The Z Car on the Road and the Track

These cars are part of a Nissan Exhibit that will be on display until January 9, 2012.

The Nissan (née Datsun) Z car celebrated its 40th anniversary last year, with a huge local presence anchored by Nissan’s corporate headquarters in nearby Franklin, TN. Several hundred enthusiasts from all over North America descended on middle Tennessee, enjoying our curvy roads and Southern Hospitality.

Lane Motor Museum was one of the destinations on the agenda for attendees, and we rolled out a few of the Zs we care for. We don’t have large Nissan holdings, but we are the caretaker for the Nissan Heritage Collection. When Nissan North America relocated here from the west coast a few years ago, they brought with them a diverse collection of cars, including 11 Z cars. Ranging from an early 240Z to a 350Z, most of the chassis are represented in the collection. As you may know, the Z was a very significant car in the American market – and racing successes certainly helped raise awareness of the brand.

We thought it might be interesting to see the “regular” street car paired with its racing counterpart. We’ve done a Z exhibit before, and we’ve shown the race cars before, but we’ve never paired them so an observer can look at what was done to the car to make it race-worthy. We hope that, displayed this way, you can see both the similarities and the differences in what is done to turn a sporty passenger car into a series-dominating racer.

Represented here are but three pairings – an original body style 1970 240Z; a later 1984 300ZX, and an even later still 1996 300ZX. Hopefully you can see the evolution in the bodies – certainly the family resemblance is strong from 1970-1984, but there are styling cues carried through to the 1996 model as well. Two of the race cars are only display bodies – they look like race cars on the exterior, but under the skin have simple frames and no drivetrains. The Bonneville car, however, is the real deal. With its engine modified to produce 300 horsepower, it ran an average of over 166 miles per hour, a class record that stood until 1985!

I certainly enjoyed doing the research on this exhibit. I learned that our good friend Sam Posey was closely involved in the development and testing of the Paul Neman #33 car, and I always enjoy any opportunity to talk with Sam. The “real” #33 is now in the hands of TV and radio personality Adam Carolla, and I understand it gets regular exercise. I saw this car many times in the 1980s when I began attending the Spring Sprints at Road Atlanta, and even ran into PL, as he preferred to be called when racing, in the pits many times. He was an exciting driver to watch!

I also have a bit of a connection to the #75 Millen/O’Connor car. My wife and I were at Road Atlanta in the spring of 1995 for our spring racing fix. We took a shortcut through the woods between The Bridge and the back straight, hoping to get back to Turn 5 before the end of the race. Millen was screaming around the track, running in second, and I wanted to see that car win. Unfortunately, as we were hustling along the back straight, we heard a sickening screech-thud, and were showered in Road Atlanta’s well-known red clay. Millen was out, in what turned out to be a professional career-ending crash.

We hope that you can visit while the exhibit is ongoing. The opportunity to see cars such as this side-by-side, and get a look into the “office” of the racer, is a rare one indeed.

The Nissan Exhibit “Race on Sunday, Sell on Monday” will be on display at Lane Motor Museum until January 16, 2012.