trackpig

The girls were in the cars on the ring some of the time. My girlfriend even drove a lap in the Z! The other ring laps are here: We try to go to the nurburgring every year but this time we wanted to make a longer trip of it. Thats how we ended up going down to Lake Como. The girls loved the sound of it- everybody wins. The 350z really is a very good car for this sort of thing, its a great compromise. It can cruise at high speed all day in comfort but is still very good at the ring. It is a little soft and rides high for track work but I am not going to start modding. Before the Z, I had a e36 m3 evo which got more and more track focused but its road manners were compromised. The MNR is all the track car I need! As for problems- One of the Z's generated a throttle position sensor fault which we reset. One had fairly bad brake judder at the ring (ds3000 pads and new ebc discs) but now seems ok. This may have been pad transfer or its just that road driving is not putting as much heat into the brakes and the problem is not showing up. My car's airbag light kept coming on- this is related to the passenger seat being folded forward to access the luggage. I took the service manual with me so I took in some light reading one night and read how to reset it. I also had the clutch pedal go down to the floor at the top of Stelvio Pass which I was quite concerned at! The clutch gets worked hard going up there and it started getting spongy and finally hit the floor! I let the car cool down in the parking area right a the peak while I thought about what was going on (Ive heard that the clutch cylinders can be weak on the z's) After 15min the pedal started to feel alittle better. I drove to Davos with it in the back of my mind that I had not changed the clutch fluid. That evening in the hotel car park in Davos we all helped out and changed the clutch fluid while drinking a refreshing beer. The old fluid was very dirty and had prob never been changed from the factory. The clutch then felt fine and took on the rest of the trip without a problem.

Cheers It was a great trip. We all felt that Stelvio Pass was too tight for it to be a true driving road- its very scenic and a great place to stop to check out the views but there are better driving road in this country. The roads either side of Stelvio were more flowing and we managed to open the cars up there! As for the autobahns and autoroutes, it was great sitting in our Z (and vx) convoy and really motoring at a decent pace. I want to do it all again.

Hi all We are just back from a 2500mile Euro trip taking in Lake Como, Stelvio pass, Davos and the Nurburgring. I have knocked a video up as videos speak a thousands words! There are two versions of the vid as I was playing about with different music and effects but here is the first- http://www.vimeo.com/13861307 Cheers

Cheers I like all kinds of motorsport including biking. I have a few honda t-shirts that I bought cos they fit my non gym style body just right.

My girlfriend is fairly cool about it now. She has had lots of passenger training over the years with me! I had my lid with me for driving the kit car but didnt have a spare one. Yes its a good idea to wear one but doesnt seem right for me to wear mine and for her to go skin head! Ive seen some weird sights on the ring. I have a pic somewhere of a coach taking the karrussel!

We have just taken 3 350z's and a VXT on a 2500mile euro trip. North east england- dover- dunkirk- dijon- lake como- stelvio- davos- nurburgring (10/ 15 laps) and home via dover. One car required the clutch fluid to be bled after the pedel went to the floor at the top of stelvio pass in the alps (I was fairly concerned at that point!) , one car has suspected warpped discs, one car had a throttle position sensor fault which we reset. I will be writing a full trip report when I get all the pictures together.

I reason I got alittle pi**ed off was that I had caught the scooby up but instead of letting me pass safely, he keeps the BOOST on and goes side by side with me for two corners and then boosts it on a straight. He clearly has a faster car than me in a straight line but is poor in the corners and on the brakes. Funny to watch now though!

For aother GT3 see here: and another vid of the MNR (R1 bike engine):

She was taking notes for when she drove a lap!

Hi I recorded a few laps of me in my Z at the Nurburgring. I timed a 8.46min BTG in the end which I was happy with for a standard road car.

I'll take a pic tomorrow. Nothing special at all, a section of flexible pipe tie wrapped under the front of the bumper and tie wrapped into place on back of hub pointing to the centre of the disc (not rubbing on it though). A loose fitting tie wrap in the centre of the pipe stops it sagging and rubbing on the road while allowing the pipe to move when full lock is applied.

Well I am back from the trip which consisted of 2500 miles including two runs up and down Stelvio Pass and 10 laps of the nurburgring. There is no tuffer test of brakes than going down Stelvio Pass! The setup I have has been faultless. I have not had any brake fade or brake judder at any point. I put in a 8.46min lap at the ring so was not hanging around. - Yellowstuff pads all round, ATE super blue fluid, OEM disks and a set of cooling pipes to the front discs get my recommendation BTW- one of our group now has some pretty bad vibration from his fresh EBC discs and DS3000 pads (no cooling pipes)

I will have the Z and the kit car at the N'ring this year so my laps will be spilt between the two cars. I am looking forward to see what the Z is like round there. Hopefully the kit car will be more reliable this year at will put a good lap in!

I didnt bed them in as such at first- just used them lightly on the road to try and match the face of disc and pad together. I have never had discs skimmed when fitting new pads before. I have never needed it done and done want the extra expense. As for life span- as long as they work at the ring, I am not too bothered. I will again, report back on longevity.

Hi all I purchased a complete set of Yellowstuff pads for my Nurburgring trip later this month. I fitted the pads and ran them under normal road conditions for around week. The discs were not renewed. I then had a 120mile run out over some good country roads. The pads felt great- sharp and strong. I then took the car to a section of road near where I live thats very hard on the brakes and tested them out. The brakes started to smell and fade quite badly. I was fairly pi**ed off. The brakes were incredibly hot. I left the car to cool down. Once cool, I could see there was a dark band round the center of the face of the disc- this told me the pads were not in full contact with the disc (not bedded in). I took the opportunity to fit some cooling duct style piping from the underside of the bumper to the back of the discs to direct cool air right into them- every little helps! I then did a series of braking runs untill I could see the dark colour covered the whole face of the discs. I then allowed the brakes to cool during a 10 min drive and then repeated the run along my brake testing route. Much better- I was able to activate the abs time and time again. I am not sure how effective the cooling pipes are but they are not causing any harm and cost very little I suppose the moral of the story is- ensure the brakes are fully bedded in (which can take a fair amount of effort) before coming to any conclusions. I am very happy with the brakes now and will report back once tested at the ring

I couldn't get this to work.

The air filter was clean, it was only replaced 4k miles ago so I left it ( I am thinking about an after market panel filter also). Oil filter was replaced. I have just change the spark plugs today. That was a little more fiddley- I even removed the strut brace to get access! Ive just been out to check its all running sweet and to start bedding the brakes in. All good so far.

Hi all I have just carried out a full service (P3) on the 350 and have to say, the car is a pleasure to work on. I replaced the follow fluids- diff oil, g/box oil, engine coolant, brake fluid, engine oil and filter. The two drive belts on the engine were replaced and the brake pads swopped for yellow stuff. I also have the spark plugs to replace but I ran out of time on the day. The only problem was removing the lower cover under the engine- its a shame that Nissan dont add a little copper slip to the fixing bolts when refitting. This would stop the bolts seizing and spliting the plastic next time the cover is removed I used some of the guides on the forum (thanks) along with the service manual to help me along the way. The brake pad change is so much easier compare to what I am used to (BMW M3 brakes) The car is nearly ready for its 3000mile euro trip this summer

This is the kind of tip I am talking about! I will test it next time out. Cheers. I currently run a GSXR750 and a MNR R1 kit car on track so am used to driving without ABS or other driver aids. I still like my road cars to have ABS, TC and ESP. I just like to have the option to turn it off when I want.

Arh.. I was going to ask if was Taurim. I was watching his videos of the nurburgring yesterday! (I have a 8.31 min lap at the ring so 8.10 scares me!) I will register over there and see what I can find. I'll post it here if there is anything of note. Cheers.

Thanks for the post Its not that I want to cut the ABS but I do want to be able to fully turn off the ESP and TC. I thought that removing the fuse would turn everything off in one go. If there is a way to only turn off the ESP (as you have mentioned) then thats very interesting. Do you have any more info on the wiring harness location and which wire a switch needs to be added? Thanks

Can I confirm that removing this fuse will deactivate all ABS, TC and ESP functions without throwing up engine management lights? Cheers.

I'll keep an eye out

Thats one of my usual cruising routes but I haven't been round there this week. Theres not another 350z in the area is there? Ever since I bought mine, I see zeds all over, its like they have became the most common cars on the road

The only problem I can think of when using in europe is the data roaming charges when the maps are downloading. A weekend at the ring could rack up a hefty mobile bill!