Doehring

Hallo Fred, are you shure it was 1971 or was it 1974? In 1974 there also was a Z at 5th position ? Please check. Rolf

Dan, (and Mike Gholson, too) I once more agree with Zedrallye. Save the money that adjustable shocks cost but buy a very good non-adjustable set. Konis are good because you can make them stiffer, I prefer gas . Zedrally mentioned the bumps. Right, dents and scratches may be part of the business (see my car in sportZmagazine, that was a too hard impact). Don't forget the bump stops , I crashed my rear suspension once when I jumped at a train crossing at about 80 mph and I had forgotten to install bump stops. By the way, against understeering helps a little more chamber at the front suspension. Don't do too much to the car when you start rallying, do it by learning the game. Have a good Co-driver, improve your driving style ( the driving style for rallying is much different to the style on a race track where you know what is coming next and where you don't have traffic coming against you) and have fun - just as Zedrallye mentioned. If you need infos on the driving style, don't hesitate to contact us. Rolf

Dan, I fully agree with Zedrallye. Try to improve your Z in a way that you can use it as a daily driver, too. As long as you are not rallying like a semi-professional you don't need a specially adapted car. Nevertheless you should at first make clear with yourself what kind of rallye you prefer, events on mainly "stiff" roads (tar, pavement) or on "soft" roads (in forests, sand, natural ground). In the first case you can lower your car, in the other you should ride high. You can see the diff with the works rallye cars, for instance when you compare the Safari Z to the Monte Carlo Z. Classic car events here are mainly on "stiff" roads. So I lowered the car by using Eibach springs (don't forget to use bump stops! Sometimes you have to jump for instance over train crossings at high speed).I also changed to Tokyko gas struts and changed all rubber in the suspension to urthane. The tires I mentioned already before. I also did a lot to the interior as you can see in the picture gallery, racing. There I have the original seats and steering wheel (leather coated ), for other events I use 2 Recaro racing seats, a smaller but thicker steering wheel (Raid) and 4 point seat belts. As Rallye Counter we use a 10m counting Retrotrip and additionally sometimes a bike computer for measuring average speed. Normally electronic aids are not allowed at Classic events. Everything should be as it has been 25 years ago. What was allowed to the car at that time that you can see in the Homologation papers available from Nissan or your national motorsports authority. I also use an Intercom for conversation inside the car because I have 3 open double carbs, header and an exhaust with only one "smooth" silencer at the rear. What you have to know is that the 240z is a "nosebear" (dramatically understeerer). esp. on wet roads or on "soft" roads. Left foot braking helps but that's difficult. The handbrake is good to use in narrow bends. On tar you can try to make the car unstable before the bend so that it swings oversteeringly into the bend. Here you can "steer" now with the wheel and !!! the gas pedal. Make shure your front wheels always look into the direction where you will go to. Don't get nerveous at ste steering wheel or you will spin. That's why some drivers use a white stripe at the top of the steering wheel. Good luck Rolf Rolf

Mike (Zedrallye) I think we should include the 260Z because even with the works cars there was a sliding transition. Rolf

There was a wonderful Chapparall once in the US using the same system as the Brabham-Alfa F1. One of my favorite race cars, was it in the CanAm ? Rolf

Zedrallye, comparing your description to my on Central Europe there is a lot of similarity. What's about the USA ? Rolf

Mike, I did it like Zedrallye too many years ago. Because I had no car at that time I started as Co-Driver/Navigator and tried to learn as much from the best in the club. When I got my first little FIAT I started driving together with one of the better navigators we had. My first car was not specially prepared but that changed with my won experiance and I learnt at first to improve the handling of the car (I started with the steering wheel and tires) and to improve security inside the car at the same time (harness). Next were the lights for night events. Concerning the engine my first improvement was a bigger oil pan to lower the temperature. And than things went on ...... Rolf

Hi, (especially all norwegian friends) yesterday a friend showed me a video that's qualitiy wasn't very good. It seems to be something official from Nissan. It is called "The Datsun Rally History Vol.1" (is there also a Vol.2 ?) and it seems to be published by "Nissan Sporting Norway". The language is english. Does anyone have more information on that or do you know other sources? Rolf

The rallye scene here in Central Europe changed in the last years. In former times we had a lot of smaller events "round the church tower"on tarmac roads and in the fields and forests. Main difficulties were a)navigation, b)staying within a given time from time-control to time-control and c)driving a given average speed that was controlled by secret , hidden marchals. Now: Central Europe is quite crowded, so the population became angry by the lot of events nearly every weekend crossing their villages and the green party set political pressure. So these events died, b u t they start now living again for classic car events. Many people like old cars and the number of events is limited. Nevertheless, I like these events and I do some every year together with my wife as navigator. The everage speed is at about 35-40 km/h and most roads are tarmac. It's also a social event with breakfast, lunch and a winners party at the end and the participation fees are affordable (about 60$ for 2 persons and the car) . Rallies with todays cars changed. Now we have transportation sections within the normal traffic with nearly no navigational problems because the road books are very exact on a 10m basis (distances between one crossing to the next and which way to take there). Then there is a time control (the time for the transportation section is limited, but normally not too hard to reach). Behind the time control is a short neutralized section (about 500m) and then there is another control where you get your starting time for the following special stage on closed roads.These are high speed sections, measured in 1000/sec. Sometimes there are navigational tests included but normally arrows show you the way that is also descipt in the road book, but not detailled enough to be really fast. That's why the co-driver writes his own "prayer-book" in case the special stage is known before and you can have a training. If the stage is secret you are dependíng on good eyes, feelin, experience, car control and the cars handling, which is a question of the car's preparation and technical solutions. Handling , traction and brakes are most important, the engine should have enough power for good acceleration. Power without handling means nothing! When you finished the stage the given time for the next transportation section starts. For classic cars like our 240Z there are these events, too, especially in the European Classic Car Rallye Championship. Most classic events like Mille Miglia, Trofeo Nuvolari, Silvretta Classic, Alpenrallye, Coup des Alpes Classic, Ennstal and so on have transportation stages with a given average speed or a given total time. After a time control a special stage is started. This can be a difficult navigational task that you have to finish in a certain time exact on 1000/sec, or a slalom - also mostly on a given time basis- or something similar, but mostly based on a given time so that you have to cross the finish line exactly on 1/1000 sec. the reason for this is that the level of difficulty should give the same chance to all the different classic cars that are grouped by their age and not by power or cubics. Normally these events last for 2, 3 or more days over a quite long distance in the most beautiful parts of Europe, like the Alpes or Tuscanny. I like these events but unfortunately I can't do these too often because of a lack of time and - money. These events are expensive! Sometimes I have the chance to be invited because I'm a quite good Co-driver since I started in the age of 16 as a navigator. My last Silvretta I could do in a classic Ferrari 250 SWB because the organizer didn't accept me and my wife in our 240Z. She was very sad but the Ferrari owner was very happy. Unfortunately we had sometimes thermal problems and in the high Alpen region the air was too thin for the carbs, so the mixture was too fat, the car stumbled when accelerated and we missed the 1000/sec. The organizersey preferred Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche , Mercedes Gullwings and other very, very rare well known makes also here in Central Europe you have only very few 240Z and 260Z but lots of Porsche 356. By the way, there was 1 Toyota 2000 GT, never seen before! Rolf

Guus, thankyou for the hint on the relais. I use a relais because it is not allowed here to drive far beam and fog beam together in normal traffic. On special stages I use far beam and fog beam together what means I have to "overjump" the relais feeding the fog lights directly from the battery - and that sucks energy. Rolf

Zedrallye, up to now I didn't have your problem in an event but I fear I will get it as soon as I would drive with 6 lights burning. I think the Z's generator isn't powerful enough, as well as the battery. I changed the american sealed beam lights to Hella-bi jode that has a quite acceptable far going beam and add the Cibie wide angeled fog lights to have better visibility on both sides for cornering. I once tried the 100 W Hella far beam lights together with the Cibies and I got your troubles. So I decided the above compromise. Has anyone on the list experienced stronger generators or knows anyone what Datsun did to the works rallye cars ? Rolf

Thank you for the forum, Mike.

Hallo James, congratulation, to get such a fine 240 for that price is a miracle. Normally elder ladies drive carfully. Rolf

Hi all, if this is a new official logo I like it. It looks elegant, suiting Z and ZX , also the new 350Z and Infinities. Sorry, but I do not favour the other existing Nissan cars, exept perhaps the little Micra. To me all other cars are "Bread and butter" and do not even have a financial advantage like the japanese cars had in their early european days. What counts to me now is the quality of the service. Rolf