i'm female... :(

Sorry, yesma'am! :)

I'm home early from the nasa event!!! :(

Will post here in a couple hours, but bad news... 02 sensors are fine, oil temps are fine, I do have a check engine light, but there are no other visible indicators of a problem... yet I AM STILL HITTING LIMP MODE !!! We'll not exactly limp mode, more like losing the throttle all together, like fuel starvation... but I don't think that's it, because it happened with half+ tank of fuel and turns were not very long

There is something seriously f'd up with the ECU

Update forthcoming

Location/Event: 8-August @ Firebird International Raceway - West Track... NASA AZ event... ~90F... HPDE4 run group
Recent mods: more weight reduction, including 100+lbs from interior
Wheels & Tires: Stock/Street
Sponsors: Redline Motorsports, Forged Performance, Doubledown Motorsports

As I mentioned above, difficult day due to continuing issues with the car's computer hitting limp mode or whatever it is... if you want to jump straight to the disappointment, third video you will see me pumping the gas in frustration... this is becoming all too familiar!

the good news is that when the car was running, it performed well around this track... my best time was just under 1:08... for this track on street tires, that is very good

VIDEO 1- FIRST SESSION NASA HPDE4 8-AUG FIR-WEST
not too much excitment in this one... a bit of oversteer fun in 5/6... first session of the day, taking it easy
[YOUTUBEHQ]EVU_XEEqlBs[/YOUTUBEHQ]

VIDEO 2- SECOND SESSION NASA HPDE4 8-AUG FIR-WEST
fast lap of day somewhere in here... you'll also see in lap 2 that I lose power and throttle and have to let some cars by... worked fine for a couple laps after that
[YOUTUBEHQ]lBfkS636jO0[/YOUTUBEHQ]

VIDEO 3- THIRD SESSION NASA HPDE4 8-AUG FIR-WEST
... and this one was just sad... pumping throttle and getting nothing!
[YOUTUBEHQ]4KeOjBi5KzU[/YOUTUBEHQ]

Location/Event: 12-SEP @ Phoenix International Raceway... NASA AZ event... 100+F ambient... HPDE4 run group
Recent mods: none
Wheels & Tires: Stock/Street
Weight: 3,301 lbs with driver and full tank of fuel
Sponsors: Redline Motorsports, Forged Performance, Doubledown Motorsports, Hoosier

Good times today! Here's one of my sessions... This is back at my favorite track, PIR... first time I've posted video of this track... turned 1:14s with passenger and hot / gooey track conditions - I'm happy with the times

[YOUTUBEHQ]TGhzQP-Lx9k[/YOUTUBEHQ]

I kept the fuel tank nearly full, and as a result I nearly eliminated all of the stalling and throttle cut-off I had previously. Now that I've narrowed down the problem, I look forward to upgrading the fuel system and eliminating the problem all together

BRAKES: still working great! I need to switch to more aggressive pad once I move to sticky tires... just not enough bite in these... Also going to pursue the ducting, had some overheating today but of course it was up to 110f ambient so was to be expected

POWER/WEIGHT: today, I got absolutely dusted by a well sorted z06 - kept catching him in the twisties but he'd just pull away on straights... wasn't happy about that- I need more!... currently at 3,300 lbs with full fuel and driver... and currently at around 310whp... hoping to get another 20 whp and drop another 250 pounds then I think I'll have what I need

SUSPENSION: all is good! I'm very happy with the setup, just need lighter corners and stickier tires... I have no reservation recommending the BC Racing ER coils and Stillen sways

DRIVETRAIN: trannie got excessively hot today... during long sessions, it got harder and harder to get into gear... any comments on this guys? I'm thinking maybe I need a trans cooler... carbonetic diff was great for controlled oversteer

Oil temps never got about 255F !!! That's running hard in 110F ambient... My dual core setup really rocks! I really wish Redline would finish it up and offer to the public - I'll ask them again

Good news today... NASA allowed me to make the jump from DE to Time Trial classification... My goal is to run in TTA for those of you that are familiar with the classifications... and eventually race in PTA... with the mods I've done, may bump me up beyond that

REMINDER: hit the "HD" button for better quality, and turn up the volume! :)

Here is my last DE run with NASA...
[YOUTUBEHQ]L9J_j8qiOhc[/YOUTUBEHQ]

And here is my first session with the Time Trial / Race Group... For my debut, I shaved 1.5 secs off my lap! :) Fastest time was 1:13.3
[YOUTUBEHQ]b2GfDsVoI84[/YOUTUBEHQ]

Awe man - Never saw these vids - you can definitely see the throttle cut out on the august vids. Glad you got it worked out - I am envious that you were able to get out and go racing - I really miss that from my old Z car I had. I would have made it out to the event but I was getting some photo's taken for our engagement anouncements. Props to you for recomending probably one of the best photagraphers around!

Again - Many Thanks and I hope to see you runnin out there in the future especially once it cools down.

Ken

Thanks, Ken... perhaps we'll see you at the next nasa event huh ? there were pickup trucks on the track, so no reason someone can't take out their m45 ! :)

Impressive videos and driving. We really enjoy following your racing thread. Congrats to the pump to TT. PTA is uber-competitive. Any way to keep the car in PTB?

AWESOME videos travis. Camera placement is perfect. All the video stuff working perfectly. :tup:

As it turns out, the base class for this car is PTB/TTB... so if you want to stay there, have to keep it under 39 points... I'm already WELL beyond that point with weight, power, suspension etc... I think this car will be competitive as a purpose built PTA car

Thanks, AK... still need to hook in RPMs... if anyone has ideas on how to tap into an analog RPM signal that is compatible with traqmate, I'm all ears!

Was just on the NASA site and it looks like HPDE registration is closed out :(

that's for the event this last weekend... get on the mailing list by joining nasa and you will receive future email notification as soon as registration opens for the next event

Just joined the mailing list - but here's the screen where I get too for the October race event :(

Maybe they'll open it up since it is so close to the last event.

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d1...gistration.jpg

Now that you're on the mailing list, you should get an email in next week or two with event details and indicating that registration is open to nasa members

In anticipation that I will finally have my car ready, I'm posting a video of a formula car attacking the track I hope to run next weekend. This is the "main" course of Firebird International. Can be a bit hairy exiting the main straight and also rolling out onto main straight - many have taken a piece of concrete home as souvenir. The formula car below is doing 1:05 laps or so, which is consistent with the track record of 1:05.67 for my time trial class... yikes



If all works out, I will run on street tires to establish a baseline then switch over to Hoosiers and put the car to a test... Have not run this course in this car nor any other so not really sure how it'll go... I'm going to set a goal of 'anything under 1:10' - I'd definitely be happy with that

That's going to be good fun. Looks like the wall really can come out and bite you in a few spots there.

Definitely looking forward to it...

I suspect that driver was having a bit of fun and testing his control relative to the wall... there were a few times when IMO he rolled out more than he needed to based upon his momentum... but good driver

VERY harry coming onto the main straight. Like 3 different types of road mid corner. Goes from grip to slip and there is a wall too. I took a different line on that corner so my corner exit was more parallel to the wall. Have fun.

Yeah, I've seen lots of youtube clips where guys stay way out on that corner and late apex... that's the safe line for sure... the formula car in the vid was hitting a mid-corner apex and rolling out full track, which is frankly not the safest line... but that's the great thing about racing - it's up to us to determine how much risk we want to take...

Hey import, do you have any vids of your run? Would be helpful to take a look. Thanks.

No vids of Firebird main. Sorry.

Brake Issues on Track Day
 

The ABS program has been an issue for other 350Z's as well for those that track there Z. I am not sure how to remedy the situation. Some have pulled the ABS and installed a true race brake system.

im going to autocross for the first time in about 2 weeks, kinda nervous lol

Location/Event: 20-March @ Firebird International Raceway - West Track... NASA AZ event... ~75F... "Big Bore" Time Trial / Race group
Recent mods: Full cage and a/c delete
Wheels & Tires: Forgestars + Hoosier R6
Sponsors: Lou Fusz Nissan, Redline Motorsports, Forged Performance

I am gaining time at this track. Previously, my best time was just under 1:08. Last week I ran in high 1:04s. Yesterday I ran in the low 1:04s. The fastest times were in the morning sessions and unfortunately I didn't get very many 'clean' laps. I think I could have been in the 1:03s with an ideal lap.

I was third among 6-7 for my group, behind Tage Evanson (Honda) at 0:59.5 and also the NASA chief driving instructor (Corvette) at 1:03.5. I have some plans to help close some of the gap but I think Tage's new course record will stand for a long time to come! It is a full 2 secs faster than his old course record, and faster than any of the classes above "TTS".

Mechanical issues: you will see fuel starvation kick in at 1:40 ish of video... also brake temps continue to be an issue, according to the new temp paint I'm using temps were over 560C... no ABS 'ice mode' fortunately... Hoosiers definitely prefer to be run at 38-40 hot - I tried lower pressures and that didn't work out... SRM was inop for this event, I think it would have saved time so need to get that fixed


VIDEO NOTE: wasn't able to get traqmate working properly yesterday, so vid only no traqmate overlay

Nice!

Are you having any brake fading issues? 560C is just over 1000F. Most good track duty brake pads are within range from 1600-2000F. I am no expert but 560C doesn't seem that bad...especially considering you are on R-comps.

Compared to the previous videos it looks to me that the Z seems a lot more nimble. I wish mine was as light as yours. Looks like a blast.

I'm no brake expert either but if the rotors are getting up near 600C, the pads must be hotter... Maybe Chris B from AP Racing can stop by and comment

Re weight... very "flickable" and controllable in oversteer... in addition to lower weight, the added chassis stiffness from cage has something to do with it... almost there on weight, but still need another 100+ lbs

sick video, I love all the videos you post, please keep doing this so I have something to watch late at night

Nice vids, Travis. I'm with you on the fuel starvation issue. I've been experiencing the same thing at the track and I'd still have a 1/3 of a tank left over before the engine cut out. I know it's not a huge problem unless you're racing, but constantly filling up is bugging me. I'm thinking about replacing parts of the fuel system like a walbro pump, 440cc injectors, and other parts. Problem is that I'm not very experienced with fuel starvation, but I'm familiar with fuel systems in general. I put a better fuel system in my old 2007 Impreza WRX STI, but that car never suffered from fuel starvation like this, so I'm not sure how much of a difference different parts will make...I dare not put a swirl pot or surge tank in my car (KABOOM), so I'm just not sure what to do.

BTW: Would you recommend the Hoosier R6s or are there other tires that would be good track/race tires

The Hoosier R6's are great for the track. Even better when you run NASA and participate in Hoosier's NASA contingency prog. When folks want to win a time trial, they often switch to A6's - those are usually good for a few laps until they soak up a lot of heat.

For just DE tires, I'm still a fan of the R888s. They will last through more heat cycles than the Hoosiers, I believe.

Looks and sounds mean!

Kuhmo V710's are a nice tire that is somewhere in-between the Hoosier A6 and the R6. Also is very durable heat cycle wise.

Thanks Travis

I love the toyo R888s, but I've never really tried Hoosiers. I'll try and slip some on my tire soon to see how I like em....

Sounds nice!

nice reaction at the 4:00 minute mark of the video. Is your wing the S2 series that adjust while you drive?

Thanks! Stillen shorty headers, straight pipes, then customer single from y-pipe with Burns Stainless muffler. I couldn't be more pleased with the exhaust in terms of weight and sound.

Thanks! The wing is an R2 static - I may upgrade to a dynamic wing at some point in the future. Hit up Sharif at Forged if you want to learn more about this wing or BUY ONE!

Location/Event: 10-April @ Firebird International Raceway - MainTrack... NASA AZ event... ~75F... "Big Bore" Time Trial TTS
Recent mods: none
Wheels & Tires: Forgestars + Hoosier R6
Sponsors: Lou Fusz Nissan, Redline Motorsports, Forged Performance

Sharing 2 vids from this event... day time laps and night time laps... comments welcomed

Sweeeeeet, nice laps man....Really smooth and I saw some nice overtakes....

Great video. Looks like you got quicker through out the day.