gira

Hello Classic Zer's, I have the big brake kit on one of my race cars. Actually a car we're going to run this coming week at Sebring. I have fairly violent shaking through the steering wheel under braking. 1. Although the rotors were new, I had them turned to see if this would help the issue. Issue remains the same. 2. We have tried different sets of balanced tires. I suspect possibly a geometry issue up front. Has anyone ever run across this? Greg Ira

For that it's worth, I believe the panasport to be the best all around wheel for a club racer. I have raced the same wheels in IT, EP, autocross, hillclimbs and never once broken or cracked one. They aren't as light as the Volk but they are the best all around. The 15x7 holds a 225 tire just fine and the Goodyear SportsCar Special just fine, 23x9x15. This tire has a huge contat patch and is very light. I recommend against changing widths all the time unless you've done the R&D to be certain it's better. Hope this helps. Greg Ira

Guys, Thank you all very much. Sorry I haven't been on here lately but I've been busy trying to find a job. It's just now sinking in that I am on a trophy with those guys. Special thanks to my old friend and Competition Board member Fred Clarke for helping me get this award. It's a very short list and although he won't/can't say, I believe he helped me immensely to win this deal. The trophy was absolutely incredible, heavy too. It was an honor just to hold it. Thankfully, they let us take some pictures with it after the presentation. The convention was in Vegas and I came back in tact which is something we can't all say. BTW, Look out for our cars in a future issue of GRM. Thanks again guys, Greg Ira

OK guys, if any of you who have always wanted a "REAL" track car but just couldn't get around to it, here is your chance. I have time to build. 240z through 280zx preferred. You can provide the core, or I will provide. Billing to be on a cost plus basis so you can determine how much of the good stuff you want. I can build from mild to wild, NA from 195 to 350 hp. PM or respond if interested Greg Ira

Texas Rider, I hear you about wanting more performance and hesitating about the reference to having the car stock. My suggestion is to simply buy a suped up engine and swap them. I wouldn't go the bolt on route with that engine as the gains are minimal at best, especially if it has the flat top carbs. I race 240's and know that a simple swap isn't too far fetched. We change engines at the track for pete's sake. Who's Pete? I dunno. Anyway, this idea would not interfere with the future sale of the car and you could always sell your built engine later too. If you like the idea, PM me and I'll set you up with an engine contact. Greg Ira

Caen Fred, Try in this order. Get more caster. John is right, 5 degrees is pretty strong though. Make sure both sides are the same. To gain this caster, you will have to change the tc rod length. Change the tires. More camber is definitely needed for a high performance radial, both front and rear. The miata has about the best suspension you can have on a race car. The double wishbone is unbeatable as far as geometry goes. When you lower a street z without changing other pickup locations the roll center goes down below the ground. This is another deal althogether. I am surprised that you only got this much negative camber from lowering. My recollection is that a lowered Z got in the -2 degree range withouth camber plates.

What is the trick for making the pic come over NOT as a thumbnail? Gira

The SCCA Runoffs E Production race comes on today at noon EST on Speed.

Thanks everyone. Well, I am disappointed and we had a great car. We simply made a bad tire call. It's the first time in my many years that a tire just wouldn't warm up. Super slippery the whole time and lucky not to lose the final podium slot. We will go to Road America next year. The old Z ought to be pretty good there too! Podiums at the National Championships are always good. Check out the champagne shot I got off on Prather! Thanks again.

PS, It rained very hard last night and continued to weep water across certain portions of the track. We felt it wouldn't be worth it to go out for Q2 today because of it. The fastest time was 3 secs off so that is why we don't show a time for today. It's all strategy now. If the track remains dry, I am sure Prather and Thrash will take a shot at me tomorrow at 4:30. That ought to be exciting. I'll be on the sideline in the car with it warmed up, while watching our I-card. I hope we won't have to go out but if you see either of those guys pop up on the screen in P1, I wan't to feel you routing for us, cuz we will defend. See you. Greg

Hello everyone, I am writing this from the Nissan tent at the Runoffs. Wow, my car hauled butt yesterday. We tested two full days chasing the crappy surface of this racetrack. We ended up with our greasy track set up and harder tires. Tuesday morning in our first attempt at qualifying the car had a ton of grip and I took advantage of it to go 1.5 secs faster than we went all week, thinking that with the weather approaching this might be our only chance to post a fast time. We are .1 secs ahead of National Champion Tom Thrash and .2 secs ahead of local favorite Jesse Prather. I am very proud of my team and my old Z car. I am looking at it right now and it's smiling, I swear! If I had a darn card reader I could send some pics. Greg

Unbelievable. Mucho congrats to John, Andrew and Tom for keeping these old cars going so fast. I am hoping you haven't taken all the Z Karma I am going to need to beat the damn WANKELS at the Runoffs in a couple weeks. I am also glad that in SOLO, the SCCA hasn't allowed Mazda to pay their way in and dominate everyone in some of these classes. Our runoffs engine is finished today and it makes more torque than last year. We'll try some new gearing and we're going to be lighter this year. I think we have a good chance to win and a great chance to podium. Way to go Z racers! Greg Ira 05, 08 SE Div National Champion E Production

Paul, Yeah, the calendar car is a little beat up. You should see it now. Straight and ORANGE, closer to this particular cars original paint color. Hey, I might be coming to Barber and running an IT Car if my friend will let me. That would be one real show of Z cars! Greg

Pablo, Thanks a million. You will see one of my cars in Daytona that I built for Charles Perry. It's a silver 280zx. He'll be fast. Daytona is a good steady state test for spring and swaybar adjustment since the turns are long and flat. If your car has an issue try something new, but not till then. Every car will have its share of understeer/oversteer when over driven and sometimes that's what you have to do to see what will happen. For good speed you have to draft. Feel free to PM me if you have handling issues. Greg

Paul, Thanks for the kudos. John, I don't really understand that set up but obviously you guys have made it work. Here are my first thoughts. Corner entry the rear is in droop. Yes, softer front springs should give good turn in which should go along with entry rotation. Soft springs big bar has been around for ages. You're set up in and EP car would be tough because they do have good power. When you are able to utilize a big bar in front (softer all around springs) the inside rear tire will be weighted on corner exit, very good for getting off the corner. I would love to try a car set up like that. Lemme know if you know anyone that's going to a track day that wouldn't mind. Sweet!

Guys, An ITS car is not allowed changes to the geometry in the suspension to optimize it during bump and droop. Therefore higher spring rates in general can help limit the total travel, as long as your shocks are designed to control them. In general terms the stiffer the roll the more oversteer you will induce at that end. A Z car has oversteer by design. Try a softer spring in the rear. It also helps get power to the ground by keep tire compliance, although IT horsepower doesn't notice this too much. Greg Ira

Jeff, Sam can make these. It utilizes a homemade spacer and the stock o rings I believe. The spacer size depends on the type of rotor you choose. The reason I know about this is because we once thought the stock 240Z front brake set up would be more efficient than the zx option we are allowed due to the rotor (solid) being larger in diameter. Greg Ira

Steve, Yeah, those are great points. I just hate seeing or hearing of people getting hurt like that. The physicals they make you get in SCCA are fairly rigorous. If you have any heart problems you have to get special clearance. Hey, If you ever hear of anyone with a good car for the GrassRoots challenge, lemme know. I want in on a good idea. Greg

Very tragic indeed. You know, I just saw an advertisement for this event a couple months ago and safety is the very first thing that came to my mind. I am not implying the driver was inexperienced or the car lacked the standard safety gear. My thought was when you start with a clunker you might not have the safest car you could have, and you also might tend to not prepare yourself mentally enough for the seriousness of the event. I have been racing long enough to know of two events where the driver was determined to have a catastrophic debilitating health issue that caused serious injury or death while on the racetrack. The positive is that these people passed doing something they love. Greg

Mark, thanks for the post. The EP race went great for us with the exception of Ahrens trying to knock the valve stems out of the tires. We had a great race, lots of drafting. Subtle new aero changes made a difference. I beat the previous track record by 1.7 seconds. Our power is about the same, but great laps there also are determined by how lucky you get with drafting backmarkers. The ITS Enduro was super fun. We had about 4 RX7's that were right there with us and we lost them one by one. Irish Mike is his mega powered BMW checked out, then broke towards the end. Here's a pick of the 280ZX I built for Charles Perry. This was the second race out with this car. Charles drove the entire 1.5 by himself. Greg ira

Hey Jon, Actually the plastic skirt is the same material, but shorter. The new fenders fit up differently and the end result was the air dam was about an inch lower to begin with. We also attached it better. It is pretty stiff. Greg

Mark, Thanks for the great shots. Yeah, here's the story and thanks to my great crew for performing a CSI investigation on the car to keep us from cooking another engine. BTW, we've never broken one single LNA race engine. The car has mostly new body panels. The hood weighs 10 lbs. and is not as stiff as the old hood. We determined the hood flexed up and down rapidly and hit the radiator cap just right to turn it to the stop. We can't run antifreeze. I smelled nothing, saw nothing, heard nothing. The water went out so fast that the water temp guage didn't even change while it read the steam, or air in the system, so I kept hauling butt. Bam, head gasket blown. BTW, this car won't even bring the water temp guage off the peg. On a non cross flow head, my engine guy likes to keep the hot sid hot and the cool side cool. Spare engine 6.5 hours away. Gotta go! We never give up. My entrant/owner Guy Marvin took that chore and kicked butt and got back to the track at about 8PM. We had it in the car and running by about 10:30. Keep in mind this is a long block only, no exhaust, intake, dry sump pan, clutch, etc. It was after this when we discoverd the root cause of the melt down. We fixed the radiator cap deal by lowering the radiator and zipping off one ear of the cap. WE left the track at 1AM. Special thanks to Sam Neave, Guy Marvin, Lawrency Fort, Tom Horan, and the nice deaf Spanish guy who kept bringing me coffee! Greg Ira