Grassroots Motorsports
Issue link: http://grassrootsmotorsports.epubxp.com/i/397024
Grassroots Motorsports 110 a buy at $8000. Of course, for that price we weren't expecting a perfect car, and our expectations were met rather precisely. Yes, this Z was a little rough around the edges, but it was healthy enough to drive back to Florida from Atlanta–thanks to a low-mileage junkyard motor that had recently been installed in the 170,000-plus- mile chassis. Although the car had some clear problems, like clunks in the suspen- sion and a non-working power window, we still felt we got our money's worth. We had the car, but the question remained: What should we do with it? We didn't want to just start throwing parts at it with no clear direction. It obviously needed some TLC before anything else, so we made a few minor fxes–the radio was replaced and the power window repaired. Over the next several months, though, the Z sort of turned into the great-uncle you only see during the holidays and is related to you in a way you can never remember. Then the SCCA solved our problems for us. The 350Z had been inhabiting the Street Touring R autocross class, which was the bastion of mildly modifed Miatas and S2000s. Although Brian Peters managed to win the class at the 2013 Solo Nationals, his 350Z was the only one in attendance. To help bolster the numbers of what should have been a far more popular car, the SCCA moved the 350Z to the STU class for 2014. Moving a car to a theoreti- cally faster class rarely increases interest in it, but that strategy seems to have worked this time. Conventional wisdom (which is never wrong, according to Wikipedia) says that the Z was undertired in STR. The move to STU came with an allowance for the class's widest tires–up to 285mm–which flled those big wheel wells nicely and gave the Z the grip it deserves. The 350Z instantly caught some buzz, and we had a purpose for our project. Getting Started Our frst mission was to improve our Z's roadworthiness and reliability. We needed to deal with several issues before we could drive our 350Z comfortably, much less autocross it. The clutch was slippy, and several suspension bushings were trashed almost to the point of metal-on-metal contact between suspension pieces and sub- frames. We had to be careful not to modify ourselves out of our intended category, though, so we started with an examination of the Street Touring rules. "Street Touring was something we were developing, but it was also happening sort of organically at the time," says our old pal Kurt Spitzner. He would know. Kurt was working in the Rally/Solo department at the SCCA when it off- cially adopted Street Tour- ing as a national class. "There was a lot of buzz around the 'Fast and Furious' scene in the late '90s," Kurt explains, "and the SCCA has its well-intentioned but horribly named Speed Freakz program designed to get younger folks into autocrossing. And there were a few regions doing Street Touring-style classes, so it was just a natural ft." Kurt's personal car–a very clean 1991 Ford Escort GT–became the poster child for Street Touring, showcasing the class's prep level and even appearing on the cover of the Solo Rule- book in 2001, the year the class went national. While originally intended just for small-bore sedans, Street Touring has since grown to an entire Solo category with classes that welcome all kinds of cars, from small-bore roadsters to today's pony cars. The premise of Street Touring is simple. It pro- vides a class for folks who want to modify their cars but still drive them on the street. The most important and impactful rule affect- ing the class is the tire restriction: Street Tour- ing cars must run true street tires, with a mini- mum treadwear rating of 140 (that spec goes up to 200 for 2015). Street Tour- ing cars may substitute springs, dampers, anti-roll bars and control arms in some cases, while rubber bushings may be traded out for harder ones. Engines can be tuned digitally to a limited amount, and air intakes and exhaust allowances can provide some extra power as well. Aside from those limited changes and a few others, Street Tour- ing cars run as they came from the factory. The results have been exceedingly successful. Though the rules have been tweaked over the years, the category has grown steadily since its birth. At the 2014 Solo Nationals, nearly 250 drivers competed in 10 Street Touring classes. A QUICK LOOK AT SOME QUICK CARS Street Touring in a Nutshell For a m o r e i n - d e p t h look at Street Touring, we chat- ted with Street Tour- ing advisory commit- tee chair and reigning STS champ David Whitener. You can hear our interview on the Grass- roots Motorsports podcast at grassrootsmotorsports. com/podcast. Kurt Spitzner's Escort GT was the frst poster car for the offcial Street Tour- ing movement. We drove it more than 1000 miles from Kansas to Atlanta, and were none the worse for wear , our ears were a little sore.) Street Touring allows certain common bolt-on performance modifcations, but it limits the level of prep to minimize costs and compli- cation. For example, we were allowed to r "OEM-equivalent" unit. We chose the which was a setup fr . It went well with our r j.g. pasterjak photos