Another 370z track review thread

[Marcus Ryan]

All,

Just thought I'd share my 2 cents on this one.

I'm all stock, not a mod on it, have 6k miles.

The short version is this: It was awesome until I was kicked off the track by oil temp issues.

The car handled awesome and I mean awesome, it was responsive and communicative and after only a few laps I felt like I knew exactly what state the car was in. It had plenty of power for this track, more is always better of course, but my buddy was in a 135i making 330hp to the floor and I was able to make up the distance in the turns he was able to put on me in the straights.

There was also a guy in an M3 that absolutely could not catch me. Not to say that this indicates our cars perform better, but it was at least enough that the superior performance of the M3 was not enough to compensate for gap in our driving. Take it for what you will.

Now the bad, the oil temp issues were BAD! I'd let the car cool down completely, for about an hour, getting the temps down to about 140 degrees and after 2 maybe 3 laps, the temps were high enough to where I was getting rev limited. The day started out at around 80 degrees and went as high as 95 and the only real difference was a lap or two. It was extremely frustrating, and it made the car look bad. The people there, including my driving instructor, were pretty shocked that the temps would be so high after so short a time on the track. I won't be back without dealing with this issue.

In any case it pisses me off and I feel like this is a prime example of corner cutting. There's no way a performance car should have these problems, its ******** and if I were looking at cars right now and knew about this it'd play a significant factor.

To anyone else thinking about tracking their cars who haven't already, don't go without an oil cooler, it won't be pretty.

[Zsteve]

Im glad you had fun on the track and all in here know about the oil temps and the need for an oil cooler for track purposes. Im sure the M3 was kinda pissed he couldnt cath you.

[antman22]

Here in TX the temp gets pretty high, I'm tempted to get an oil cooler even if I never track the car LOL.

[m4a1mustang]

If you do any spirited driving in summer temps I think you definitely need one. You can definitely tell a difference in performance between 200* and 220* on the oil temp, so a cooler is definitely going to be a worthwhile addition in warmer climates! It's next on my to-do list!

[cfweber]

I'm excited a stock 370Z did so well

[Marcus Ryan]

It really was a blast out there, just a bit embarrassing having to pull off the course early. Oh well, oil cooler incoming for sure.

[Zsteve]

Originally Posted by antman22

Here in TX the temp gets pretty high, I'm tempted to get an oil cooler even if I never track the car LOL.

I have the Modshack DIY kit sitting at home waiting for me to get back and get it installed. Im in GA for some training and in a Kia rental car for the past 3 weeks. It sucks.

[cossie1600]

I just put a custom one in, I should be ready for my track day in August

[Snakes709]

Yea its bs how the Z's have bad oil temps. The local track here is 1.5miles long i think.Went there the other day, it was cloudy with abit of rain 10*C, I did 6-7...on the 5th lap I hit 140*C oil temp and go into limp mode. If i stay in 3rd gear the whole time on the track i dont hit the limp mode but coming out of turns sucks.