roadracing class

[mom'sZ]

Clarkspeed: West Palm Beach

Mike: glad you made it OK

 

I've also checked out south florida Z car club on the net

sfzcc.com

They have track days I think . But the club is more Dade,Broward & PB counties (Clarkspeed: you are around Tampa or Orlando?) Hopefully lots of chances to race once I figure out a class. So... for SCCA production class is out for 280. ITS class only if you use stock FI and mostly stock engine. GT2 or SPU and SPO are possibilities if you wanna go full boogie with a tube chassis. I know a turbo is legal in the SP class.

And then NASA and VARA. I'm going to go check em out on the net.

[JMortensen]

I know I've told this story before, but I think it might be necessary to make my point. I got hit from ~50 mph by a newer Firebird and pushed into head on traffic where I was hit head on by an Acura legend going 35. The lady who hit me in the Firebird told the cops she never saw me, and she never even touched the brakes. My wife (girlfriend at the time) was in the passenger seat. The Firebird hit low because of that long low nose they have and it hit right about where the rr tail light is. Pushed the back of the car in about a foot, basically bent it up to the rr strut tower. That impact pushed me into the oncoming traffic where I got the Legend more or less head on. That impact spun the car 270º and we ended up at a weird angle in the middle of the street. I broke my nose on the steering wheel and my wife bumped her noggin on the dashboard. None of the glass in the passenger compartment broke, not even the hatch glass. The front was hammered up to the core support, at which point both rails were tweaked for the first inch or so and were both bent off to the left, but weren't really smashed in. The doors did not close, and my wife's door would not open after the accident, but I pulled it open (one of those adrenaline things, it wasn't even close to closing again).

 

Now another story. My buddy is cruising through an intersection in his lowered 69 510 and gets T boned in the driver door by a mid 80's F150 going ~35 or so. I think that guy did hit the brakes, but it was still a pretty bad accident. The whole side of the car was mangled and pushed in a couple inches or so, but my buddy walked away with some really bad bruises and a sore neck. If he had a roll cage in I'm convinced he would be DEAD. His roll bar saved his life, provided a solid structure to take the side impact and didn't brain him.

 

I think the reason roof lines are getting higher and higher in cars is so that your head gets farther away from the top of the door and the roof. Unfortunately in our Z's the roof line is low. I clocked myself in the head pretty good once at an autox with no cage AND a helmet on. I actually rung my bell on the roof just on top of the door when I had a snap spin and the car suddenly stopped. I certainly wouldn't want to take any of that head room away for a street car.

 

The point is, what are you preparing your street car for? Are you going to prepare your car so that a plumber's truck with a ton of equipment in it can hit you at 50 mph? In the back? In the side? In the front? Unfortunately we can't know where the hit is going to come from. If Mike took that hit in the side I think we wouldn't be talking to him today due to the hit to the head he would have taken. And I think my experience shows that Z's are actually pretty good in a rear collision or a head on collision. This I think makes a pretty strong case for a welded in rear strut tower bar and a roll bar that is tucked up as high and as far back as possible. I just don't think padding would have been enough if that plumber T boned you Mike.

 

Just my $.02,

 

Jon

[Mikelly]

Jon, It certainly has weighed heavy on me. I had bolt in door bars for the car that ran diagenally and I'd had them in the car that day, so a T-bone might have been better on the car than me... I defenitely would have hit my head from the side, no doubt. The cage we're gonna install in the new car will be as High and tight as possible and I've removed the stock seat mounts and lowered the new seat rails to the pans. I also don't plan on driving this car much at all on the street. I'm building a track day specific car.

 

Mike

[katman]

Katman:

So do you SCCA race? Anybody else?

 

I semi-retired as a 240Z crew chief in SCCA's ITS class after the 2001 season with 40 wins, 13 seconds, and 7 thirds in 69 starts (including 2 ARRC wins). Since then I just consult for the ARC Racing/Sunbelt Engines BMW's. I miss the Z's.....

[mom'sZ]

Katman:

 

Thanks for reply. You then are an expert in current SCCA classes compared to me. In IT, the motor has to remain almost stock in most ways, but suspension modifications are more open, is that correct? Sounds like an awsome record then to by the way. and another question if I may. Why then semi retired?

[katman]

That's correct. Follow the links from http://www.scca.org for Club Racing > Cars & Rules > download Improved Touring Category to get the specifics. Enginewise you're allowed a +.040 overbore, any exhaust and ignition, balancing and blueprinting, and any carb needles. Otherwise, bone stock. Even under those restrictions we managed to get 200+ certified dyno crank horsepower out of the L24.

 

Semi retired because I have kids to coach in one sport or another. I'm occasionally called out to the track for a test day. That's about it for a while.

[mom'sZ]

Just a question to Katman or anybody else with experience in SCCA ITS class, I've read the rules pretty carefully, it seems the unibody, structure wise, must remain stock, but a roll cage must be added. Also, a bar may be added between the front strut towers. Obviously the cage is going to add a certain amount of rigidity to the chassis. Is it legal to add subframe connectors? What about if they bolt in?

[katman]

No. If the rules don't specifically say you can do something, then you can't.

[preith]

Katman's right, don't even think about subframe connectors. When building a cage for IT, it's almost like you have one arm tied behind your back. You cannot have any firewall penetrations, and you cannot tie the unibody into the cage any where other than the termination points on the floor. For the rear strut bar, just weld a bar across the two strut tower down tubes to get around this. This works also serves as a great point for the harness shoulder straps.

 

There was a good series of articles in the old Zcar Magazine which featured IT car build, including one issue/article entirely on cage construction that came out in about '97 or '98. The rules have changed a bit since then, but for the most part it's still a good guidline.

[katman]

There was a good series of articles in the old Zcar Magazine which featured IT car build' date=' including one issue/article entirely on cage construction that came out in about '97 or '98. The rules have changed a bit since then, but for the most part it's still a good guidline.[/quote']

 

http://www.izzyscustomcages.com/ZCageArticle.html

[preith]

Thanks Katman!

[mom'sZ]

Yes thanks katman!!!