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Old 04-06-2014, 09:44 PM   #32 (permalink)
dkmura
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Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Aurora, CO
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With over 27 years of racing experience, there are some definitive answers and reasons behind all these questions. For true wheel-to-wheel racing, you won't find ANY racing organization (SCCA, NASA, EMRA, etc.) that will allow you on track without all safety equipment in place. That includes, at a minimum, a six-point rollcage, properly mounted race seat and six point harness. Why? That good old-fashioned American invention: LIABILITY.

Racing organizations and tracks need insurance to run their events, and insurance companies won't touch that type of liability without mitigating their risk. Same for Nissan North America, they can't say their safety systems include rollover protection because they know they could get their asses sued off by PI attorneys looking for large settlements. Strange as it sounds, liability rules many actions in racing.

So what does that leave 370Z roadster owners? Either running solo events, or some club high-performance driving events if the club allows it. Many won't because of their own liability issues. Could you modify your ZR to allow you to really race? Certainly, but the cost of modifying one would be high, and there would be drawbacks. For one, the aero disadvantage would be significant and nobody wants any of that. Next, the torsional stiffness of the resulting racecar (even with a properly engineered rollcage) would be less than a coupe and now you've got a top end and a handling problem.

Finally, and let's be honest about it, there would remain some safety issues that would remain. Lacking a steel roof, a roadster would be vulnerable to cockpit intrusion(s) in the event of a rollover. In almost every way, running a Z roadster would be a disadvantage in real racing, and believe me, I've looked at it from several angles.
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