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Today I borrowed a G'tech timing device from some one I know. It measures acceleration of the car by measuring time and g-forces. It can display 0-60mph as well as 1/4mile times. I was interested in the former (ie. 0-60mph) as you don't need much road to reach 60mph and also it happens very quickly ... that means that on public roads you're speeding for only a couple of seconds and not by that much ... so it's much easier to do multiple runs.
It's a shame that this device does not meansure 0-100kph time, but 0-96.5kph instead (ie. 0 - 60mph). Still, it gives you times that you can compare to US/UK mags and you still can compare multiple cars with it. Slight bonus is that to run to 96.5kph we don't need to go to 3rd gear.
So, I went out and went to some empty industrial streets nearby and I did a fair few 0-60mph runs ... about 15 actually.
On my 1st run I gave the car way too much revs for this cold weather/surface and got waaaay too much wheelspin. I did not exactly shoot off the line and returned 6.5sec pass. On the next run I dropped the clutch from ~2,000rpm and returned 5.8sec time but still got too much wheelspin. After a few more launches I figured that the quickest way to get the car off the line is to launch the car from ~2,000rpm, but with minimal wheel-spin. This required a little-bit of clutch slip and one time I got it just right where the wheels did a micro-second spin but revs stayed just above 2,000rpm. This returned my best time of 5.36sec.
Though, that 5.36 was not easily repeatable (well, not repeatable at all as I have not managed a time like that 2nd time). I could consistantly return a time in the 5.5sec range ... I could do it with the slight clutch-slip, or even with a clutch drop from 2,000rpm where I then feathered the throttle to limit the wheel-spin.
If I gave it a bit too much revs (or throttle) and blunted my acceleration with too much wheel-spin, then it would return 5.7x - 5.8x sec time. I also tried to see what time I could get without a clutch-drop and with minimal revs (ie. good everyday street start). I gave the car minimal revs (ie. just over 1,000rpm) and eazed the clutch out while feeding in power as quickly as possible. That returned a surprisingly impressive times between 5.8 and 6.0sec. Though, I tried it once where I let the clutch out too quickly and it bogged (ie. did a little bunny-hop) ... that returned 6.2sec.
So I'm pretty happy with returning best time of 5.36sec for the 0-96.5kph (ie. 0-60mph). Though, don't be mistaken that the 0-100kph time would be close to that figure ... in particular because we need to make the 2nd-to-3rd gear-change to reach 100kph. Accodring to my data from Winton, my quickest 2nd-to-3rd gear-change took 0.44sec. Adding that to 5.36 returns 5.80sec. Then we still need to accelerate from 96.5 to 100kph (ie. for another 3.5kph) in 3rd gear to reach 100kph ... that takes me 0.33sec (according to my data from Winton). Adding that to 5.80 gives gives me 6.13sec as the best extrapolated 0-100kph time. With a super-quick 2nd-to-3rd gear-change I might be able to get it just bellow 6sec. Also, keep in mind that I'm sure thare are streets with more grip ... even a warmer day would probably help here. That might improve the times a fraction, but 5.8sec is about what I'd consider an absolute best 0-100kph time that I could possibly get.
ps.
Just for interests sake, when I had the S2000, the best 0-100kph (not 0 - 96.5kph) time I managed was 6.18sec. I managed couple runs with that figure but 6.2x - 6.3x sec was a lot easier to extrack and common. Though, the S2000 does not need the 3rd gear to reach 100kph so it will always have that 0.44sec adavatage to 100kph.
Also I tried a fair few 'street starts' where I tried to take off with minimal revs, no wheelspin, and minimal clutch work (ie. everyday quick start). With that the best time I could return was 7.7sec and often it would tick just over 8sec. While slipping the clutch from about 3,000rpm returned 7.2sec time. That's where the 350Z really shines as it looks like I could return 6.6 - 6.8sec 0-100kph times pretty easily even with a street-start.
It's a shame that this device does not meansure 0-100kph time, but 0-96.5kph instead (ie. 0 - 60mph). Still, it gives you times that you can compare to US/UK mags and you still can compare multiple cars with it. Slight bonus is that to run to 96.5kph we don't need to go to 3rd gear.
So, I went out and went to some empty industrial streets nearby and I did a fair few 0-60mph runs ... about 15 actually.
On my 1st run I gave the car way too much revs for this cold weather/surface and got waaaay too much wheelspin. I did not exactly shoot off the line and returned 6.5sec pass. On the next run I dropped the clutch from ~2,000rpm and returned 5.8sec time but still got too much wheelspin. After a few more launches I figured that the quickest way to get the car off the line is to launch the car from ~2,000rpm, but with minimal wheel-spin. This required a little-bit of clutch slip and one time I got it just right where the wheels did a micro-second spin but revs stayed just above 2,000rpm. This returned my best time of 5.36sec.
Though, that 5.36 was not easily repeatable (well, not repeatable at all as I have not managed a time like that 2nd time). I could consistantly return a time in the 5.5sec range ... I could do it with the slight clutch-slip, or even with a clutch drop from 2,000rpm where I then feathered the throttle to limit the wheel-spin.
If I gave it a bit too much revs (or throttle) and blunted my acceleration with too much wheel-spin, then it would return 5.7x - 5.8x sec time. I also tried to see what time I could get without a clutch-drop and with minimal revs (ie. good everyday street start). I gave the car minimal revs (ie. just over 1,000rpm) and eazed the clutch out while feeding in power as quickly as possible. That returned a surprisingly impressive times between 5.8 and 6.0sec. Though, I tried it once where I let the clutch out too quickly and it bogged (ie. did a little bunny-hop) ... that returned 6.2sec.
So I'm pretty happy with returning best time of 5.36sec for the 0-96.5kph (ie. 0-60mph). Though, don't be mistaken that the 0-100kph time would be close to that figure ... in particular because we need to make the 2nd-to-3rd gear-change to reach 100kph. Accodring to my data from Winton, my quickest 2nd-to-3rd gear-change took 0.44sec. Adding that to 5.36 returns 5.80sec. Then we still need to accelerate from 96.5 to 100kph (ie. for another 3.5kph) in 3rd gear to reach 100kph ... that takes me 0.33sec (according to my data from Winton). Adding that to 5.80 gives gives me 6.13sec as the best extrapolated 0-100kph time. With a super-quick 2nd-to-3rd gear-change I might be able to get it just bellow 6sec. Also, keep in mind that I'm sure thare are streets with more grip ... even a warmer day would probably help here. That might improve the times a fraction, but 5.8sec is about what I'd consider an absolute best 0-100kph time that I could possibly get.
ps.
Just for interests sake, when I had the S2000, the best 0-100kph (not 0 - 96.5kph) time I managed was 6.18sec. I managed couple runs with that figure but 6.2x - 6.3x sec was a lot easier to extrack and common. Though, the S2000 does not need the 3rd gear to reach 100kph so it will always have that 0.44sec adavatage to 100kph.
Also I tried a fair few 'street starts' where I tried to take off with minimal revs, no wheelspin, and minimal clutch work (ie. everyday quick start). With that the best time I could return was 7.7sec and often it would tick just over 8sec. While slipping the clutch from about 3,000rpm returned 7.2sec time. That's where the 350Z really shines as it looks like I could return 6.6 - 6.8sec 0-100kph times pretty easily even with a street-start.
i got 6.39 sec.
