What racing class for my 240Z

Tony Edmeades · Post by **Tony Edmeades** » Sun Aug 19, 2007 9:59 pm

Hi all,
I'm new to the forum, and once my car is sorted I'll be new to the club !!.

My question for you is this. I've been fetling away on my 240 for a few years with the aim of building a road car that I can race from time to time. I'm having trouble find any referance to a class of racing that my car will fit into other than maybe Super GT's (and those boys look a bit serious to be honest). The car is significantly modified with a turbo, 4 wheel disc's, injection etc.
Before I go stuffing a roll cage into the ol girl I think I'd better make sure that there IS actually a class I will be welcome to race in.
I've looked in the MSNZ site, but had some trouble so asked a site contact...he said "go ask someone at a track !!!"
Any help greatly appreciated

Tony

nustad · Post by **nustad** » Mon Aug 20, 2007 7:49 am

Tony,

I am looking forward to seeing the car in the flesh.

I think car club events are probably going to be the best place to start - like Z club track day at Taupo and perhaps you could look at what Auckland Sports Car Club has on offer.

I don't think your car would be eligible for the leisuretime series with the hair dryer on it.

Pictures please!

Cheers

Glenn

Tony Edmeades · Post by **Tony Edmeades** » Mon Aug 20, 2007 9:40 am

Cheers for that, Do the track days have any requirement for a cage ?.
As far as pics go, currently she's stripped down waiting for the panel beater to take his lash at my wallet so not much to see at the moment. As soon as I can I'll get some up. The engine bay maybe later this week.
WRT events/classes, I'm keen on the domain hillclimb and such like as well so if any one knows about the regs for that event sing out.
Many Churs

Tony

nzeder · Post by **nzeder** » Mon Aug 20, 2007 10:07 am

Tony,

4 wheel disc is not a problem even in Classic you are ok - Nissan Competition USA Ltd (I think that is what it was called back then) did have a 4 wheel disc listed in their parts catalogue. The issue you will run up against is the Turbo and injection as the 240z as a model never had these either standard or option. If however your car was a 280zx then that might be a different story.

You could run Auckland Car Club or Northern Car Club events which usually have under 2000cc class then over 2000cc and you will run against the likes of V8's etc. The best thing is to talk to event organisers to see what they think. Also visit motorsport.org.nz and look over the regulations you might find that if you can find a class/reg that your can fit into.

Re the injection you might get away with it if you show your car is a 280Z replica that was made with EFI - even a Fairlady Z S31 was EFI so that might help - and I know the that FIA did approve the 280Z with EFI for racing with only a single TB. You will need to do your home work on the Turbo - you might find that someone might just might have got FIA approval for a turbo in the S30/S31 body shell = you will want to get a copy of the FIA document and then use that as evidence that you can run etc.

nustad · Post by **nustad** » Mon Aug 20, 2007 10:25 am

The club track days can be done without a cage - the issue with these is frequency - depends if you want to be on the track every month.

If you do want to be racing every month then I would be tempted to leave your car as a solid road car that you can use occassionly on the track and find something cheap and fun that is class compliant - heaps of race cars for sale all the time.

Cheers

Glenn

BRONZEE · Post by **BRONZEE** » Mon Aug 20, 2007 12:45 pm

Welcome Tony!!

At the Domain hill climb a few months ago, there was one of our 240's and a 260, sounds like you might be a runner for next year too!!

We also have a grass gymkhana each year + there are all sorts of events during the year.

The ZClub is a MANZ affiliated club too, so you might find that helpful if you're thinking about organising your race licence.

Hope we see you and your 240 at an event soon.

Cheers
Bronzee

Tony Edmeades · Post by **Tony Edmeades** » Mon Aug 20, 2007 6:25 pm

BRONZEE wrote:Welcome Tony!!

At the Domain hill climb a few months ago, there was one of our 240's and a 260, sounds like you might be a runner for next year too!! We also have a grass gymkhana each year + there are all sorts of events during the year.

The ZClub is a MANZ affiliated club too, so you might find that helpful if you're thinking about organising your race licence.

Hope we see you and your 240 at an event soon.

Cheers
Bronzee

Me Too, cheers !!!

Tony Edmeades · Post by **Tony Edmeades** » Mon Aug 20, 2007 6:34 pm

nzeder wrote:Tony,

4 wheel disc is not a problem even in Classic you are ok - Nissan Competition USA Ltd (I think that is what it was called back then) did have a 4 wheel disc listed in their parts catalogue. The issue you will run up against is the Turbo and injection as the 240z as a model never had these either standard or option. If however your car was a 280zx then that might be a different story.

You could run Auckland Car Club or Northern Car Club events which usually have under 2000cc class then over 2000cc and you will run against the likes of V8's etc. The best thing is to talk to event organisers to see what they think. Also visit motorsport.org.nz and look over the regulations you might find that if you can find a class/reg that your can fit into.

Re the injection you might get away with it if you show your car is a 280Z replica that was made with EFI - even a Fairlady Z S31 was EFI so that might help - and I know the that FIA did approve the 280Z with EFI for racing with only a single TB. You will need to do your home work on the Turbo - you might find that someone might just might have got FIA approval for a turbo in the S30/S31 body shell = you will want to get a copy of the FIA document and then use that as evidence that you can run etc.

Thanks for that dude. Certainly a lot to consider, I think your right though, just do some club stuff first, meet some people, sort my options before putting in a cage...I can't wait !!.

240z · Post by **240z** » Mon Aug 20, 2007 8:18 pm

Hi Tony,

Good to see you have joined the forum.

Hope to see you at some club events. Just keep building your car there will always be somewhere to race it. There is a class called super saloons which is more or less run what you brung as long as it has pistons and the seat isnt in the middle of the car you can run.

Cheers

Kelvin

Tony Edmeades · Post by **Tony Edmeades** » Mon Aug 20, 2007 8:36 pm

240z wrote:Hi Tony,

Good to see you have joined the forum.

Hope to see you at some club events. Just keep building your car there will always be somewhere to race it. There is a class called super saloons which is more or less run what you brung as long as it has pistons and the seat isnt in the middle of the car you can run.

Cheers

Kelvin

Cheers, super saloons eh?...I'll do some digging.

Grunzter · Post by **Grunzter** » Tue Aug 21, 2007 1:04 am

Hi Tony,
I was in the same situation, not knowing what class to race in, and as Kelvin said, there will always be somewhere to join in. I have managed to get class approval with Super GT, but as you say, these chaps seem a bit serious even for me, and my car has no intention of being road legal... My car is a replica of the IMSA works cars...

Here are a few web sites that may be of interest:
www.nzsupersedans.com
www.supergt.com
www.osca.co.nz

Cheers Grant.

Tony Edmeades · Post by **Tony Edmeades** » Tue Aug 21, 2007 9:53 am

Grunzter wrote:Hi Tony,
I was in the same situation, not knowing what class to race in, and as Kelvin said, there will always be somewhere to join in. I have managed to get class approval with Super GT, but as you say, these chaps seem a bit serious even for me, and my car has no intention of being road legal... My car is a replica of the IMSA works cars...

Here are a few web sites that may be of interest:
www.nzsupersedans.com
www.supergt.com
www.osca.co.nz

Cheers Grant.

Yep, thanks Grant.
After talking about it with my partner(wife type person), I'm going to put in the cage. As she said, she'd rather see me doing club track days with a cage that isn't required. Plus i don't want to go through the Cert proccess again once I install a cage later (if it comes to the crunch I could always change the engine to one that meets a certain class requirement later).
Cheers for all your advice guys.

Tony

nustad · Post by **nustad** » Tue Aug 21, 2007 9:55 am

Tony - the second decision is whether to go for a half cage or a full cage that ties in the front suspension towers - a full cage will make it less functional for the road.

I have a half cage and because it is a 2str it doesn't interfere with normal road use.

nzeder · Post by **nzeder** » Tue Aug 21, 2007 10:35 am

My 240z has a 1/2 cage but I have to remove it as it is made from Alloy and this is no longer accepted for Motorsport use - it is still ok for road use...go figure. I am at 2 minds what to do also. Replace with a 1/2 made from steel that I can get motorsport approval or full cage. This season I am looking at doing the Classic Trail as this does not require a cage as you don't race as such you just try and get as close to your nominated time (but no quicker than the rules allow which for Pukekohe is 1:20) this will allow me to make up my mind if I want to do this and then I will save the $$ for a full cage. I only have one head and I can't regrow another one so if I do decide to have a car that I will put on the track and push it then I will have a full cage....(okay thinking about it while type this reply I don't think I will do a 1/2 cage at all - but I do the luxury of owning two Zed's the 240z and the 260z 2 seater)

However I still want the Z with the cage to be road legal so I can drive to the track, race then drive home again (like I did with my old 240z racecar - which had a full cage by the way) the other zed will be used for non performance events (yea right

)

Ricky · Post by **Ricky** » Tue Aug 21, 2007 2:55 pm

If you loose the turbo your car would be suitable for the Arrow Wheels Sports and GT Challenge, which is a great series. All races bar one are at Pukekohe so close to home. If your plan is to race against other cars, don't waste your time or money on a half cage its only going to protect your head and how many Zeds to you see flipping. A full cage will add safety and tighten up the 30 year old shell which will allow the use of harder spring rates.

If you just want to do laps, just join the Classic Trail with your car as is. Then if you get hooked then modify the car and move up to something more competitive. The Leisuretime /Tracer series would also be a good option but you would have to convince the organizer, it is for British and European cars but there are 2 Zeds running in there at present.

Ricky