Option 350Z Top Speed Run Car
Our job was simple. Wes, our ace photographer, and I were given two days inside the dissolute city of Las Vegas to photograph a car that promised to be the fastest
Nissan in the world. This car was slated to shoot through Nevada Highway 278 at a chilling speed of 220 mph, challenging Ferraris, Vipers, and other exotic machines that even I can't pronounce at the 16th annual Silver State Classic Challenge, a high-speed race event to determine which man has the bigger cojones to withstand the pressures of racing down a public road in extremely outrageous speeds. This car, a '02 Nissan 350Z owned by Option magazine, Japan's leading automotive tuning lit, was made strictly for that race and to eventually break the event's average-speed record of 207.78 mph, printed as the fastest road race average speed by Guinness Records. In these two bleak days, however, the only thing going fast was the time for Wes and I to shoot this very elusive vehicle.
"I can't find it, man," uttered Wes during his short stint as my rental car navigator. Our pre-trip research told us that the Z would be inside the Las Vegas Motor Speedway running hot laps around the oval for qualifying and overall practice. Wes, a certifiable walking map with a brain catalog of directions and short routes to anywhere across the globe, couldn't find the car--anywhere. Called guerilla journalism, this car was up for grabs for anybody to feature, mediocre or not, and we weren't about to allow that to happen, especially when the car was set to go back to Japan after the race. We wanted to be the first and only to capture the car on film. So we were ready with a team, including myself, the writer, Wes the shutterbug wh*re, and a contact from Option magazine. With that, we thought we were the sure-shot candidates for the feature.
/
/
The only problem was finding the car. We went in and out of the speedway, asking every employee and bystander about the Z and the Silver State Classic Challenge but to no avail. We called everyone back home to get more information but nobody had leads. Nothing. We were stuck in Las Vegas, cameras and voice recorders in hand, for nearly six hours with the possibility of coming home featureless.
Outfitted with a GReddy T88H turbocharger producing over 750 ponies, this orange-pale metallic Nissan 350Z is a race-bred natural beauty. Peering inside the engine bay, I was entranced by the workmanship of the setup: A VQ30DET sits in the bay supported by an army of custom-made JUN products. "I chose JUN to tune the car because they have experience running in the Silver State Classic, as well as great knowledge in American tuning," explained Yoshimura-san. Almost every part inside and outside the engine is a JUN fabrication. JUN cams, boasting a 272 duration and 9.8 lift, help the stock valves open wide enough to let the exhaust and air move efficiently during the high speeds, which is also assisted by the JUN valve springs, while the air makes its way to the JUN cylinder head via a GReddy air intake, a VH45 throttle body, and a custom JUN intake manifold.
Inside the V-6 block, tunneled to make approximately 3.8Ls, are six JUN pistons crowned with matching piston rings. These powerful slugs help the fuel, which is spit out by 740cc JUN injectors, detonate effectively. The leftovers are thrown out by a JUN titanium exhaust system by way of JUN headers. The most important part of the mechanism was clearly left to GReddy with the T88H, as well as its blow-off valve, Type C wastegate, and E01 boost controller. The footwork is managed entirely by ZEAL springs and shocks, partnering up with choice Advan TC2s (18x8.5 in the front and 18x10.5 in the back). The power is transferred to the Michelin Pilot Sports Cup tires by an HKS clutch and regulated by a Cusco LSD. And if these tires were to ever fail or something goes askew inside the engine, Inada-san is protected by an 18-point rollcage and Takata racing harness, which brings us back to why this power machine isn't on the cover.
Just minutes after its launch to make its first run at the Silver State Classic, Inada-san reportedly reached 201 mph before a tire blew, causing the 350Z to flip seven times, crashing to a screeching halt, mangled like a junkyard beater. According to the Ely Daily Times, a local newspaper in the middle of nowhere, the Z crashed 7 miles from the start. This accident occured no more than 15 hours after Wes and I worked our a**es off just to get these shots for you. Cover feature or not, we got this baby on film and Lady Luck finally gave us a big break. So bear witness to one of the only clean features of Option's Nissan 350Z.
