Road racing G35 Coupe
Originally Posted by Eagle1
Check out the following:
Videos at www.go-vrt.com ( I like the Spring Willow one)
Or these articles I wrote about the evolution of the car and driver into a track vehicle. There are in car videos embedded in the article on places like Sears Point, Willow Springs, and California Speedway.
http://www.g-owners.com/article_show...rmance+Driving
The car is heavy, and thus to be effective on a track it really does need to have the brakes and suspension beefed up, and bigger tires put on it. You do not have to get more power than stock to have a wild and fun time with it. Out of the box it will not perform with the S2000 or Evo or M3 or Sti, all of which have superior power to weight ratios. With a properly balanced set of modifications it will kill all of those cars, and with sophisticated attention it will provide "supercar" performance, as the videos show.
Videos at www.go-vrt.com ( I like the Spring Willow one)
Or these articles I wrote about the evolution of the car and driver into a track vehicle. There are in car videos embedded in the article on places like Sears Point, Willow Springs, and California Speedway.
http://www.g-owners.com/article_show...rmance+Driving
The car is heavy, and thus to be effective on a track it really does need to have the brakes and suspension beefed up, and bigger tires put on it. You do not have to get more power than stock to have a wild and fun time with it. Out of the box it will not perform with the S2000 or Evo or M3 or Sti, all of which have superior power to weight ratios. With a properly balanced set of modifications it will kill all of those cars, and with sophisticated attention it will provide "supercar" performance, as the videos show.
cage is probably a bit extreme if you're just getting into this. Eagle1 always gives good advice on this subject (if you can find his responses to track threads, read them). I took my G35 to a track with modified suspension, upgraded brake pads and fluid (oh, and a modification to the seat so that I could fit a helmet in the car). The only other things that I would have liked would have been sways and a dedicated track wheel/tire set. There is something to be said for that extra grip.
That being said, I had a great time on the track and was quite competitive with the S2000's, R32, RX-8's, Z's and M Coupe's (all with more experienced drivers than myself). The STI's and Evo's are quite impressive though...had a hard time keeping up. There is also the issue of driver experience, but I didn't feel the least bit sluggish out there. My brakes did fade a bit towards the end of the day, but it didn't affect my times all that much...just gets a little scarier coming of the first straight towards the end of the day.
My suggestion would be to work on your suspension and grip before you do anything with power...more power won't do you any good if you can't control it.
That being said, I had a great time on the track and was quite competitive with the S2000's, R32, RX-8's, Z's and M Coupe's (all with more experienced drivers than myself). The STI's and Evo's are quite impressive though...had a hard time keeping up. There is also the issue of driver experience, but I didn't feel the least bit sluggish out there. My brakes did fade a bit towards the end of the day, but it didn't affect my times all that much...just gets a little scarier coming of the first straight towards the end of the day.
My suggestion would be to work on your suspension and grip before you do anything with power...more power won't do you any good if you can't control it.
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From: 21°18'54.33" N, 158°05'55.47" W
that's so true.
I started out with the car with stock suspension and street tires. Then upgraded the tires to R-Comp. For an entires season, I just used that setup and got faster as experience came into play. You really learn alot about the car's handling dynamics and thresholds.
Then the day came after I installed headers, and the MD spacer. I came towards segments faster and sooner, making brake way too late, and making more corrections - slower lap times. My timing was way off. Eventually, the times started coming down.
Even with suspension work, my timing became off because of the delayed reaction of the car when it was stock. I had to be one step ahead of myself whenever I made suspension adjustments to make the car respond better to my style of driving. Till this day, I havent really found an ideal setup...but they all have the same general consensus in setup.
I started out with the car with stock suspension and street tires. Then upgraded the tires to R-Comp. For an entires season, I just used that setup and got faster as experience came into play. You really learn alot about the car's handling dynamics and thresholds.
Then the day came after I installed headers, and the MD spacer. I came towards segments faster and sooner, making brake way too late, and making more corrections - slower lap times. My timing was way off. Eventually, the times started coming down.
Even with suspension work, my timing became off because of the delayed reaction of the car when it was stock. I had to be one step ahead of myself whenever I made suspension adjustments to make the car respond better to my style of driving. Till this day, I havent really found an ideal setup...but they all have the same general consensus in setup.
Originally Posted by Balzz
I don't know of any roadracing series that don't require a rollcage.
On that note though, have you found anyone that makes a harness bar for a G35?
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From: Manassas, VA
Wow. Just wow. You do not want to run harnesses in a car that doesn't have any sort of roll over protection. If the roof caves in during a roll over your skull will be pounded into your rectum.
Also, I think you mean HPDE's, not "road racing".
Also, I think you mean HPDE's, not "road racing".
OK, let me take a crack at this for prioritizing what you do, and when.
First, and foremost, associate yourself with a good driving group in your region that sponsors HPDE (High Performance Driver Education) days at good tracks. Look for a group that has been around for a few years, has an excellent safety record, etc. There are some good Z and G local groups in almost every part of the country that occasionally take a venture to the track with a half dozen or more cars, but you can also go with groups that run other vehicles more frequently found on the track, like S2000, Evo, Subie, Porsche, BMW, etc. The disadvantage of that is they will not know your car and its particulars. Here in California there are several good outfits, two of the more popular ones being Speedventures (www.speedventures.net) and Trackmasters Racing (www.trackmasters-racing.com). Speedventures tends to be a little more SoCal oriented and Trackmasters a little more NorCal oriented. (They both do Laguna Seca, but SV rarely will go so far north as Thunderhill or Reno-Fernley, and TMR will rarely go so far south as California Speedway, Willow Springs or Pahrump-Spring Mountain).
Attach yourself to an experienced couple of enthusiasts who have been running their Z or G for a couple of years and just learn as much as you can.
When you go to the track with them the first time, run the car stock. You might as well find out what it can do in its base form. It is unlikely that, unless you are an experienced enthusiast driver, you will outdrive the capabilities of the car. You might, but as a novice it is unlikely. I would however strongly suggest, whether you ever performance drive the car again or not, that you make one mod, and that is you put in braided stainless brake lines and upgrade to a fully synthetic DOT 4 brake fluid. ATE Super Blue or Motul 600 RBF would be my respectful suggestion.
After you run the car a couple of times, see how you feel about it, whether you want to keep coming back for some more experience. If not, you are fine and that is the end of it. If you want to keep going, then read on.
The first thing to do now is work on the suspension and handling. The best bang for the buck on this car is to switch over to stiffer anti roll bars. For about $350-500 you can work a substantial improvement.
The second thing would be to go to a good set of performance coilover dampers and springs, and lower the car about an inch all around. You should be able to do this for $2k or less.
The third thing would be to get a set of lightweight wheels and tires. Keep your stock wheels and tires for the street, and then mount some good DOT R rubber like, Kumho, Toyo, Nitto, Yokohama....all reasonably affordable and very sticky. You just put them on and drive to the track with them. Go bigger on the treadwidths...I would suggest you try at least 245F and 275R. Good lightweight wheels will set you back about $2k. One piece forged or the new Enkei MAT process. No bling bling two or three piece or cast wheels. The tires will be about $1,200.
Somewhere along the way here you will want to upgrade your brake pads to something that will manage the heat better and give better bite on the rotor.
At this juncture you have spent relatively little, and can recover much of it on resale of the car, or by separately selling the part (the wheels for example).
If you are still enthusiastic, it is likely that at about this time your skills are improving, you probably have done 8 or 10 track days, and have advanced to the low intermediate group from novice group and your lap times are 15 to 20 seconds faster than your first couple of times. It also means that your brakes really are not "making it" any longer.
This takes you to a decision point about just how serious are you and is this the car you want to pursue your new found passion for driving with. It is also about the time that you should consider taking a serious driving course with some group like Skip Barber, Russell Racing, Bondurant, etc. I would recommend that before you spend a nickel on more parts, that you take a race driver course. You will learn a lot, and take it with you to every car you ever drive the rest of your life. It will really open up your eyes to what can be done with a car as well. It will cost $2,500 to $3,500 for a two or three day program. Best money you will ever spend.
Then, if you decide to keep going, and to do it with this car, open up your wallet. Because by this time you will be driving much harder and race school will get your braking technique more focused, and now the car will not keep up to your demands. So a big brake kit ("BBK") is likely to be the next step, and that is going to be about $2,500 if you do the fronts only, and $4k if you do all four wheels. I would suggest you consider the fronts only as a first step unless you are going to be really serious or the extra $1,500 is not as much a consideration for your wallet as the marginal additional gains it will provide. Also note, that the costs now get serious, and very little of what you put into the car will you ever get out on resale. Don't kid yourself, this is money for a hobby and not an investment, from this paragraph to the bottom of the page.
Then, a lightweight flywheel and clutch. JWT is a reasonable choice for price and performance. About a grand.
And a mechanical limited slip differential. Nismo or Cusco would be fine. Another grand, installed.
And then adjustable front upper control arms and rear camber links. Another grand.
Optional would be a short throw shifter about now. About $300.
You will note that nothing has been said about doing things to gain power.
You will not attain meaningful increases in your lapping performance through the modest additional gains in hp and torque from engine mods, in my view, compared to improving your driving skill, and the handling of the car and its ability to use to its fullest the power you have.
If you do decide to add power, you have to think about your smog and other certification issues depending on where you live. And remember that there are two basic ways to go. NA mods that altogether may add 35hp to the critter (catback exhaust, cold air intake, plenum spacer, headers, high flow catalytic converter) alltogether those will cost about $6-7k to buy and have installed if you have some one else do it, or you go forced induction and buy yourself an immediate 100+hp with a supercharger or turbocharger application on stock internals. Throw another $7,500 on to the bill if you want to build the motor up and increase the boost to deliver HUGE power, like 600+ bhp.
Along the way, somewhere in there, will be a cage, and probably aftermarket seats to better keep you in place. A cage will be $2k to do custom, which I would strongly recommend, and the seats will be $1-2k depending on what you prefer as a sport seat (not racing buckets).
This is just my point of view, and others may reasonably differ on the order of these points. You can spend more, get lots of zippy looking gauges, and such, but this will take you way down the line on performance, a path that you can stop along and necessarily have to follow all the way to the end, depending on what you want your car to do, and how much you want to spend.
Have fun!
First, and foremost, associate yourself with a good driving group in your region that sponsors HPDE (High Performance Driver Education) days at good tracks. Look for a group that has been around for a few years, has an excellent safety record, etc. There are some good Z and G local groups in almost every part of the country that occasionally take a venture to the track with a half dozen or more cars, but you can also go with groups that run other vehicles more frequently found on the track, like S2000, Evo, Subie, Porsche, BMW, etc. The disadvantage of that is they will not know your car and its particulars. Here in California there are several good outfits, two of the more popular ones being Speedventures (www.speedventures.net) and Trackmasters Racing (www.trackmasters-racing.com). Speedventures tends to be a little more SoCal oriented and Trackmasters a little more NorCal oriented. (They both do Laguna Seca, but SV rarely will go so far north as Thunderhill or Reno-Fernley, and TMR will rarely go so far south as California Speedway, Willow Springs or Pahrump-Spring Mountain).
Attach yourself to an experienced couple of enthusiasts who have been running their Z or G for a couple of years and just learn as much as you can.
When you go to the track with them the first time, run the car stock. You might as well find out what it can do in its base form. It is unlikely that, unless you are an experienced enthusiast driver, you will outdrive the capabilities of the car. You might, but as a novice it is unlikely. I would however strongly suggest, whether you ever performance drive the car again or not, that you make one mod, and that is you put in braided stainless brake lines and upgrade to a fully synthetic DOT 4 brake fluid. ATE Super Blue or Motul 600 RBF would be my respectful suggestion.
After you run the car a couple of times, see how you feel about it, whether you want to keep coming back for some more experience. If not, you are fine and that is the end of it. If you want to keep going, then read on.
The first thing to do now is work on the suspension and handling. The best bang for the buck on this car is to switch over to stiffer anti roll bars. For about $350-500 you can work a substantial improvement.
The second thing would be to go to a good set of performance coilover dampers and springs, and lower the car about an inch all around. You should be able to do this for $2k or less.
The third thing would be to get a set of lightweight wheels and tires. Keep your stock wheels and tires for the street, and then mount some good DOT R rubber like, Kumho, Toyo, Nitto, Yokohama....all reasonably affordable and very sticky. You just put them on and drive to the track with them. Go bigger on the treadwidths...I would suggest you try at least 245F and 275R. Good lightweight wheels will set you back about $2k. One piece forged or the new Enkei MAT process. No bling bling two or three piece or cast wheels. The tires will be about $1,200.
Somewhere along the way here you will want to upgrade your brake pads to something that will manage the heat better and give better bite on the rotor.
At this juncture you have spent relatively little, and can recover much of it on resale of the car, or by separately selling the part (the wheels for example).
If you are still enthusiastic, it is likely that at about this time your skills are improving, you probably have done 8 or 10 track days, and have advanced to the low intermediate group from novice group and your lap times are 15 to 20 seconds faster than your first couple of times. It also means that your brakes really are not "making it" any longer.
This takes you to a decision point about just how serious are you and is this the car you want to pursue your new found passion for driving with. It is also about the time that you should consider taking a serious driving course with some group like Skip Barber, Russell Racing, Bondurant, etc. I would recommend that before you spend a nickel on more parts, that you take a race driver course. You will learn a lot, and take it with you to every car you ever drive the rest of your life. It will really open up your eyes to what can be done with a car as well. It will cost $2,500 to $3,500 for a two or three day program. Best money you will ever spend.
Then, if you decide to keep going, and to do it with this car, open up your wallet. Because by this time you will be driving much harder and race school will get your braking technique more focused, and now the car will not keep up to your demands. So a big brake kit ("BBK") is likely to be the next step, and that is going to be about $2,500 if you do the fronts only, and $4k if you do all four wheels. I would suggest you consider the fronts only as a first step unless you are going to be really serious or the extra $1,500 is not as much a consideration for your wallet as the marginal additional gains it will provide. Also note, that the costs now get serious, and very little of what you put into the car will you ever get out on resale. Don't kid yourself, this is money for a hobby and not an investment, from this paragraph to the bottom of the page.
Then, a lightweight flywheel and clutch. JWT is a reasonable choice for price and performance. About a grand.
And a mechanical limited slip differential. Nismo or Cusco would be fine. Another grand, installed.
And then adjustable front upper control arms and rear camber links. Another grand.
Optional would be a short throw shifter about now. About $300.
You will note that nothing has been said about doing things to gain power.
You will not attain meaningful increases in your lapping performance through the modest additional gains in hp and torque from engine mods, in my view, compared to improving your driving skill, and the handling of the car and its ability to use to its fullest the power you have.
If you do decide to add power, you have to think about your smog and other certification issues depending on where you live. And remember that there are two basic ways to go. NA mods that altogether may add 35hp to the critter (catback exhaust, cold air intake, plenum spacer, headers, high flow catalytic converter) alltogether those will cost about $6-7k to buy and have installed if you have some one else do it, or you go forced induction and buy yourself an immediate 100+hp with a supercharger or turbocharger application on stock internals. Throw another $7,500 on to the bill if you want to build the motor up and increase the boost to deliver HUGE power, like 600+ bhp.
Along the way, somewhere in there, will be a cage, and probably aftermarket seats to better keep you in place. A cage will be $2k to do custom, which I would strongly recommend, and the seats will be $1-2k depending on what you prefer as a sport seat (not racing buckets).
This is just my point of view, and others may reasonably differ on the order of these points. You can spend more, get lots of zippy looking gauges, and such, but this will take you way down the line on performance, a path that you can stop along and necessarily have to follow all the way to the end, depending on what you want your car to do, and how much you want to spend.
Have fun!
Last edited by Eagle1; Nov 19, 2006 at 01:42 PM.
Another option might be to track your g a few times and if you like it then shop around for a used race car. You may even be able to find one that suits you that is also streetable so that you can drive to events.
Originally Posted by Eagle1
OK, let me take a crack at this for prioritizing what you do, and when.
First, and foremost, associate yourself with a good driving group in your region that sponsors HPDE (High Performance Driver Education) days at good tracks. Look for a group that has been around for a few years, has an excellent safety record, etc. There are some good Z and G local groups in almost every part of the country that occasionally take a venture to the track with a half dozen or more cars, but you can also go with groups that run other vehicles more frequently found on the track, like S2000, Evo, Subie, Porsche, BMW, etc. The disadvantage of that is they will not know your car and its particulars. Here in California there are several good outfits, two of the more popular ones being Speedventures (www.speedventures.net) and Trackmasters Racing (www.trackmasters-racing.com). Speedventures tends to be a little more SoCal oriented and Trackmasters a little more NorCal oriented. (They both do Laguna Seca, but SV rarely will go so far north as Thunderhill or Reno-Fernley, and TMR will rarely go so far south as California Speedway, Willow Springs or Pahrump-Spring Mountain).
Attach yourself to an experienced couple of enthusiasts who have been running their Z or G for a couple of years and just learn as much as you can.
When you go to the track with them the first time, run the car stock. You might as well find out what it can do in its base form. It is unlikely that, unless you are an experienced enthusiast driver, you will outdrive the capabilities of the car. You might, but as a novice it is unlikely. I would however strongly suggest, whether you ever performance drive the car again or not, that you make one mod, and that is you put in braided stainless brake lines and upgrade to a fully synthetic DOT 4 brake fluid. ATE Super Blue or Motul 600 RBF would be my respectful suggestion.
After you run the car a couple of times, see how you feel about it, whether you want to keep coming back for some more experience. If not, you are fine and that is the end of it. If you want to keep going, then read on.
The first thing to do now is work on the suspension and handling. The best bang for the buck on this car is to switch over to stiffer anti roll bars. For about $350-500 you can work a substantial improvement.
The second thing would be to go to a good set of performance coilover dampers and springs, and lower the car about an inch all around. You should be able to do this for $2k or less.
The third thing would be to get a set of lightweight wheels and tires. Keep your stock wheels and tires for the street, and then mount some good DOT R rubber like, Kumho, Toyo, Nitto, Yokohama....all reasonably affordable and very sticky. You just put them on and drive to the track with them. Go bigger on the treadwidths...I would suggest you try at least 245F and 275R. Good lightweight wheels will set you back about $2k. One piece forged or the new Enkei MAT process. No bling bling two or three piece or cast wheels. The tires will be about $1,200.
Somewhere along the way here you will want to upgrade your brake pads to something that will manage the heat better and give better bite on the rotor.
At this juncture you have spent relatively little, and can recover much of it on resale of the car, or by separately selling the part (the wheels for example).
If you are still enthusiastic, it is likely that at about this time your skills are improving, you probably have done 8 or 10 track days, and have advanced to the low intermediate group from novice group and your lap times are 15 to 20 seconds faster than your first couple of times. It also means that your brakes really are not "making it" any longer.
This takes you to a decision point about just how serious are you and is this the car you want to pursue your new found passion for driving with. It is also about the time that you should consider taking a serious driving course with some group like Skip Barber, Russell Racing, Bondurant, etc. I would recommend that before you spend a nickel on more parts, that you take a race driver course. You will learn a lot, and take it with you to every car you ever drive the rest of your life. It will really open up your eyes to what can be done with a car as well. It will cost $2,500 to $3,500 for a two or three day program. Best money you will ever spend.
Then, if you decide to keep going, and to do it with this car, open up your wallet. Because by this time you will be driving much harder and race school will get your braking technique more focused, and now the car will not keep up to your demands. So a big brake kit ("BBK") is likely to be the next step, and that is going to be about $2,500 if you do the fronts only, and $4k if you do all four wheels. I would suggest you consider the fronts only as a first step unless you are going to be really serious or the extra $1,500 is not as much a consideration for your wallet as the marginal additional gains it will provide. Also note, that the costs now get serious, and very little of what you put into the car will you ever get out on resale. Don't kid yourself, this is money for a hobby and not an investment, from this paragraph to the bottom of the page.
Then, a lightweight flywheel and clutch. JWT is a reasonable choice for price and performance. About a grand.
And a mechanical limited slip differential. Nismo or Cusco would be fine. Another grand, installed.
And then adjustable front upper control arms and rear camber links. Another grand.
Optional would be a short throw shifter about now. About $300.
You will note that nothing has been said about doing things to gain power.
You will not attain meaningful increases in your lapping performance through the modest additional gains in hp and torque from engine mods, in my view, compared to improving your driving skill, and the handling of the car and its ability to use to its fullest the power you have.
If you do decide to add power, you have to think about your smog and other certification issues depending on where you live. And remember that there are two basic ways to go. NA mods that altogether may add 35hp to the critter (catback exhaust, cold air intake, plenum spacer, headers, high flow catalytic converter) alltogether those will cost about $6-7k to buy and have installed if you have some one else do it, or you go forced induction and buy yourself an immediate 100+hp with a supercharger or turbocharger application on stock internals. Throw another $7,500 on to the bill if you want to build the motor up and increase the boost to deliver HUGE power, like 600+ bhp.
Along the way, somewhere in there, will be a cage, and probably aftermarket seats to better keep you in place. A cage will be $2k to do custom, which I would strongly recommend, and the seats will be $1-2k depending on what you prefer as a sport seat (not racing buckets).
This is just my point of view, and others may reasonably differ on the order of these points. You can spend more, get lots of zippy looking gauges, and such, but this will take you way down the line on performance, a path that you can stop along and necessarily have to follow all the way to the end, depending on what you want your car to do, and how much you want to spend.
Have fun!
First, and foremost, associate yourself with a good driving group in your region that sponsors HPDE (High Performance Driver Education) days at good tracks. Look for a group that has been around for a few years, has an excellent safety record, etc. There are some good Z and G local groups in almost every part of the country that occasionally take a venture to the track with a half dozen or more cars, but you can also go with groups that run other vehicles more frequently found on the track, like S2000, Evo, Subie, Porsche, BMW, etc. The disadvantage of that is they will not know your car and its particulars. Here in California there are several good outfits, two of the more popular ones being Speedventures (www.speedventures.net) and Trackmasters Racing (www.trackmasters-racing.com). Speedventures tends to be a little more SoCal oriented and Trackmasters a little more NorCal oriented. (They both do Laguna Seca, but SV rarely will go so far north as Thunderhill or Reno-Fernley, and TMR will rarely go so far south as California Speedway, Willow Springs or Pahrump-Spring Mountain).
Attach yourself to an experienced couple of enthusiasts who have been running their Z or G for a couple of years and just learn as much as you can.
When you go to the track with them the first time, run the car stock. You might as well find out what it can do in its base form. It is unlikely that, unless you are an experienced enthusiast driver, you will outdrive the capabilities of the car. You might, but as a novice it is unlikely. I would however strongly suggest, whether you ever performance drive the car again or not, that you make one mod, and that is you put in braided stainless brake lines and upgrade to a fully synthetic DOT 4 brake fluid. ATE Super Blue or Motul 600 RBF would be my respectful suggestion.
After you run the car a couple of times, see how you feel about it, whether you want to keep coming back for some more experience. If not, you are fine and that is the end of it. If you want to keep going, then read on.
The first thing to do now is work on the suspension and handling. The best bang for the buck on this car is to switch over to stiffer anti roll bars. For about $350-500 you can work a substantial improvement.
The second thing would be to go to a good set of performance coilover dampers and springs, and lower the car about an inch all around. You should be able to do this for $2k or less.
The third thing would be to get a set of lightweight wheels and tires. Keep your stock wheels and tires for the street, and then mount some good DOT R rubber like, Kumho, Toyo, Nitto, Yokohama....all reasonably affordable and very sticky. You just put them on and drive to the track with them. Go bigger on the treadwidths...I would suggest you try at least 245F and 275R. Good lightweight wheels will set you back about $2k. One piece forged or the new Enkei MAT process. No bling bling two or three piece or cast wheels. The tires will be about $1,200.
Somewhere along the way here you will want to upgrade your brake pads to something that will manage the heat better and give better bite on the rotor.
At this juncture you have spent relatively little, and can recover much of it on resale of the car, or by separately selling the part (the wheels for example).
If you are still enthusiastic, it is likely that at about this time your skills are improving, you probably have done 8 or 10 track days, and have advanced to the low intermediate group from novice group and your lap times are 15 to 20 seconds faster than your first couple of times. It also means that your brakes really are not "making it" any longer.
This takes you to a decision point about just how serious are you and is this the car you want to pursue your new found passion for driving with. It is also about the time that you should consider taking a serious driving course with some group like Skip Barber, Russell Racing, Bondurant, etc. I would recommend that before you spend a nickel on more parts, that you take a race driver course. You will learn a lot, and take it with you to every car you ever drive the rest of your life. It will really open up your eyes to what can be done with a car as well. It will cost $2,500 to $3,500 for a two or three day program. Best money you will ever spend.
Then, if you decide to keep going, and to do it with this car, open up your wallet. Because by this time you will be driving much harder and race school will get your braking technique more focused, and now the car will not keep up to your demands. So a big brake kit ("BBK") is likely to be the next step, and that is going to be about $2,500 if you do the fronts only, and $4k if you do all four wheels. I would suggest you consider the fronts only as a first step unless you are going to be really serious or the extra $1,500 is not as much a consideration for your wallet as the marginal additional gains it will provide. Also note, that the costs now get serious, and very little of what you put into the car will you ever get out on resale. Don't kid yourself, this is money for a hobby and not an investment, from this paragraph to the bottom of the page.
Then, a lightweight flywheel and clutch. JWT is a reasonable choice for price and performance. About a grand.
And a mechanical limited slip differential. Nismo or Cusco would be fine. Another grand, installed.
And then adjustable front upper control arms and rear camber links. Another grand.
Optional would be a short throw shifter about now. About $300.
You will note that nothing has been said about doing things to gain power.
You will not attain meaningful increases in your lapping performance through the modest additional gains in hp and torque from engine mods, in my view, compared to improving your driving skill, and the handling of the car and its ability to use to its fullest the power you have.
If you do decide to add power, you have to think about your smog and other certification issues depending on where you live. And remember that there are two basic ways to go. NA mods that altogether may add 35hp to the critter (catback exhaust, cold air intake, plenum spacer, headers, high flow catalytic converter) alltogether those will cost about $6-7k to buy and have installed if you have some one else do it, or you go forced induction and buy yourself an immediate 100+hp with a supercharger or turbocharger application on stock internals. Throw another $7,500 on to the bill if you want to build the motor up and increase the boost to deliver HUGE power, like 600+ bhp.
Along the way, somewhere in there, will be a cage, and probably aftermarket seats to better keep you in place. A cage will be $2k to do custom, which I would strongly recommend, and the seats will be $1-2k depending on what you prefer as a sport seat (not racing buckets).
This is just my point of view, and others may reasonably differ on the order of these points. You can spend more, get lots of zippy looking gauges, and such, but this will take you way down the line on performance, a path that you can stop along and necessarily have to follow all the way to the end, depending on what you want your car to do, and how much you want to spend.
Have fun!
might be a stupid question...have any of you seen auto G's track it...or any auto car period...just wondering cuz maybe one day when i have more money i wanna track/road race this car of mine
Originally Posted by G35Pinoy
might be a stupid question...have any of you seen auto G's track it...or any auto car period...just wondering cuz maybe one day when i have more money i wanna track/road race this car of mine
Originally Posted by Eagle1
OK, let me take a crack at this for prioritizing what you do, and when.
First, and foremost, associate yourself with a good driving group in your region that sponsors HPDE (High Performance Driver Education) days at good tracks. Look for a group that has been around for a few years, has an excellent safety record, etc. There are some good Z and G local groups in almost every part of the country that occasionally take a venture to the track with a half dozen or more cars, but you can also go with groups that run other vehicles more frequently found on the track, like S2000, Evo, Subie, Porsche, BMW, etc. The disadvantage of that is they will not know your car and its particulars. Here in California there are several good outfits, two of the more popular ones being Speedventures (www.speedventures.net) and Trackmasters Racing (www.trackmasters-racing.com). Speedventures tends to be a little more SoCal oriented and Trackmasters a little more NorCal oriented. (They both do Laguna Seca, but SV rarely will go so far north as Thunderhill or Reno-Fernley, and TMR will rarely go so far south as California Speedway, Willow Springs or Pahrump-Spring Mountain).
Attach yourself to an experienced couple of enthusiasts who have been running their Z or G for a couple of years and just learn as much as you can.
When you go to the track with them the first time, run the car stock. You might as well find out what it can do in its base form. It is unlikely that, unless you are an experienced enthusiast driver, you will outdrive the capabilities of the car. You might, but as a novice it is unlikely. I would however strongly suggest, whether you ever performance drive the car again or not, that you make one mod, and that is you put in braided stainless brake lines and upgrade to a fully synthetic DOT 4 brake fluid. ATE Super Blue or Motul 600 RBF would be my respectful suggestion.
After you run the car a couple of times, see how you feel about it, whether you want to keep coming back for some more experience. If not, you are fine and that is the end of it. If you want to keep going, then read on.
The first thing to do now is work on the suspension and handling. The best bang for the buck on this car is to switch over to stiffer anti roll bars. For about $350-500 you can work a substantial improvement.
The second thing would be to go to a good set of performance coilover dampers and springs, and lower the car about an inch all around. You should be able to do this for $2k or less.
The third thing would be to get a set of lightweight wheels and tires. Keep your stock wheels and tires for the street, and then mount some good DOT R rubber like, Kumho, Toyo, Nitto, Yokohama....all reasonably affordable and very sticky. You just put them on and drive to the track with them. Go bigger on the treadwidths...I would suggest you try at least 245F and 275R. Good lightweight wheels will set you back about $2k. One piece forged or the new Enkei MAT process. No bling bling two or three piece or cast wheels. The tires will be about $1,200.
Somewhere along the way here you will want to upgrade your brake pads to something that will manage the heat better and give better bite on the rotor.
At this juncture you have spent relatively little, and can recover much of it on resale of the car, or by separately selling the part (the wheels for example).
If you are still enthusiastic, it is likely that at about this time your skills are improving, you probably have done 8 or 10 track days, and have advanced to the low intermediate group from novice group and your lap times are 15 to 20 seconds faster than your first couple of times. It also means that your brakes really are not "making it" any longer.
This takes you to a decision point about just how serious are you and is this the car you want to pursue your new found passion for driving with. It is also about the time that you should consider taking a serious driving course with some group like Skip Barber, Russell Racing, Bondurant, etc. I would recommend that before you spend a nickel on more parts, that you take a race driver course. You will learn a lot, and take it with you to every car you ever drive the rest of your life. It will really open up your eyes to what can be done with a car as well. It will cost $2,500 to $3,500 for a two or three day program. Best money you will ever spend.
Then, if you decide to keep going, and to do it with this car, open up your wallet. Because by this time you will be driving much harder and race school will get your braking technique more focused, and now the car will not keep up to your demands. So a big brake kit ("BBK") is likely to be the next step, and that is going to be about $2,500 if you do the fronts only, and $4k if you do all four wheels. I would suggest you consider the fronts only as a first step unless you are going to be really serious or the extra $1,500 is not as much a consideration for your wallet as the marginal additional gains it will provide. Also note, that the costs now get serious, and very little of what you put into the car will you ever get out on resale. Don't kid yourself, this is money for a hobby and not an investment, from this paragraph to the bottom of the page.
Then, a lightweight flywheel and clutch. JWT is a reasonable choice for price and performance. About a grand.
And a mechanical limited slip differential. Nismo or Cusco would be fine. Another grand, installed.
And then adjustable front upper control arms and rear camber links. Another grand.
Optional would be a short throw shifter about now. About $300.
You will note that nothing has been said about doing things to gain power.
You will not attain meaningful increases in your lapping performance through the modest additional gains in hp and torque from engine mods, in my view, compared to improving your driving skill, and the handling of the car and its ability to use to its fullest the power you have.
If you do decide to add power, you have to think about your smog and other certification issues depending on where you live. And remember that there are two basic ways to go. NA mods that altogether may add 35hp to the critter (catback exhaust, cold air intake, plenum spacer, headers, high flow catalytic converter) alltogether those will cost about $6-7k to buy and have installed if you have some one else do it, or you go forced induction and buy yourself an immediate 100+hp with a supercharger or turbocharger application on stock internals. Throw another $7,500 on to the bill if you want to build the motor up and increase the boost to deliver HUGE power, like 600+ bhp.
Along the way, somewhere in there, will be a cage, and probably aftermarket seats to better keep you in place. A cage will be $2k to do custom, which I would strongly recommend, and the seats will be $1-2k depending on what you prefer as a sport seat (not racing buckets).
This is just my point of view, and others may reasonably differ on the order of these points. You can spend more, get lots of zippy looking gauges, and such, but this will take you way down the line on performance, a path that you can stop along and necessarily have to follow all the way to the end, depending on what you want your car to do, and how much you want to spend.
Have fun!
First, and foremost, associate yourself with a good driving group in your region that sponsors HPDE (High Performance Driver Education) days at good tracks. Look for a group that has been around for a few years, has an excellent safety record, etc. There are some good Z and G local groups in almost every part of the country that occasionally take a venture to the track with a half dozen or more cars, but you can also go with groups that run other vehicles more frequently found on the track, like S2000, Evo, Subie, Porsche, BMW, etc. The disadvantage of that is they will not know your car and its particulars. Here in California there are several good outfits, two of the more popular ones being Speedventures (www.speedventures.net) and Trackmasters Racing (www.trackmasters-racing.com). Speedventures tends to be a little more SoCal oriented and Trackmasters a little more NorCal oriented. (They both do Laguna Seca, but SV rarely will go so far north as Thunderhill or Reno-Fernley, and TMR will rarely go so far south as California Speedway, Willow Springs or Pahrump-Spring Mountain).
Attach yourself to an experienced couple of enthusiasts who have been running their Z or G for a couple of years and just learn as much as you can.
When you go to the track with them the first time, run the car stock. You might as well find out what it can do in its base form. It is unlikely that, unless you are an experienced enthusiast driver, you will outdrive the capabilities of the car. You might, but as a novice it is unlikely. I would however strongly suggest, whether you ever performance drive the car again or not, that you make one mod, and that is you put in braided stainless brake lines and upgrade to a fully synthetic DOT 4 brake fluid. ATE Super Blue or Motul 600 RBF would be my respectful suggestion.
After you run the car a couple of times, see how you feel about it, whether you want to keep coming back for some more experience. If not, you are fine and that is the end of it. If you want to keep going, then read on.
The first thing to do now is work on the suspension and handling. The best bang for the buck on this car is to switch over to stiffer anti roll bars. For about $350-500 you can work a substantial improvement.
The second thing would be to go to a good set of performance coilover dampers and springs, and lower the car about an inch all around. You should be able to do this for $2k or less.
The third thing would be to get a set of lightweight wheels and tires. Keep your stock wheels and tires for the street, and then mount some good DOT R rubber like, Kumho, Toyo, Nitto, Yokohama....all reasonably affordable and very sticky. You just put them on and drive to the track with them. Go bigger on the treadwidths...I would suggest you try at least 245F and 275R. Good lightweight wheels will set you back about $2k. One piece forged or the new Enkei MAT process. No bling bling two or three piece or cast wheels. The tires will be about $1,200.
Somewhere along the way here you will want to upgrade your brake pads to something that will manage the heat better and give better bite on the rotor.
At this juncture you have spent relatively little, and can recover much of it on resale of the car, or by separately selling the part (the wheels for example).
If you are still enthusiastic, it is likely that at about this time your skills are improving, you probably have done 8 or 10 track days, and have advanced to the low intermediate group from novice group and your lap times are 15 to 20 seconds faster than your first couple of times. It also means that your brakes really are not "making it" any longer.
This takes you to a decision point about just how serious are you and is this the car you want to pursue your new found passion for driving with. It is also about the time that you should consider taking a serious driving course with some group like Skip Barber, Russell Racing, Bondurant, etc. I would recommend that before you spend a nickel on more parts, that you take a race driver course. You will learn a lot, and take it with you to every car you ever drive the rest of your life. It will really open up your eyes to what can be done with a car as well. It will cost $2,500 to $3,500 for a two or three day program. Best money you will ever spend.
Then, if you decide to keep going, and to do it with this car, open up your wallet. Because by this time you will be driving much harder and race school will get your braking technique more focused, and now the car will not keep up to your demands. So a big brake kit ("BBK") is likely to be the next step, and that is going to be about $2,500 if you do the fronts only, and $4k if you do all four wheels. I would suggest you consider the fronts only as a first step unless you are going to be really serious or the extra $1,500 is not as much a consideration for your wallet as the marginal additional gains it will provide. Also note, that the costs now get serious, and very little of what you put into the car will you ever get out on resale. Don't kid yourself, this is money for a hobby and not an investment, from this paragraph to the bottom of the page.
Then, a lightweight flywheel and clutch. JWT is a reasonable choice for price and performance. About a grand.
And a mechanical limited slip differential. Nismo or Cusco would be fine. Another grand, installed.
And then adjustable front upper control arms and rear camber links. Another grand.
Optional would be a short throw shifter about now. About $300.
You will note that nothing has been said about doing things to gain power.
You will not attain meaningful increases in your lapping performance through the modest additional gains in hp and torque from engine mods, in my view, compared to improving your driving skill, and the handling of the car and its ability to use to its fullest the power you have.
If you do decide to add power, you have to think about your smog and other certification issues depending on where you live. And remember that there are two basic ways to go. NA mods that altogether may add 35hp to the critter (catback exhaust, cold air intake, plenum spacer, headers, high flow catalytic converter) alltogether those will cost about $6-7k to buy and have installed if you have some one else do it, or you go forced induction and buy yourself an immediate 100+hp with a supercharger or turbocharger application on stock internals. Throw another $7,500 on to the bill if you want to build the motor up and increase the boost to deliver HUGE power, like 600+ bhp.
Along the way, somewhere in there, will be a cage, and probably aftermarket seats to better keep you in place. A cage will be $2k to do custom, which I would strongly recommend, and the seats will be $1-2k depending on what you prefer as a sport seat (not racing buckets).
This is just my point of view, and others may reasonably differ on the order of these points. You can spend more, get lots of zippy looking gauges, and such, but this will take you way down the line on performance, a path that you can stop along and necessarily have to follow all the way to the end, depending on what you want your car to do, and how much you want to spend.
Have fun!
Wow!
How long did it take you to write all that?!?
Thank you.
Originally Posted by ttrank
Wow!
How long did it take you to write all that?!?
Thank you.
How long did it take you to write all that?!?
Thank you.
Cheers!
Ed
Originally Posted by Dano_37
Has any one roadraced a g35 coupe if so how did you like it and how did the car do on a competitive level??????
