They matter-of-factly reported that the Z’s stock brake pads were designed primarily for low noise and low dust, and not for racetrack situations. It’s our view, however—and we don’t think we’re alone—that the NISMO Z, an even sportier version of a sports car, should be equipped with brakes competent enough to survive a few hot laps. And it’s worth noting that we’ve never experienced such hellacious brake degradation in the history of our Lightning Lap events.

My First Trackday Review - 2/28/09

Well, I am home safe with the Z after a beautiful day at the track. I purposely left the car completely stock for this first track event so I could get a good feeling for how the car behaves. The only thing I did have to change was the brake fluid, for safety reasons. I used the one thing my mechanic had available. Super BLUE, which isn't bad actually. I will divide the review into different sections to make it easier to read. As a disclaimer here, all my "ratings" are comparing the Z to other track worthy cars I've driven or been in around the track. (GT-R, GT3, STi, 350Z, etc...so a wide range.) I have a feeling some of you will find it a bit harsh, but then again, it is stock and the competition is rough.

Engine:

The engine in this car is a little hard to describe. Its not bad and its not weak, but it is a little lazy and it lacks punch in the bottom end. It vibrates a LOT at higher RPMs and it just doesn't feel all that refined. The exhaust is too quiet as well. I have to say I was racing in Advanced and everyone there had very fast cars with racing compounds; so I felt very slow today. I just need more power and more responsiveness from the engine. Definitely had to use all those revs to keep it in the power band. The fact that I didn't want to rev past 6k didn't help me much either (break in? lol) I didn't want to put 100% of the engine today, I'd say I used about 90% of it. So what it needs is a lighter flywheel, intake, exhaust and a supercharger. The other biggie was of course...engine oil temperature... what a pain in the ***, I didnt get more than 10 minutes into any of my 25 minute sessions because of overheating. I just took it back in and let it cool down, after all its still breaking in right? One thing that I think helped was to turn the heat on full blast... that apparently circulates the coolant through another radiator. I think it may have helped a bit, but it only delayed the inevitable. Oil cooler is going to be a huge mod for the 09 version of the car, maybe they will fix this ridiculous issue for '10. On the positive side...the engine is well matched to the transmission and it makes some nice power when it gets into the powerband at higher RPM. If you somehow manage to forget the vibration, it is a smooth engine. It delivers the power predictably and smoothly.
Rating 6/10.

Brakes:
OK, this one is going to help the overall average. The brakes on this car are much much better than I expected. As I said, the only thing I changed was the brake fluid so the setup was completely stock. There was no fading at all in any of the sessions. I could actually brake pretty late and the pedal was solid. The rotors held up and the brake pads were very good for stock street pads. Good job Nissan on this part. I am only going to change the pads and the brake lines here.
Rating 9/10

We wanted to test the fortitude of these upgraded brake pads for ourselves, so we arranged a back-to-back test of the base pads—like the ones on our Lightning Lap NISMO Z—and the new pads. We used two Sport-package 370Zs (which have the same brake hardware as the NISMO Z). To provide as much context as possible, we employed the same severe methodology  from our 11-vehicle braking showdown [“The Power to Stop,” August 2008]. That consisted of a continuous battery of stops from 100 mph until the performance of the brakes degraded significantly. These 100-mph braking events were broken down into five-stop cycles; we began each cycle with a moderate, 0.5-g stop (that’s about half of the Z’s ultimate braking capability) and measured brake-pedal force and travel for evidence of fade. Four panic stops followed each cycle’s first moderate stop, and we recorded the distance it took the car to come to a standstill. We executed stops every 20 seconds (including the time to accelerate back to 100 mph) and repeated the five-stop cycles until the brakes succumbed to fade. That’s when the brakes get so hot that it causes a reduction in the friction between the pads and the rotors, which leads to longer stopping distances and increased pedal travel, as well as requiring more pedal force.