After around seventeen years of the same project I sold the blue Z a little while ago. The last time I really used it for anything was the last round of NZ Superlap series in the 2015 - 2016 series & after a big moment at huge speed (that I sorted out fairly well with no harm done) I decided safety was something that needed addressing if I were to continue with my high speed track fun. Various things left me feeling that fitting a cage in the Z with decent seats and harnesses etc just wasn't really an option. Once you have a cage fitted (in NZ) you are committed to financial debt with motorsport NZ if you wish to remain road legal with the car, the ongoing costs for a car that was getting very little use didn't add up for me personally. I didn't want to commit the car 100% to track work because it was to tidy to send it down that path & to be honest the ole Z32 is getting VERY dated in terms of track speed compared to almost anything modern. So I built a Nissan K12 March with a VQ35DE+TT in the back with bang on 400Kws at the REAR hubs and a six speed box, weighed about 1000Kgs + driver. First day at the track made the call for better safety gear seem like a VERY good call, a few things conspired against me & the car & we ended up having a conversation with a tire wall backwards at about 200kph. Compressed six rows of tyres and smashed the concrete wall behind the tyres throwing the wall about three meters across pit entrance way. The tryeres then threw the car back in more or less the direction it had come from but at about a forty five degree angle upwards & upside down, it then landed on the front left corner and rolled onto its roof. So that was pretty stink BUT to make things worse one of the people that likely contributed to the crash then fired off his fire extinguisher into the engine bay (one of the cheap corrosive as fick powder ones) rather than letting the fire marshall who was standing right there continue to observe & confirm there was no actual fire and just lost of oil smoke. (no actual fire damage was found on the car post crash). If that wasn't bad enough someone else decided to try and undo my harness while no one was supporting me - resulted in about 300mm drop onto my head - after I had just come conscious after being out for about forty seconds. :bash: So all that resulted in a few broken ribs, a pneumothorax, concussion that has taken six mths to mostly clear & a few choice looking bruises. So with a baby arriving only a short while later & no work due to symptoms from concussion for six mths & the massive layer of dust on the Z it was time for us to part ways But never fear we still have the wifes 97TT that will see a bit of use one day when our little girl is a bit older. I'm not put off and am rebuilding/building a new March, this time MUCH MUCH better than the first one [TIS]
Oh here's a video of the March coming off the trailer for the first time at the track: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LP_JdutcA2M&t=1s
