Sunday, October 19, 2014
By: Matthew Doucette
(2020-JUN-24 UPDATE: Lake Doucette Street Car Challenge has archived/moved to xona.com/lakedoucette. Links in this article may be broken, but their contents can be found at this new location.)
Marking the first of our Lake Doucette Street Car Challenge series, a few of us took our street cars around the Lake Doucette Motor Speedway track this weekend. (If you did not know, we are car fans!)
Lap Times:
See Lake Doucette Street Car Challenge #1 for lap times.
Randy Carston takes home the win in the Subaru BRZ.
Too bad Jason couldn't make it with his Saturn Sky.
Thoughts:
The BRZ and FR-S are impressive track cars!
The 350Z, BRZ, and FR-S all had close to 22.0 second track times, until Randy went out for a second run and found another 0.5 seconds. Job well done. 0.5 seconds is not easy to come by on a small track.
My 350Z needs bigger brakes. They were overheating and starting to fade after 5..10 laps. It was not a comforting feeling. This is due to the heavy nature of the car. Most cars that compete with the 350Z, such as the Honda S2000 and Mazda RX-8, weigh much less. The 350Z commonly outperforms them on the track and in drag races due to its larger 3.5L engine. My 2006 model weights 3,339 lbs stock, and I weight reduced it to 3,268.8 lbs, a drop of 70.2 lbs.
My 350Z's modified curb weight of 3,268.8 lbs is 510.8 lbs heavier than Randy's 2013 Subaru BRZ's curb weight of the 2,758 lbs. The Subaru BRZ and Scion FR-S had no problems on the track with their stock brakes, whereas you could smell mine!
The unmodified curb weight of a 2007 Mustang GT, from a previous event, is 3,575 lbs, a fairly heavy car. A supercharged one would weigh even more. The weight is part of what makes it more of a muscle car than a sports (track) car. This is perhaps why the Nissan 350Z, Subaru BRZ, and Scion FR-S could challenge their track times.
Videos:
2000 Volkswagen Beetle (R32 engine) - Jordan Langille
2014 Scion FR-S - Matt Challoner
2013 Mazda 3 - Billy Upton
2013 Subaru BRZ - Randy Carston
(Apologies for the wind noise in this one.)
Update #1:
Please check out nextLake Doucette Street Car Challenge #2 for more track times and a video of my 350Z.
Special Thanks:
Thanks to Randy Carston for putting this on. Thanks to Gaston Comeau for letting us use his track, the Lake Doucette Motor Speedway.
That is all!
About the Author: I am Matthew Doucette of Xona Games, an award-winning indie game studio that I founded with my twin brother. We make intensified arcade-style retro games. Our business, our games, our technology, and we as competitive gamers have won prestigious awards and received worldwide press. Our business has won $190,000 in contests. Our games have ranked from #1 in Canada to #1 in Japan, have become #1 best sellers in multiple countries, have won game contests, and have held 3 of the top 5 rated spots in Japan of all Xbox LIVE indie games. Our game engines have been awarded for technical excellence. And we, the developers, have placed #1 in competitive gaming competitions -- relating to the games we make. Read about our story, our awards, our games, and view our blog.