First time drifting the Z

dP3NGU1N

So this past weekend I was invited to the 626 drift event by some buddies at that shop I go to for all my parts. First time at the track, first time drifting, first time drifting the Z. I originally planned to just watch and get a few ride-alongs but a little bit of peer pressure later and I was behind the wheel and in the pit to do my laps.

Here is a narrative of my experience which will either entice or deter others from attempting to drift their Zs

First lap: expectantly horrid. I had a staff member ride along with me and he verbally ran me through what I should do as I watched, anxiously, the car in front of me complete the course and for the green light for me to go. As soon as the green flag was raised I floored it. First, second, third gear; first sweeping left hand turn, clutch kick and felt the car slide. The back end came around way faster than I expected and the world became a blur as I spun out. I avoided a stall by clutching in, put the car back in first and tried to navigate the second sweeping right corner, however, something was wrong.

The engine would cut me off at 4k RPM. I thought perhaps I was in limp mode but a quick glance at the oil temps indicated that it wasn't very likely (220F). Noone at the track was familiar with 370z's so we turned to the internet to help diagnose the problem. Found an article (can't find the link again) that instructed us to disconnect the battery and let the power drain, reconnect, and it should be good to go. After following that procedure, it didn't come up again for the rest of the day.

For the rest of the early part of the day I basically practiced my donuts and figure-8s around some cones with another FC. By the end of the day I was able to control the car pretty consistently and was able to get through the track without completely noobing out (see: spinning). All in all a pretty exciting experience and I dare same I'm pretty well hooked. Still want to run the big track but I didn't expect drifting to have such a strong draw over me. Ever since I left I've just been wanting to go side ways again!

A few take aways from the experience:
Need a new LSD: This one's pretty self explanatory. The stock LSD on the sports package is fine for a while but it will eventually over heat and lose grip. My friend (who's been drifting for a long time and a staff member at the event) advised me to stick with the VLSD for a while because I can hammer on it and learn on it while I'm a noob and if I can hold a drift with a VLSD then when I eventually swap over to a clutch type I'll be far more advanced and in control. Who am I to argue with that kind of sage advice?

The 370z comes fairly well equipped to drift. Even though it's heavy, it has enough power to force traction loss and spin the tires. More than once I was able to initiate a drift by simply opening the throttle a little more and keep a drift going. Some of the stock rx-7s had power issues and couldn't initiate unless they already had some speed behind them and had to clutch kick pretty hard to get the tires to break free.

Speaking of tires... I'm going to be going through a lot of them. And Z tires aren't cheap considering how wide our track is and how big our rims are. Most of the cars at the track were probably running 17s and I doubt any Z would be running that size. There was one 350 there that did really well. He was running with his front bumper off, definitely a more advanced driver than I am.

Here's hoping to learn more about the limits of this car sideways.

Thanks for reading. I'll add more if anything comes to mind.

Edit: I suppose I should list my mods
Stillen 25-row oil cooler - even with this I hit 260F during donuts probably because not a whole lot of air moving through it.
Hotchkis Sway bars
That's all, otherwise I'm stock other than some cosmetic mods.