Racer asking general questions

[kgobey]

I am an old Auto Racer with the SCCA, BMW CCA and MCSCC. I have run Time Trials and Autocrosses and ran Wheel to Wheel racing since 1993.

I am interested in a 350Z for HPDE's and TT's with NASA and Street Prepared Autocrossing with the SCCA.

I see there is a track model. Are they easy to find? Are there people and places that can located them? Do they come up for sale often?

Any input at all on the car would be helpful at this stage.

Thank you in advance.

[evildky]

Welcome to Nico!the track models are a bit more scarce tahn other trim levels but they are out there, keep in mind they are not true "Track" cars, they just have bigger brakes and wheels, they still have leather (as and option I believe) and traction control (which you'll of course want to disable) power windors locks etc, if you were interested in BS it would be the more desirable model in SP you're allowed to upgrade to slotted cross drilled rotors and lowering springs, the problem is you're not allowed camber correction so your lowering springs are gonna shorten you're tire life on the street, the track model is simply a trim package not like the lightweight's offered by BMW, I could only wish nissan would do something that cool

[Ish]

Track models did not offer leather... and are no longer being offered as new models

[C-Kwik]

The track model offers a marginal upgrade in wheel size and brakes. For the wheels, 03-05 models have only a half inch advantage in the rear wheel width over other models equipped with 18" wheels. The 06+ offers an extra inch up front and 1.5 to 2 inches in width over the other 18" wheels depending on what yer you are comparing them to. though the 06+ uses a 18" front and 19" rear wheel.

The Brembos have a moderately higer heat capacity over the non-Brembos in 03-05. But as of 06, the non-brembos use a rotor much close in size to the Brembos (but still slightly smaller). The Brembos used on the 350Z aren't the greatest calipers or rotors, but are decent. I'd opt for an AP Racing kit if you would consider a Big Brake Kit. In terms of cost versus performance, a better option might be to get a performance orenthusiast model at a lower price and run a better BBK on it. Though, I don't know if you need to consider any class rules for any of the racing you plan to get involved in. In which case the Brembos might be a good option if they put the Track Model in the same class as the non-track models.

[C-Kwik]

Track models did not offer leather... and are no longer being offered as new models

I concur with this. Leather was only offered as a factory option on Touring models of the 350Z.

[idriveaTTz32]

i think the leather issue on supposed track models is that people get touring models with leather and NAV and upgrade to the Brembos and decide to call them track models at resale to get more money.

[idriveaTTz32]

in either case if you were to use a 350Z as your platform you would probably want to find a base model which is lighter and slightly dumbed down with regards to some comfort features such as traction control, EBD, cruise control and a bose stereo as it does not have those unless optioned in...it also does not have a VLSD but if you're racing you'd replace that anyway.

I bet thought that trimmed down base model will harder to come by than a track model.