SRT-10 VS NISSAN 300ZX RACE VIDEO...

[GARY J]

Yesterday was a great day. We took the SRT down to the testing area and really had a great time. We got a lot of pictures and video footage. I am working on another video right now. Later in the afternoon, I called a guy(who has a fast 300zx) I considered to be a friend. Let me back up. Earlier this week, I spoke with the guy who owns the 300zx. This car is pretty fast. He claims to be making over 500rwhp.(I believe him) He asked me about this SRT I have been driving. I told him it was stock and it was strong. He asked how strong. I told hin it was strong enough to give him a good run for his money. He told me that I was full of it, and that he would put at least 10 cars on me. I told him to put his money where his mouth was. We bet 100 bucks on the race. The race conditions were that the viper had to be stock and the 300z had to be in the same condition that he was at the time of the bet(drag radials, pump gas etc.) I found out he removed his big stereo and "preloaded his wastegates".

So now back to yesterday. I get them on the phone and they agree to meet at the track. He asked to go from a 40mph roll, and I knew that was the only way he would race so I agreed. We line up and slowly get up to 40mph. Ready GO!!! (BTW the driver is not the owner)

CLICK HERE FOR THE VIDEO...

I was really surprised to see him slowly pull on the SRT. We got up to 120 or so. Afterwards, I congratulated them. It was a pretty close race, but the 300z was clearly the faster car. I just couldn't believe that the 300z pulled on me. My driving was spot on and I really had confidence in the car. On a hunch I asked the driver if he put race gas in the car. He said "yes I did". I said wait a minute, that's not what we agreed on. We bet money on this race, and the terms included 93 octane. I didn't want to look like a big baby about it, but it really pissed me off. If a was trying to blow him off of the road, I would have brought the big dog out and we would be measuring my victory in football fields,not car lengths, but I was trying to make it a good race. I guarantee that the difference between 93 octane and 100 octane on a turbo car has to be 50rwhp+. I feel if he would have run 93 octane, we would have easily outrun him.

My prediction of the race was that we would slowly outrun him, by about 3 car lenghts at 120mph. That is probably where it would have been if he would have stuck with the agreed upon race conditions. I think it is funny that he was dishonest about the race, ran drag radials, and we had to go from the speed that he determined, and he still only outran a showroom stock viper(down to the paper filters) by a small margin. THe owner of the SRT wanted to see what it was capable of stock, before I get my hands on it. I think the SRT held it's own very well.

[SRTRICKY]

Nice video...did you ever end up putting the HRE's on the Mamba?

[Sleeper]

Gary,

Interesting post, and thanks for including the video. Glad to know of your new found respect for your friend's 300ZX TT. The Viper becomes a target for these cars, mostly by default (ie., killing another Corvette etc. becomes boring). They are fun to tune, and the rewards are good. My experience with my own 300 ZX TT makes me want to bypass the SC upgrade and go directly to a twin turbo set up on my SRT. Here are a couple pictures: