m.html?item=252725016995&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2562 http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Nissan-Prince-Skyline-Race-Mechanic-Overalls-Hakosuka-GT-R-1970-1971/252725016995?_trksid=p2045573.c100033.m2042&_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20131017132637%26meid%3D21c8f6cf78db498ab3d1f3c00d5500db%26pid%3D100033%26rk%3D6%26rkt%3D8%26sd%3D141087691123

If plugs black then be sure to check efi system. Especially water temp sensor wiring.

I would request all new correct hose clamps for the Orange Z.

I wonder if the distributor or ignition system has a fault? Spark scatter at high Rpm, spark scatter causing pre-ignition under load, and intermittent cut out of ignition?

I like the duct taped windows. Canadian eh!

Anyone know anything about this early 240z racer in Canada? It raced at Mosport piloted by Peter Ferguson on June 14, 1970. Kovac Motors sponsored it. I just ordered a DVD with the magazine article to find more but all input is helpful. This may be one of the earliest Z's to race in North America.

I am doing the best I can. It seems to be of interest to others as well. There is very little Japanese racing content on this site so I am adding. You are most welcome to contribute information to improve accuracy, etc. I will amend as required. wrt the L24's first outing. I am basing it on the data from the JAF site.... just as I based a similar post on the 240z's first north American outings on published data on a site dedicated to racing results. It is all a first pass subject to revisions as new information and corrections come in.

So far. Nothing absolute in this world.

More content, photos, and revisions/corrections to the first post.

Ultimately an L24 engine won it's first race, which was a long endurance race on a hot day. It proved itself with the excellent support of the Oppama Team's effort to prepare the car and engine along with the benefit of good driving and good luck during the long race. It very interesting to also know the rivalry between the two Nissan plants because this certainly raised the stakes and will shed light on all of the races during the period when the L24 debuted. All L24 owners should be proud of their engine's racing history.

Here is an early 240z commercial. It has a Red Z with white wall tires, no OK sticker, and a single choke lever. Could it be a later showing of the red one from ARRC? HLS30-00008 Red Commercial.mp4

Detroit Auto Show Nov 30-Dec 8 1969 (Squint to see the Datsun area in the back grounds). I read that Mr. K did not show Z's here so as to avoid stirring things up with the North American Industry.

Another thing to consider: In 1970 the 240z's do not seem to show up in competitions in the USA until September : - Sept. 6th SCCA National Bryar (Bob Sharp, BSR) - Sept. 6th SCCA National Bonneville (John Morton, BRE) - Sept. 13th SCCA National Portland (Jack Scoville, SL) So a two or 3 month preparation would be reasonable to assume therefore BSR & BRE could have received their cars as late as early July, 1970 meaning the Green BSR HLS30-00006 show car could have been at the NYC show. It is interesting to note that a 240z raced in Canada in June, 1970: - June 14th Mosport - Touring and GT Race (Peter Ferguson, Kovac Motors) First Z to Race in North America? Canadian by the duct-taped light buckets.

Chris, Good news. I had dinner with a friend who works in the local archive and can access much more content. He will give his help to find out what happened in Canada in these early car shows. Hopefully he can get a better scan of the Jan 1970 Montreal paper with the 240z in the snow too. For the Red, Green, ???? for the first 3 cars, and the mystery Dec 20th test car, I think a lot can be sorted by clarifying if the R&T Cover car is HLS30-00008 and if it is Silver or Red. Also finding out if the 2 additional silver test cars did any extra non-testing duties in car shows and ads with badges. It seems they were in some brochures w/o badges.

Alan, this stuff is new to most of us in North America. I just received the Brian Long Fairlady Roadster to 280zx book and it piqued my interest so I started digging around to learn more...there are many gems to be shared in North America like the 3 litre 240Z in 1971. I was simply looking at the JAF site and translating with Google Translate. Apart from some books that skim over the topics and some web sites in Japanese text, and some old videos on youtube, it is all I have to work with. The differentiation between 240z and FairladyZ (on the JAF website) in the winning car columns led me to find the first instance of the 240z L24 engine racing and the July 1970 endurance race a Fuji. Your expert knowledge and input would be most helpful and welcome to improve the accuracy and content. Just the 432 engine compartment data above that you shared is *very* interesting. I'll keep revising the top posts as corrections are made and new information comes in. I left a blank section in the top post to put more information and pictures of the race as I have none yet. Many thanks for the corrections and clarifications!

Like for Carl! I used my limit of 5 likes per day. Many thanks!

Many thanks CO. I am now thinking it could be for an electric pusher fan in front of the rad and out of the shot?

If someone could help better translate this then it could improve the accuracy. 確認できた事で一定の成果を収めたレースと見る事ができた。 この結果を受けZ432の開発は急テンポで 進められると考えられていたが わずか半年後の富士1000ｋｍにはダットサンスポーツ２４０Ｚが登場。 ４バルブＤＯＨＣの２リッターではなく２バルブＳＯＨＣの２．４リッターが選ばれた形だ。 Ｒ３８０の直系の Ｓ２０型ファンにとっては落胆を隠せない出来事だったが たまたまシリーズの選択肢に２．４Ｌエンジンを 持っていたフェアレディＺならではの結果である。 「排気量が同じなら当然Ｓ２０型を選ぶ事になるがＬ２４型が 持つ400ｃｃの排気量差は大きかったね。 トルクの絶対値が大きく しかも中速域からトルクがあるからＬ２４型 の方がレースに向いていた」とは この年から日産に戻った長谷見昌弘。 「まったく他の車両がいない状態で コースを回るのなら当時のＳ２０型とＬ２４型ではそれほど差は無かったと思うが混戦の中で常にラインを変えて 走らなければならない実戦ではトルク型のＬ２４型エンジンは大きな武器になった」と言う。 Ｌ型エンジンを 使う２４０Ｚにはもうひとつ大きなメリットがあった。 メカニズムがシンプルだったためメンテナンスやチューニングの 作業に関してＳ２０型のような高度な技術（といってもレース用であるためそれなりのレベルは必要だが）を 必要とせず チューナー単位で運用する事が可能なエンジンだったのである。 ＧＴ-Ｒが現役を退いた後 プライベーターに２４０Ｚが支持された理由はこうした点にあり ７０年代のモータースポーツを支える貴重な 戦闘力となっていた。 ２４０Ｚの開発に終始関わってきた長谷見昌弘が最後に興味深いコメントを残してくれた。 「実を言えばＺはあまりボディ剛性が高くなかった。ボディ剛性という点ではＧＴ-Ｒのハードトップボディの方が 良かった」Ｚの話をするべきなのだがＧＴ-Ｒのハードトップボディがレーシングユースまで見越したものだった ことには改めて感心させられる。 「レースの日産」の呼び名はやはり伊達ではない事を思い知らされる。 この時代で言えば特に旧プリンス系の人たちだが ここから十数年を経てＲ32ＧＴ-Ｒに繋がっていくのだから やはり敬服せざるを得ない。 一端表立った活動を控える７０年代の中後半はその存在は希薄だったと解釈できるのだが プライベーターによる モタースポーツ活動の灯を絶やさぬようにその下地作りを行ったという点では日産ワークスが行った２４０Ｚの 開発・熟成作業は非常に大きな意味を持っていたのである。

Thanks again Alan. Your input and knowledge helps make this a much better thread. It is interesting to have the insight on the competing factories to give better perspective. Mr. Matsuo also mentioned that there was a lot of internal team dissent throughout the company after the merger, even in the design groups. Here is the 2nd place GT-R that gave the winning 240z a run for its money finishing on the same lap. It gives colour to the Prince/Nissan battle. I wish I could see the last few laps on video. It would have been great knowing this battle was taking place. For the L24 being a better engine for this type of racing, you will have to take it up with Masahiro Hasemi as it is his opinion. He was certainly right about the stiffer GT-R/S20 being better for these types of races than the flexing 432R/S20. I was always curious how the S20 and L24 would do in an apples-to-apples comparison but never ever thought it would be done or if it was ever done. I was wrong. This race was it. Knowing why only one 432/S20 car out of six even came close to finishing the race would be interesting. Were there shunts? Did the others suffer mechanical failures? There is still more to this. For the engine being more than 2.5 lites in this race, the JAF report the engine to be 2.4 litre (below). It is not reported as >2.5 litre so you will have to take it up with the JAF to correct a typo or error. I only reported what they have recorded. For engine parts modifications, I would have expected more modifications and parts development to take place after this initial "testing the waters" for a single L24 in its first race. If you have information regarding any L24 factory development during this period, I am sure we would all enjoy it and it would make my preliminary research more accurate. The fact this is one of the earlier races with chin spoilers and looking at the engine compartment detailed photo makes me think that very little was done for modifications. The joint in the upper rad hose is an easy point-of-failure to de-risk for an endurance race by simply installing the correct radiator for the engine... but they chose not to, even though they had this kit at their disposal. It seems like they just plopped the engine, made a few basic adjustments/accommodations, and went with it as it was an initial trial and they would not have know what L24 parts needed race-development until after the race. JAF Technical Record for the Winning Car.