+74 on doing pads and fluid before your first event. I run CarboTech XP10/8 pads and will move up to 12/10 next set. I swap for each event and I've now got 4 events, several autocross events, and have 50% pad left. I use RBF600 for brake and clutch fluid, which I bleed after each event.

Well, I had some fun yesterday! I threw a few videos up on the interwebs for your enjoyment.

Unfortunately I botched the camera location so you can't see out the front window and see the smoke pouring off of slarti's front brakes It was quite impressive to witness actually.

I don't know what a good lap time is, but I did a 1.53 which I'm happy with for first time out. The cooling ducts in the front are working wonders, I had great pedal and stopping power throughout each entire session, although the rear rotors went blue!

I also have the Z1 rear collars now, I can't say I noticed a massive difference, but I am now SUPER happy with this car. Development will cease and I will continue to learn the car and tracks I visit more intimately as there is now more time to be had there than spending money on parts, however much easier that is

Following Mr. Slartibartfast on track:

My best lap for the day:

And me getting awfully confused when it started raining out of no where, right in the middle of the braking zone, but was dry again 5s later:

 

Sweet!

Several cars with R-compound tires went 4-wheeling during the brief shower. I was following a hot BMW through turns 1 to 3 (turn 1 is at the end of the pit wall) and he was drifting the entire way through. Not until the short straight chute to turn 4 did he get traction to all four wheels.

Splitter could have eaten my lunch. He has more power, lighter brakes and uses R-compound tires.

Thanks for posting the videos! I almost look like I know what I'm doing. The gray G belongs to a member here who usually just lurks. He is trying to make a go of race photography so he's steering his camera instead of his car. Harrytography, if you're interested.

 

Splitter- Are those Z1 2pc. rotors? How do you like them and do you have the front 2pc. rotors? How does the KW suspension ride on the street- specifically on newer roads that are a little wavy/bumpy due to the seams?

 

Yes they are. I like them very much and yes I have the matching front's.

The KW's are fantastic, in my opinion how the car should have come from factory. They are firm, but more than comfortable for a street/track combo. As you'll know they are not a linear force spring which means they do well with little bumps and ramp up to higher spring rate when run hard. It makes fast transitions on the track less than ideal, but it's a perfect compromise for me. I do 60 miles a day commuting and thoroughly enjoy it.

I live in Houston which has a mix of terrifically terrible new concrete roads (the mexicans earn nothing and it shows) and even worse bitumen. I don't like to drive around in the older parts of town with bad pot holes and repair patches, it becomes tragically slow, but it's fine on well maintained bitumen and even bad new concrete at speeds above recommended.

They are, however, SUPER low. Which for you means you need to be careful if you take passengers often. I do not, and the car does fine with a full track day worth of goodies, but I would prefer some extra rear height. I wonder how much this has to do with the coilovers being designed for the 370Z but happening to fit the heavier G37.

I have the rear set at maximum height (adjustment collar flush with the threads) and the fronts set for appropriate rake. The fronts are about mid range for height adjustment. The car is lower than I'd like for a daily. Fine on track, but I need to watch car park entry angle, need ramps for the jack, etc. Not as low as my Miata, but then it's not a Miata either.

I have attached some photos to give you an indication of ride height with the 19's for street and 18's for track.

 

Your experience is typical of G owners with the KW dampers. I saw somewhere that the G rear shock tower is an inch higher than the Z, which would account for the fitment problem.

 

KW offers a spacer for the rear

 

Which voids their lifetime warranty.

 

How will they know

 

Don't know, just stating their policy.

 

good to know.

 

I did not know that, thanks for the heads up!

I've gotten used to it, so I won't go for the spacer, but I did not set out to have a car this low.

 

Awesome! Thanks for all the good info. The Z1 2pc. rotors are definitely on my list. I will probably do the fronts 1st and I plan to experiment with closing off one brake duct to see how well those work 1st on track with lowering temps. What differences did you notice on track with 2 pc. rotors? Did you take any rotor temps before and after?

Which version of KW's do you have? So it does ride ok on the new concrete roads that are bouncy or do you feel a bit like a bobble head?

I know what you mean about progressive rate springs. They are ok on the street, but really lack the instant feedback I crave on the track. I had a set of Eibach progressive springs on my Evo and they were garbage on track and would bottom out the front end on my local track that has a mini corkscrew.

My Teins are not bad on most roads and great on track, but not the best for long trips or bouncy roads. However, we can always take my wife's luxo cruiser (compared to my car) for trips.

 

I didn't do any track work on the stock brakes. Couple autocross events but that was it. My first track event was COTA in the middle of summer so I didn't want to muck around.

The v3. Yeah they're good, very well controlled all around.

 

Having said that, it would probably be worth getting Ape Factory to weigh in on the coils he had, that looked like a much better solution custom built for the chassis (no ride height constraints, custom valving and springs, etc)

 

What type of coilovers did he have?