370Z street touring class ?
 

Is there a street touring class that a base Z + sport package can run in?

Str but you'd have to get skinnier tires. IMHO it's just not worth it.

You could run a square set up of the base rear wheels. 18X9 all the way around on a 255 tire. Doable but rough.

After seeing the moves for other cars to STU in the August Fasttrack I have sent yet another letter to the Street Touring board detailing why the 370 should be in STU and I encourage others with an opinion to do the same.

I second this. How do I formally request it?

You can read the Solo (autox) portion of the Fasttrack news (monthly rules update) here: http://www.scca.com/assets/13-fastrack-aug-solo.pdf

TLDR: Not enough people were competing in STU so they moved Mustang, Camaro, Genesis, and 350Z to STU in response to people asking for more tire. They also put C5 Corvettes in STU...

Then submit your letter via: SEB Letter Submission Form with category Street Touring and STU class.

Seems odd they move the 350 and not the 370. There's not a huge amount of difference there. Edit: and they differentiated Nismo from non-Nismo. These street classes are ridiculously specific :)

Does anyone know off hand are the 350Z a CS car?

Yes they are.

The Nismo 350Z actually includes seam welding the chassis. The 370Z Nismo, on the other hand, is the only car excluded from a Street Touring class where the engine and chassis are identical. It's one of my big points in writings to the board.

Currently you can pick between an STI or WRX in STU, you can have a C5 corvette (SS stock class) in STU, but a 370Z has to have 255 tires, 9" wheels, and run in STR; and if you have a Nismo you can't even do that. Straight to ASP :mad:

I'm running a 370z in STR right now. I'll be at Solo Nationals this year. I agree, if they're letting a C5 Vette into STU... The 370z should be let into STU.

BTW, the car is pretty competitive in STR... Even with just 255 tires. I'm on 18" wheels which even gives me more of a gearing advantage.

Ill have the car 90% setup for Nationals. We'll see what happens...

Pm me a copy of your letter. I'll tweak it and send one in as well!

-Mike

I could be wrong but I believe this where you can make proposals for classes, and car etc. in Solo. SEB Letter Submission Form

That's correct. If we're all on the same page with our bulletin points... It will carry more weight.

Title: 370Z (All) to STU
Category: Street Touring
Class: STU
Car: Nissan 370Z

Request: Propose that all 370Z be moved from STR to STU. The factory wheel and tire sizes exceed the parameters of STR: in contradiction with the philosophy of the street touring class which should not require an immediately negative change. The weight is not competitive in STR, particularly with limited tire size.

The 370Z shares the same platform with the G37 including engine and suspension; the 370Z is a market competitor to the Genesis, Mustang, and Camero now classed in STU. The 370Z is competitive with STU cars particularly those with which it shares ASP classing (Subaru WRX, Mitsubishi Evolution, and now C5 Corvette) without upsetting the balance of the class. The August Fastrack states, "One thing they all have in common is the ability, and need, to fit more tire than allowed in the lower classes," and this is exactly the case with the 370Z.

The 370Z Nismo should be treated as an option package, not a different model. Unlike the 350Z Nismo (which includes chassis stiffening), the 370Z Nismo package does not present any competitive advantage with Street Touring allowable modifications. Any suspension, exhaust, or aerodynamic gain can be improved upon by a non-Nismo 370Z with a lower starting weight (similar to a preference for non-STI WRX where both are allowed in STU). No other model of car is excluded from a Street Touring class where the engine and chassis are the same.

letter number #12005

Letter submitted, fingers crossed.

Copied some of the info, but changed mine up some

I propose that all of the 370Z cars be moved from STR to STU. Almost all the factory wheel and tire sizes exceed the limits of STR. The 370Z comes with three different packages:
Base: Front tire 225/50R18 Wheel size 18x8
Rear tire 245/45R18 wheel size 18x9

Sport: Front tire 245/40R19 Wheel size 19x9
Rear tire 275/35R19 wheel size 19x10

Nismo: Front tire 245/40ZR19 Wheel size 19x9.5
Rear tire 285/35ZR19 Wheel size 19x10.5

The 370Z shares the same chassis platform with the G37 including engine, suspension, tire size, and wheel size. The different options offered for the 370Z are (G37 has comparable packages):
base: 332 hp @ 7,000 rpm Weight 3,278

Sport: Nissan Sport Brakes, Viscous Limited-Slip Differential
332 hp @ 7,000 rpm Weight 3,278

Nismo: Nissan Sport Brakes, Viscous Limited-Slip Differential, NISMO® Cat-back Exhaust System, NISMO® Swaybar Kit, NISMO® Aerodynamic body design, Tuned fuel map for
350 hp @ 7,400 rpm Weight 3,346

The 370Z is a market competitor to the Genesis, Mustang, and Camaro now classed in STU. The 370Z is already competitive with STU cars it shares in the ASP classing, Subaru WRX, Mitsubishi Evolution, and now C5 Corvette. The August Fastrack states, "One thing they all have in common is the ability, and need, to fit more tire than allowed in the lower classes," and this is exactly the case with the 370Z from the factory.

I also propose the 370Z Nismo should be looked at as an option package, not a different model. The 370Z Nismo package does not have any competitive advantage within the Street Touring allowable modifications. Any suspension, exhaust, or aerodynamic gain can be improved upon by a non-Nismo 370Z, with a lower starting weight.

The Street Touring classing is ment to fit between the current Sock and Street Prepared categories. With the current classing of the 370Z all of the models with the Sport and Nismo packages are exclude based on factory wheels and tires. Any modification beyond the stock/street limits force the car to move directly into the ASP class.

#12069

Any word on this. Does it mean all nismo's are ASP?

Yes, if you have a Nismo then it's straight to ASP (which is bullsh1t).

They really need to fix the classing if you ask me. All Z34's should be classed together in my opinion (CS, STR). Furthermore the Z34 should be moved from STR to STU and any tire width restrictions should be rewritten to allow stock tire sizes in the event the stock sizes do not meet the width restriction.

Update

Just looked through 2014 Fast Tracks, the requests to get the 370 in STU continue and continue to be dismissed.

Looks like there is someone(s) who wants the 370Z out of CS and into BS, which is also being rejected repeatedly with no changes until Nationals.

In the meantime I have been driving my dad's Focus ST in the very favorable GS class.

Just my 2 cents but the proper classing for the Z34 should be:

Base = DS>STU>BSP
Sport & Nismo = CS>STU>BSP

Unfortunately I don't see anything changing until there are numerous Z's running STR and not being competitive. Samething with the ASP vs BSP issue. Problem is, who wants to run a car that isn't competitive just to prove a point.

No way on BSP...maybe if the s2k gets bumped and the 350 and 370 get moved to the same line...

No problem with the 350 and 370 on the same line. Might even provide for some interesting part swaps between the platforms.

My real beef with the ASP classification is that in the ProSolo format the PAX is only .001 off that of the SSP cars. In what world is a 370 that close in performance to a GT-R or C6 vette? :shakes head:

Meh, I run pretty close to SSP times. I am definitely not in favor of the 370z going to BSP. There hasn't been a rulebook build from one and there hasn't been any top tier (no disrpect gents in here) driver running one yet. I am very much against putting them on the same line. That is a $10k check I have to write to build an SP 37HR and put it in the 350.

This is the crux of the issue. It's a catch 22 if you ask me. There hasn't been a rulebook build with a good driver but without favorable classing (atleast for a year or two) there might never be one.

They're trying to get me out! Two letters in the last 4 months! There are now 6 drivers registered in 370s for CS at nationals, I can't wait :driving:

Any idea who the letters are coming from (as in the toyobaru's, RX-8s, etc)?

3 years ago everyone told me I was wasting my time building a 350 for BSP....

...its done pretty well. That said, I have 125x the developement any 370z in ASP has. I can't stand the complaint that X car has no chance w/o anyone trying. The back of the rulebook (list of champions) is littered with folks who have won in a car with little perceived chance.

Bottom line, you are probably cough up 30-50k in parts/development (not including tires) for a rule book 370z in ASP. SP is not inexpensive and the cars become relatively hateful to drive outside of competition.

I won't argue that a 370 can't win be competitive in ASP. It's the STR vs STU classing that is most silly.

It's one in the same, the 350 is winning...why would you bring in a 370z, which would completely kill competitive balance in STU. The evo guys are alredy bitching to no end. I still think the C5 is the car to have in STU, but Brian Peters is in the class (in a 350z)....so that's that.

Thanks Guy :tiphat:

Totally agree, seems silly to me... If they're not going to have them in the same class, they should at least have the 350 in STR and the 370 in STU. I'm guessing all the MX-5 and S2K guys threw a fit when Brian won at nationals last year in STR.

Bingo. Strangely enough, his winning STR last year screwed the 370z the most. S

Autocross classes are for cars, not drivers, plain and simple. Start deifying some guy's name and I'm out. Half these guys as I've learned are unapproachable a$$bags anyways.

100% agree with this classes being for cars, not drivers. Classing should NOT be determined simply because a phenomenal driver can post ridiculous times in a car.

As far as the unapproachable a$$bags part, can't say I've ever seen this problem. And with the level of drivers that come to my region for some events, I'm pretty sure I would have seen it.

I fail to see how it would ruin the "competitive balance" of the class. The 350z is only winning because Brian is driving it. You put him in an Evo and he'll win in an evo.

The Boost Buggies shouldn't be scared of a 350/370z. They should be scared of the C5 Vette. That's the car that will destroy the class.

You realize this makes no sense? If him winning the STR Championship in a 350z mattered at all to the SEB... Do you think the 370z would still be classed in STR? After all, all of your other posts suggest that the 370z platform is significantly superior to the 350z.

I do think that the SEB believes that the 370z is a superior platform... But not by a lot.

The grape vine told me that the reason for re-classing the 350z and the C5 was the hope that they could strengthen STU by giving the class cheaper competitive platforms.

The 370z is still expensive... And if superior to the 350z... No one will build a 350z for the class.

Classing is based on the top "potential" of the car. The assumpiton of performance is always what the best of the best could do in relation to other cars in the given category. BP is a top 5 driver in all of solo and a very approachable guy. It has not been my experience, outside of a very few, that these top guys are assbags...

Agree on the C5's being the car.

The STAC moved the 350 to STU, the SEB had nothing to do with it. The 350z is seen as a competitive balance with the rest of STU, the 370 is an unknown and they fear it as an overdog. Feel free to write in, but you will get every single SCCA member with an Evo/STI in America writting in opposition.

The 370Z DOES have an advantage over the 350z in a few areas, namely power, which is the fear on 18x11's with 285's. You want to get bumped, build a rulebook car, put a BP level driver in...crush the s2k's/MX5's and get their support for the move. That's what happened with the 350z. There are a whole lot more s2k/MX5 owners than the Evo/STI guys...

Haha, I like it.