HS30-H

A few days ago I got back from a business trip to Japan. Whilst there I attended the 2005 NISMO FESTIVAL at the recently refurbished Fuji International Speedway, which took place on Sunday 4th December. I was lucky enough to be invited to be a member of the pit crew of 'NP35' - headed by my friend Matsui san, and we were looking after two customer cars. One was the Fairlady 240ZR replica of Mr Terashima, and the other was the KPGC10 Skyline GT-R of our friend Dr Shimizu - which was making its first ever runs after being completely rebuilt by Matsui san. This car had not turned a wheel under its own power in over 20 years..... Set-up and practice on Saturday afternoon enjoyed glorious late Autumn weather, but Saturday night was very windy and some exhibitor tents and shelters were blown away. Sunday dawned clear and crisp, but by lunchtime the clouds gathered and it started to snow! Being part of the 'show', we stayed until the bitter end ( and I'm very glad we did ). After packing the cars, spares and equipment back into the transporters we had quite an eventful drive home to say the least. Being part of the pit crew, I couldn't get out and about as much as I would have liked - but I did take quite a few pics from the pits which might be of interest. If Mike or Victor can create a section for them in the Gallery ( 2005 Events? ) then I will start some uploading. Cheers, Alan T.

Classy? Aw shucks . If you took the time to read back through the thread that you created, you might notice that you started it before I had received my pre-ordered copy. For me to start a parallel thread would seem to be fairly pointless considering you made such a good job on this one....... And ME "scared" to put out my own opinion on something? Ha ha ha ha! That'll be the day. I think this is a great thread ( you have created a beautiful monster ) so I don't know why you want it closed. I think we are all learning something here. We might even come to a collective agreement on some points ( shock, horror..... ). :classic: :classic: :classic:

Maybe Morton would have been more impressed had he not jumped into the dumbed-down and softened-up HLS30U? Where's that "An American Car, Made In Japan" quote now then? Its going to need to die of 'natural causes' rather than being shot for coming back to haunt its creator. Alan T.

Carl, Your lengthy post deserves ( needs ) some 'return of serve', and I'm afraid I am going to need to be Devil's Advocate in some respects: It cost me £24.95 ( that's approaching $50 US I think ) and I feel cheated. I pre-ordered it on the basis of its ambitious title, and would not have paid for it had I realised it was going to be such an intellectual and historical lightweight ( despite its physical size ). I'm sorry, but taking the title "Z - 35 Years Of Nissan's Sports Car" into consideration, I don't think I got anything like that......... Well, you can say that again. It is good that he 'downplayed' the role that Goertz played, but nobody ever goes far enough in my opinion. Goertz needs to be thoroughly discredited for his caddish, opportunist attitude and his active fostering of myth. If Goertz was an honest and truthful man, half of this nonsense would not be 'out there' in the first place. I didn't spot anything other than a brief mention of Matsuo's name, and his name does not figure in the single page ( ! ) 'Index' at the back of the book. Matsuo didn't 'design' the car on his own ( just like Goertz couldn't have, but nobody ever points out.... ) so where were the names of the likes of Yoshida, Chiba, Shitara, Uemura, Miyate, Benitani, Kamahara, Oiwa, Tamura et al? I don't understand why nobody ever seems to wonder who engineered the first-generation cars, rather than who is supposed to have simply styled them......... Sure they do. But the LATEST, most recent book to be published has the LEAST excuse for including so many glaring errors, and to be so blatant in simply COPYING the errors that were seen in its credited 'sources'. Colin Shipway's execrable spelling mistakes should NOT be copied verbatim in a book that gets published more than ten years later.......... Amen to that, but where you say "240-Z" I say "S30-series Z". Hold on. Brian Long's second book on the Z, 'Nissan 300ZX, 350Z - The Z-Car Story' is quoted in the 'Credits' ( Bibliography? ) section at the back of the Evanow book - NOT Brian's earlier book on the first-gen cars. If Evanow had paid attention to Brian's first Z tome, he wouldn't have had the embarrassment of simply copying Colin Shipway's mistakes. But for me ( and yes, this is my personal view ) I cannot understand why the same HUGE mistake is being made over and over again. What mistake is that? This one: The S30 / S31, S130, Z31, Z32 & Z33 series Z cars should be seen, discussed and critiqued as full families of Z cars, rather than '240Z', '260Z', '280Z ~ '350Z' etc etc. This - to me - is the single most fundamental mistake that can be made when thinking about 'our' cars ( and especially the particular series that this very web forum focuses on ). I can understand that a book will tend to focus on the cars known to its target audience - but to consciously avoid the brothers and sisters of a whole series of cars seems downright perverse to me. When the unmentioned siblings were such an important part of the story, and indeed their very existence implicitly affected so much of the story, it seems absolute madness to all-but-ignore them. To make such glaring and hopelessly inept mistakes about them when they are mentioned just cannot be excused. Sorry, but I think this book is a LONG way short of living up to its ambitious title. I regret having bought it. Maybe it should be subtitled ".........The American Viewpoint."? Alan T.

bpilati, Some of the misinformation in the book was pointed out by me in posts nos.65 & 71 on this thread. Others have pointed at mistakes and anomalies too. I could add plenty more, but I might get keel-hauled by the House Of Un-American Activities :tapemouth . I suggest you go back and read the whole thread from the beginning if you want to know where we are at......... Alan T.