This week we’re going to be drawing on our time spent at the 2012 Z Nationals car show and track day for the photos of the day. First up, a heavily modified Z32 300ZX Twin-Turbo being tracked at the Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama.
A heavily modified Z32 300ZX Twin-Turbo speeds past Race-Control at the Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama. (Photo Credit: Laura Maddrey)
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Sold from 1983 through 1989, the Z31 300ZX name followed the numerical convention initiated with the 240Z, put forth by Yutaka Katayama, the one time president of Nissan Motors USA. The “X” designation had debuted with the previous generation Z car, the 280ZX, to signify the presence of luxury and comfort oriented features. Contrary to popular belief the Z31 model of the 300ZX (1983-1989) was actually the most popular in terms of total sales, selling over 100,000 more units than it’s Z32 successor.
The Z31 generation featured 5 different motor packages. A turbocharged dual over head cam 2.0L straight six (RB20DET, found in 200zr), a turbocharged single over head cam 2.0L V6 (VG20ET, found in 200Z/ZS/ZG), a naturally aspirated single over head cam 3.0L V6 (VG30E, found in 300zx), a turbocharged single over head cam 3.0L V6 (VG30ET, found in 300zx Turbo) and a naturally aspirated dual over head cam 3.0L V6 (VG30DE, found in 300zr). Pictured above is an American market 1985 N/A Z31 300ZX with the VG30E engine.
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Continuing our ongoing “Z” car focus this week, today we show some love for the first generation 300ZX; Nissan’s Z31 Turbo.
In racing trim, the Z31 300ZX achieved several notable victories, including important wins in the 1986 Trans Am series.
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Nissan has created the world’s first crowd-sourced Z-track car by handing over the build to their Facebook fans…
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Today we take a trip back to the 1980′s again and see just how Toyota pitched it’s Mk3 Supra…
The new Mark III Supra engine, the Toyota 7M-GE, was the flagship engine of Toyota’s arsenal. Both versions of the engine contained 4 valves per cylinder and dual overhead cams. The turbocharged 7M-GTE engine was Toyota’s first distributor-less engine offered in the US which used coil packs sitting on the cam covers and a cam position sensor driven by the exhaust camshaft.
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Seeing as how it’s Throwback Friday around here, it only seemed appropriate that today’s domestic sportscar should be none other than Buick’s awesome ’87 3.8L turbo GNX.
The stealthy appearance of the all-black GNX and Grand National, coupled with the fact that the Grand National was initially released during the height of Star Wars fever, earned it the title “Darth Vader’s Car”. Car and Driver covered the GNX model’s introduction with the headline “Lord Vader, your car is ready,” a phrase more recently attributed to the Maybach Exelero. Click to Enlarge – 1920×1200
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BMW is working on its own compact, more affordable four-door coupe to rival the likes of the Audi A5 Sportback and the upcoming Mercedes-Benz CLA.
Engine options will carryover from the standard model, so expect petrol choices to include a turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder with181 bhp and 245 bhp as well as a 3.0-liter inline-six with 315 bhp. Click to Enlarge - 655x489
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What was the surprise hit of our time spent driving the back-roads of England and France? The Volvo C30.
The C30 Polestar makes big power...extracting 405hp from it's turbocharged 2.5-liter five-cylinder engine. Putting all that power to the ground is a Haldex all-wheel drive system, big Brembo brakes, and Öhlins dampers and springs...a classic formula for success topped off by a sturdy six-speed manual transmission. Click to Enlarge - 1920x1200
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