How was 2005 for you?

[Rob Gaskin]

Thought I would start a thread for us to look back at personal experiences from 2005 and forward to 2006 (Z related).

Feb, Visited Historic Motorsport show at Stoneleigh, found a bargain (Oil Cooler) and fitted. Oil pressure much better when hot.

March, Watched Robin Hood Stages rally, good turnout of 240s, great atmosphere on Sat evening stage and Dominic won too.
Donnington round of Roadsports series, another good turnout of Zeds, Matt Bannister entertained the crowd with a couple of unintentional spins, but showed plenty of pace.

April, Had my first go at 'the Pod'. Great weather, another good turnout, good fun. In my ignorance was hoping to do a low 14s, get under 15s, now realise more skill, grip and better power-to-weight needed!

May, Japfest at Castle Combe. Weather terrible, excellent turnout thanks to Suzy, enjoyed the first session in damp conditions, second was frightening in downpour with my tyres.

June, visited the two Swapmeets on 5th. Good day, bought some bits and met some more club members.

Fitted Leda struts F&R, few problems at back due to previous owner using Locktite on halfshafts, pmac came to rescue with bits needed.

Donnington track-day. Terrible weather am but picked up pm. Suspension had transformed the roadholding! Good day, met a 260 racer from the 'States.

Sept, Trax at Silverstone GP circuit, great fun.
Action day at Castle Combe, a few Zs out on track, good fun again.

Oct, Finished 4th in FI fantasy challenge, thanks Sean.

So all-in-all a fun year enriched by being a ZClub member.

2006, much of the same I hope! Car needs to lose a bit of weight (and me) and better front brakes. Might have a go at a sprint/hillclimb with Ben and Ken.

 

[DJZ 60]

Hi Rob.
Blimey you've certainly been busy! & almost throughout the year! Keep up
the good work,I myself have been busy in my Real life but on the Z scene I
have been pretty much 'uneventful'. DJZ 60.

 

[Steve J]

Well for me 2005 brought the Internet, before this I'd joined and gone to a few Z club meets - one of these (JAE @ Billing) I'd seen these Z32's with 300.zx.co.uk on the side windows but wasnt sure what it was about.

When I got "connected" I typed this magical combination in and found a world of Z's and their owners and I thought what a bloody good place it was, during one of my visits someone mentioned Z.Net so I looked in and found I'd gone full circle and was back to the Z Club.

How pleased I am that I found the way of the www, We have some interserting differences on here but I'm proud to belong!!

 

[mick daniels]

I'm proud to belong!!

That sums it up for me Steve! Had the great opportunity of meeting members and seeing some of the other cars at the Christmas do in November.
That was my first "meet" and I hope to make it more in 2006 ....just need cash..and lots of it.

Although Suzy might organise a weekend meet in the lakes of Killarney for the summer.....go on suzy!

 

[SeanDezart]

Imported and sold Zs (still some left)
Attended Frances' first all Japanese car weekend near Nantes
Met up with the hardcore HOE group and had a great weekend
At Le Mans 24 hrs race - met Nick King, boozed it up with Suzy and Chris, almost met up with Tom from the old Thames Valley group but he had a hangover !
Cathy made redundant...me made redundant
Moved up to Broadband so I can wind you up that much quicker
Bought two ZXs and two roadsters
Did A LOT of DIY
Parts run and visit to the UK
My Z is now Mr Jarmans' life (at least, it's wort(h his and is THE priority
Looking forward to a quieter and prosperous 2006 and :
a Z tour down to the south of France in April
a Jap car meet up in May
Le Mans 24Hrs in June
Le Mans Classic in July
and finishing higher than 2nd in next years' F1 challenge !

 

[funkjunky]

Sean

Tour to the South of France sounds interesting - haven't booked any of my 2006 holidays yet - let me know what you had in mind - may come over and join you

best wishes for the New Year

Ian

 

[chunk]

Cor blimey guv, where do i start!!

January i guess.....

Just bought my Z32 SWB Slicktop TT, it needed a few £££'s spending on it to get it to the spec i wanted it to be, so thats all that i really did in Jan!!

Feb

Froze my nuts off at the nightime Santa pod event and it got even colder for the RWYB the next day!

I also sold my trusty Z32 2+2 in Feb aslo

March

Honestly, I cant think of much that happened in March, except for prepping my Z for the Zclub challenge!

April

I did my first round of the Zclub challenge and got a 13.372@105.37mph, I was pretty chuffed with this time as i still had my 18" wheels on, blowing exhaust and id still got my sub in the boot! LOL

May

Well, there was japfest that i went to, Also ZCC and bettered my time to a PB of 13.044@108.92mph, that was mainly due to getting a handmade exhaust system done by Leon at Alunox!!

June

Lots of miles covered this month, I went to the King of Europe drag event in Belguim, had some great fun out there, did some HUGE speeds, some very nice sideways action and got rather beered up. Unfortunately, just after cambridge on the way home my gearbox expired, quick call to the AA and i was home in 2 hours!!
Did the Japshow at Santa pod aswell, got crap times 13.623@103.12mph was my best due to hot weather and hangover LOL, even a Civic type R beat me because i forgot to put the car in D, i left it in 1st after the burnout
July

All i think i did in July was get stressed about JAE (im the national events org for 300zx.co.uk) but in the end it was well worth it, not that i remember a great deal about the actual weekend!!

Obviously before JAE and i mean Thursday night/Friday morning me amd a mate (MickeyB off the other side) fitted my replacement gearbox so i could get to JAE!!

August

AMin thing for me was the Asda charity day at Bruntingthorpe proving ground, excellent day, maybe the best day ive had in the Z, I recorded 172.9mph down the long straight and averaged 3.6mpg per lap!

September

I took the Z off the road in September to get it ready for the last Japshow, where i was determind to get a mid 12 sec 1/4, we did lots of setup work and all was going well.

October

Noooooooooooo, 2 nights before the Japshow, a water pipe split right at the back of the engine, no probs we thought, until we found out it wasnt a pipe, it was the actual connection had corroded away!! Gutted, as when i took the car out a couple of night before, a mate in his Z, running more boost then me couldnt keep up!!

November

Stripped and started to build my new engine for 2006, bought some odds and sods and started prepping the body for paint!!

December

Not done as much as i wished this month, but hey its christmas and ive been drunk most of the time.

the mids guys had the 300zx.co.uk Xmas do at Nottingham gokarting, was a great day even thou i was last, but hey, for someone who couldnt brake, i didnt think i did too bad


Now you'll get a good nights sleep after reading all that bumf!!

Happy new year all

Rich

 

[SeanDezart]

funkjunky - go read the 'meetings' section

 

[Rob Gaskin]

Very impressive Chunk, especially the 173mph!

Were you out in the downpour at Japfest, a black 300zx flew past me, hope it was you then I don't feel so bad!

 

[chunk]

Hi Rob,


No, It wasnt me, I'll hopefully be out on track at the coming Japfest!! If i get it built and ran in by then!

 

[ben240z]

january worked on rebuilding the car following last june's "slight off"
february worked on rebuilding the car
march worked on rebuilding the car
april worked on rebuilding the car
may worked on rebuilding the car
june worked on rebuilding the car
july worked on rebuilding the car
work on the car included extensive body repairs to replace all fibreglass arches and front end, new front chassis rails, reshape the nearside of the roof from tree damage, make new front track control arms, fit new adjustable shock inserts, traction control wheel speed sensors, engine wiring loom, fit injection and throttle slide, distributorless ign with mappable injection and timing engine management system to name but a few tasks.Neil Peters of Pride Race Engines has done the mammoth task of the engine mods and mapping. Can't say a big enough thankyou to him, his wife Jo, and Scott for all thier hard work help and advice on this
august drove the car for the first time at the first meeting for 14 months, half a second slower than my best time in the car before the "off" WOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
september drove the car at gurston and despite some minor handling issues and lack of brakes still got to within a quarter of a second from best time. 2 second places to finish the season off WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
october got married WOOOOOHOOOOO
november car in garage sulking co we cant go out to play. frustration is setting in
december really getting itchy feet for next season to start. booked up a test day to iron out the minor probs with the car for feb 2006
not a bad year really, not as much driving as i would have liked but the car is most definately better for the work done on it. Plans for next season are to learn how to use the power and torque curves that we now have, get Dee more confident in herself and the car and then see what it really goes like.
Heres wishing you all a good 2006 with whatever you do with your Z's. All the best ben and dee

 

[Russ]

173mph Chunk! Wooooo, would like to know what that looks like


Beginning part of the year spent with uni.

Easter spent having a head fit over my dissertation titled "Active Generation of Benchmark Datasets for Adaptive Classifiers", about AI learning, and was a complete nightmare.

Easter to Summer worrying about exams.

June mainly drunk.

Bought 240z in July, 1000mile round trip in 25 hours with team of relay drivers.

August till now working (passed my degree hoorah and never have to do any more school ever again).

Took engine to pieces over November/December.

Website has made some more progress, hopefully we'll see more in 2006.

Really looking forward to doing more in 2006 with the restoration, next up suspension removal!

 

[chunk]

173mph Chunk! Wooooo, would like to know what that looks like

Well my speedo was reading around 195 (when i dared to look) but because of the width of the track at Bruntingthorpe, it didnt feel a great speed, if you know what i mean!

I'm hoping with the engine im building at the moment to see about 185ish this year at the same event!

Rich

 

[Bobby Ball]

One of the best years I have had for a long time..Even got some time to do some work on my Zed & go to Santa Pod.

Hope to go to Jap fest this year. When is it?...

 

[Visigoth]

2005 was the worst year in my life! My Z turned into a pile of s**t. I hit a dear in it wrecking my wings west body kit and hood and headlights and foglights and everything else i got about 20,000 dollars into debt it just wasnt a good year

 

[Tony 260Z]

Jeez.. better luck in 2006...

Fingers crossed for you!