Suits' Le Mans Blue 370Z

[sipar69]

You can tell it has a nice deep tone even from that. Ark exhausts look very nice - definitely on my short list if I change the Nismo CBE in the future.

[Suits]

Good quality video suits but honestly I could hardly hear anything and my lap top has pretty good speakers too.

 

Yeah, sorry about that, I must have the levels all wrong or something, sounds good out of my iMac with my Bose speakers but silent on my phone. Shame as I adjusted it on my iMac for the sound so obviously I set it to sound good on this, my bad, I'll sort it next time.

 

Took a few better pics of the exhaust today.

 

Also grabbed myself a FairladyZ Badge.

 

 

 

[GMballistic]

That is all.

[GIXXERUK]

Louder and I'd like to hear you downshift

 

Looking good mate, I got some satin z badges off asad, look good on the le mans

 

http://www.350z-uk.com/topic/81193-chrome-front-rear-z-badges-set-for-nissan-370z/

Edited February 16, 2014 by GIXXERUK

[Tarmac@TarmacSportz]

Very cool

[glrnet]

Satin and blue

[Suits]

Bedford Autodrome Trackday 17/02/14

 

Good circuit, fast, long and would recommend.

 

The MSV set up was very posh, well run and organised, arrived, signed on, then had a couple of coffee's and a bacon baguette in the hall, was very tasty and warm, very happy.

 

Then for lunch I had Cottage pie, peas and chips.

 

Much better than a boiled burger that you get a Brands or other circuits.

 

Weather held out and only had a few light spots of rain, nothing that effected the track.

 

The Datsun

 

Have to say I was impressed, being the first time I'd had the car out on track since I bought it I was unsure about a few things, brakes, understeer, weight to name a few.

 

I was keen to see what Nissan wanted to put it's name too in terms of a sports coupe from the factory, so this car was OEM (expect for the exhaust, which I'll get to in a moment) and I wanted to drive it from the road to the track and see what is what. It's all very good, seemed to do it well, there wasn't anything in particular I wanted more, it was just very well rounded a perfect combination for the road driver to take it a bit further.

 

Grip was big, I was surprised how much there was of it, going into a tight bend hot, then coming off the power and just letting the car turn in and grip was impressive, the car just begged you to get on the power ASAP and with a little squirm and telltale slip the boundary of the cars grip was easy to feel and well advertised.

 

The car felt heavy but not too heavy, it felt like a GT and that's fine as it touches on one in places. Flicking the car from the left to right felt good and relativly un-dramatic, thus feeling good and bringing a smile to the face.

 

Brakes - Fine, nothing to worry about, no fade at all, I do feel that had it been an infield circuit I would have had issues but with the long straights and fast bends there wasn't too much hard braking.

 

Understeer - Nope. I had a fair bit on the airfield day and thought it might be about again, but no, fine, again the circuit helped I feel.

 

Oil - This sucked, I was doing about 3/4 laps until I had to come in again as I was touching 125/130, in the end I was lifting on the straights in the hope of keeping things a bit cooler. it was a 4 mile circuit mind but still I was having to come in when I wanted to stay out, which is a shame.

 

Fuel - Wow, caned it. 6.6mpg I got from the day and three trips to the on site rule station for half tanks.

 

ARK GRiP Exhaust - Yes, sounded good, in fact a lot of other drivers came up to me in the paddock and comment on how good it sounded, which was nice. There was some serious movement in the tail pipes once it was HOT about an inch further out of the bumper, wish I'd taken a pic now as it was a big difference, now I know why they put ARK on the pipes for when it's hot !!!

 

Few things I'd change/alter;

• Oil Cooler - For sure, deffo.
  
• Tyres, these seemed fine and once nice and sticky gave me all I wanted really, I will change once these REO50's die, which is soon, not sure what too yet.
  
• ARB's (stiffer/thicker), these were something I was keen on before, that will just give the handling a little bit more in terms of sharpness, don't see any reason why not to still look into these
  
• Geo, yep, this is on the cards, probably the same time as some new tyres and the ARB's.
  

How not to mount your GoPro.

 

 

That was the first 10 seconds of about an hours footage that included a close encounter with a Hare, the progression of my lines, times and confidence with the car (this was the first time I had the 70 on a circuit and could really get my fingers into her).

 

As you can see it didn't take long for me to realise that it was all going to be rubbish.

 

Shame as I'd messed about with mounting points the other day and thought I had it down - obviously not.

 

My mate has a helmet mount which I will use next time, didn't even realise it came with one to be fair.

 

Here is a vid of my mate behind me, catching me, passing me, then overheating the oil in his 135i which resulted in it going into limp mode for an hour. You can hear my exhaust on the downshifts, from inside his car, over his Miltek, lol.

 

 

My only photo from the day too.

 

 

TL;DR

[GMballistic]

Gutted your camera view wasn't up to scratch suits. Would have prefered to have heard & seen the Zeds footage rather than the Beemers.

 

The Beemer though is a very capable motor I know. My old man has an 07 335ci ~ twin turbos go well.

[Suits]

Not as interesting as wiper builds or twin chargers but this is what going on with my 370Z at the moment.

 

I had a little paint/finish issue on my drivers side rear quarter. This was from a ding that happened on the panel just above the wheel and Motorline repaired it, however, where they had prepared the area and later removed the protection form the other panels, they had damaged the finish, pretty poor in my opinion and something I;d not normally expect from ML.

 

This was all done while the car was owned by the previous person to me, something I missed when viewing the car but something that was mentioned to me when buying it (the rear quarter that is).

 

It wasn't that bad but it was the only blemish on the car and it did sort of bother me a bit I have to admit.

 

I had pondered taking the receipt for the work down to ML and seeing if they could do anything with it but I couldn't see that turing out how I hoped so I kind of forgot about it.

 

I was talking to a mate about it who used to work in the paint factory down in the Dagenham Ford plant years ago and asked to have a look at it.

 

Within 10 second's he said "I can sort that in 10 minutes".

 

Awesome.

 

This is what he did.

 

My car is filth more often than not, so he insisted on giving it a quick wash first.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I don't know what this is but it is what was used to get the dirt and grime off first

 

 

 

This is the faulty panel, it was tricky trying to capture it but you should be able to see the blemish (ignore my mates little cherub, lol)

 

 

 

 

Again, I don't know why but this is what was used and how it was used

 

 

 

 

Finished - I was very impressed, not a sniff of any blemish left !

 

 

 

[Ricey]

looks good mate

[bronzee]

Gorgeous in smurf blue. Nice depth after the detail.

[Suits]

Interesting little fact.

 

The petrol filler flap will not pop if the car is locked.

 

Do not try and force it.

 

Repeat.

 

Do not try and force it.

[GMballistic]

Interesting little fact.

 

The petrol filler flap will not pop if the car is locked.

 

Do not try and force it.

 

Repeat.

 

Do not try and force it.

Did you then?

 

Zed looks great.

[370Ad]

Interesting little fact.

 

The petrol filler flap will not pop if the car is locked.

 

Do not try and force it.

 

Repeat.

 

Do not try and force it.

Did you then?

 

Zed looks great.

 

Did it break? Mine did haha

[Suits]

Nein. Didn't break.

 

Started to wonder why on Earth it wouldn't open, or why it had jammed.

 

Then unlocked the car to have a sit and think, then when I heard the locks drop, paused, went back to it and it opened.

 

Random but makes perfect sense really.

[spursmaddave]

Lovely looking motor

 

 

Sent from the golf club...

[sipar69]

Good to see the defect removed. Looks great.

[Suits]

This came through the post the other day.

 

A PTUNING front toe hook GoPro camera mount for track days.

 

Octet did a group buy from the states and it's very well built, very solid and gives confidence when strapping your £400 GoPro to the front of your car 30CM's from the surface of the circuit.

 

Should be abel to give it a good go at Brands next month and Combe the mont after.

 

That is all, lol.

 

 

 

 

[370Ad]

Looks great! Combe cooks your oil quick....I probably won't do another day until I have an oil cooler on.

[Suits]

Looks great! Combe cooks your oil quick....I probably won't do another day until I have an oil cooler on.

 

Most circuits will cook your oil if you don't look at the temp gauge .

 

No, I understand what you're saying, I normally only do three or four laps of circuits, plus a cool down, before I come in for a rest (me and the car).

 

That's why I tend to always do open pit lane, with sessions you have to stay out and either do cool down laps in your session, or bake your black stuff.

 

You don't NEED an oil cooler for track days, it just gives you longer out there on it.

[Cake]

Was at brands the weekend and a lot of people said it's much more slippery compared to other tracks such as silverstone, so just be careful.

 

Think you are not far from me gives dates. ( PM if you like) and my friend may be able to able to come over am get some nice pictures of you

[Suits]

Hey man, yeah thanks for the extra heads up on Brands I'll bear that in mind.

 

Slippery, lol, I'll tell you about slippery, one year at the Ring on a miserable (but dry) day in April, after a VLN race, they opened the circuit for tourists, being extra keen as we had some people with us who'd never been before we did a few calm siting laps for a laugh.

 

I was coming into the downhill right as you enter Brunchen section, drifted out wide, ever so slightly not to take too much of a an aggressive line in and just lost the back of my S2000 completely on what I can only assume we're the marbles from the race.

 

The car was gone, literally looking across my passengers chest out of the passenger window. Opposite lock and a touch of power did sweet FA, so I just went two feet in and braced. That feeling of a light car and the ABS crunching away is a great one isn't it.

 

Managed to slide the car (unintentionally) all the way round the bend with the nose kissing the apex of the curb (splitting the splitter) then coming to a rest back on the straight leading up to the famous Brunchen car grave yard.

 

As you can image it was greeted with great rapture from the crowds that gather there .

 

Now, that was slippery !!

 

Getting back on the horse the next day was tough .

 

Er, Brands is on the 3rd July I think, evening open pit event, I've got some tuition booked too which will be cool.

 

Yeah man come down for sure and say hi if you can, will be cool to meet you .

[Cake]

That sounds like quite an experiance and expertly handled with some showmanship.

 

Big fan of Hondas and still miss that VTEC.

 

May pop over there on the 3rd and have a watch and see if I could get the bottle to try myself.

 

I went to the F1 historic masters event the other week and sadly see a couple end up in the gravel.

[Suits]

May pop over there on the 3rd and have a watch and see if I could get the bottle to try myself.

 

I went to the F1 historic masters event the other week and sadly see a couple end up in the gravel.

 

Yeah, cool man, go for it .

 

Track days aren't that bad, just drive it sensibly, you don't have to be the quickest out there to have fun, I'm far from quick but I have a good time.

 

One of my mates has got his laps down to .56s at Brands now in his Boxster S.

 

Lets hope I don't end up in there too .

 

Big fan of Hondas and still miss that VTEC.

 

Yep, same here. I'm looking forward to seeing what the new CTR will be like.

[Cake]

I have done silverstone GP and North Weald a few times in the Z (from seeing yours actually).

 

I'm the same, I'm not fussed on times right now jut staying in one piece and having fun.

 

The new CTR looks fantastic and engine is meant to be a 2.0 VTEC and turbo. From looks I would say possibly but may wen too much for when it would be time to get one.