370z Nismo for dd and wknd autox?

What's the general opinion on the 370z Nismo edition for autocrossing these days?

I'm looking to upgrade from my 2018 wrx running in DS and have been considering a few different cars (Golf R, Civic Type R [I just can't, not my cup of tea]) and decided to lookup the 370z online to try to figure out why I don't see more of them at autocross events.

Curb Weight of 3232lbs (according to it's wiki page)

350hp/276lbs torque (for the Nismo edition)

285 wide tires in the rear and 245 up front

Pretty decent gear ratios on 1st, 2nd, 3rd, (3.794, 2.324, 1.624)

Akebono brakes

On paper, it looks like it would be competitive but, I'm sure there's some reasons why I don't see them, just curious what they are. I did read some old posts on here about not very good cooling and brake fade but, those problems seemed geared more towards track than autocross?

I know people have a love hate relationship with the motor, but I love it. I know inmy Autox here out west, I see a lot of them, some very competitive.  G37 coupe?

The main thing with autocross is that the Nismo 370Z is in B/Street. It's a little on the big and heavy side to go toe-to-toe with the Boxsters and Corvettes. Then the Nismo, from what I recall hearing, is not legal for the Street Touring classes, so if you mod it out of Street you have to jump to A/Street Prepared, which is a Hoosier class. 

The regular 370Z is in C/Street, where it is up against the ND Miata and S2000 and FRS/BRZ twins, all of which are smaller and lighter. The non-Nismo is legal for both STX and STU though, where I've seen them put in some work.

If you aren't a tip-of-the-spear ultra-competitive driver though, none of that really matters. They are competent enough cars to where you won't hate life racing them, you just might not be top of the heap.

A friend ran a 370Z in C stock years a few years ago and old me they had oil temp issues. He won a national championship in it and then sold it. He's see something like a 50+ degree temp spike during a autox run. 

So what I see in the current SCCA Solo rule book is that NISMO is in STU (if you mod for that class) now (2009-2017... guessing new models also meet the criteria).

The only corvette in B street now is the C5 vette which is 345hp and 3,245lbs curb weight. I mean... that seems very similar to the 370z. I wonder if the vette's just get the power to the ground better?

I've heard about the oil temp issues. I'm wondering if that's still a problem or if an oil cooler would be allowed for safety reasons (and still maintain stock class... probably not).

From what I've seen, 370Zs in either trim are hard to keep pointy end forward on an autocross course.

That could be more of a driver issue among the stereotypical types who show up in 370s, though.

jj said:

I'm not sure about autocross, but for track the brakes are no bueno. Even in the NISMO.

I know years ago there was the article about the brakes failing during an automotive magazine review, right? But that's stock pads, stock fluid, no ducting, etc, right? 

With pads, fluids, ducting, are the brakes still not up to the task for the average HPDE person?

No snark, legitimately asking because I don't know. 

In reply to dustinh :  The C5 has gobs of torque, and much more autocross friendly gearing.  Most runs will be in 2nd gear everywhere, versus lots of 2-3 shifts in the 370Z

The 350Z I race, 2nd gear is totally useless in all but the slowest corners.

z31maniac said:

jj said:

I'm not sure about autocross, but for track the brakes are no bueno. Even in the NISMO.

I know years ago there was the article about the brakes failing during an automotive magazine review, right? But that's stock pads, stock fluid, no ducting, etc, right? 

With pads, fluids, ducting, are the brakes still not up to the task for the average HPDE person?

No snark, legitimately asking because I don't know. 

I couldn't see why not, the brakes are not especially small.  The OE compounds are just garbage, and you can't do a head to head comparo on new cars and start swapping parts or it is no longer a new car comparo.

I mean, people used to open-track Fox Mustangs with their 9" rotors or whatever they were, with little more than upgraded pads and added ducting, and they lived, for varying degrees of "lived".  (swap pads every session, rotors every other session unless they cracked before that, that sort of thing)

In reply to jj :

A lot of cars have ducting from the factory, so it doesn't seem to be a case of "it needs ducting" as much as "Nissan didn't give it ducting".

People were making the 350z competitive in STU for a few years there.  Not sure what happened. I think C5s an an E90 M3 moved them over, that and I think the Evo is allowed more tire.

It seems like they would be competitive, on paper. They can fit a lot of tire and have a good suspension, again, on paper.

Me, I can’t stand that engine. So rough, feels and sounds awful when I drove one.

Driving wise, anyone with experience , can enlighten on the 350 vs 370?