Car and Driver crashes Nismo 370z

[intermilanrox]

For those of you who don't get Car and Driver, in this month's edition during the 4th annual Lightning Lap they crashed a Nismo 370z. They claimed that the brakes faded without notice midlap which led to them crashing into a retaining wall.

[spitalul2bad]

It happens. Although NOT without notice.

On my first track day, with a Brembo-equipped 350Z, I pushed the brakes A LOT for the whole day... after a couple of hours of actual track time, they faded, caught fire and finally, the brake liquid gave up and the pedal was going through the floor while the car did not brake.

I can see it happening, but it's NOT without NOTICE. It's pretty apparent that the brakes are fading. You get different pedal feel, you can feel it stopping less, you can even smell the disks catching fire (smoking) some times. (I'm in a convertible, so yeah, you can smell it too ). They're supposed to be MOTORING JOURNALISTS... they should have the experience to notice such things...

Oh well...

[mkaresh]

And you managed to avoid hitting a wall?

[AZhitman]

I ran my G non-stop, HARD, for over 4 hours at Miller in Utah... Speeds of 130+ on the main straight. Car never got a chance to cool down. Never had a brake issue, even though the calipers changed color.

Boiled the hell outta the PS fluid though!

The early Brembo setup was SO much better than the current one. Nissan brakes have been lacking since 2005 (well-documented).

And yes, the C&D driver should have noticed brake fade. FAIL.

[RCAnismo]

And you managed to avoid hitting a wall?

I think he managed to miss a wall but if I remember the post I think his engine ended up blowing up that same day.... I don't think it was a good track day experience for spiritual.

[spitalul2bad]

Yup. No wall hitting, thanks to me noticing heavy brake fade.Although, like RCA said, the engine melted a piston and subsequently went on to make two new "air" holes in the block. At least I got a new engine from Nissan... good thing I had my warranty.