The Pantera Club will be running a two day event in Pahrump on April 28-29. It is open to all makes. The price is only $175 or $250 for one or two days, respectively. There is still some room in the intermediate and advanced groups.

http://www.panteraclubnorcal.com/track.htm

Mark McWhinney
1993 300ZX Convertible
1971 DeTomaso Pantera

 

I saw that on the track's website, but did not know that it was open to all cars. Thanks for posting it. I have nothing going on that weekend either...

 

WOW! Didnt know that we had a Pantera club here. I haven't seen a Pantera in years. Last one I saw passed me on the way back from Cali about 10 years ago. I remember because I damn near felt and heard the rumble before he passed me.

 

Yeah Panteras are awesome. I have seen a few here at some local car shows.

 

I ran the Silver State Classic open road race from Ely a few times. There were usually some Panteras entered. Some of them even made it to the finish line.








I'm just giving you a hard time Mark. I remember a purple Pantera that was highly modified. He had more than his share of bad luck - including a fire. It was a very nice and fast car. Thanks for inviting us to your track event. I would love to come and join you if I can.

 

The Pantera and 350Zs are a good match on the track in terms of HP and weight. They are also similar in price (which means your're not going against someone in a $5,000 beater with nothing to loose in a smash-up.)

My 300ZX is a non-turbo with an automatic so it is pretty slow, but I have had a good time with it at Thunderhill. It has a nice, nuetral handling in the corners. I upgraded to Goodyear Eagle F1s last summer which made a world of difference. This week I replaced the stock brake pads with Porterfield R4-S pads which feel pretty good. Tomorrow, I will be at Leguna Seca to give them a real test. (There is a 92 dB limit at Leguna Seca, so I cannot get anywhere close to the track with the Pantera.)

This is me at ThunderHill.
http://www.panteraadventure.com/images/300zx.jpg

A convertible is nice to have if you are tall -- as long as you keep the wheels pointing downward.

 

If you cannot spend the day at the track, you could come out for the noon-time track tour. For $20 you can zip around on the track for about 50 minutes at reasonable speeds (no helmet required.) If you have not been on a track, this is a good, safe, and affordable way to do so.

 

Late Apex - Yeah, that was Mad Dawg. Everyone seems to know about him crossing the finish line at 175 mph on fire.

He sent the remains of the car to the dump, but Carol Shelby had it hauled back to his place in Las Vegas then shamed Mad Dawg into rebuilding it.

He ran that car in seven ORR events this last season. He and about 8 other Panteras are running in Big Bend next month.

There is a video of him titled "Dawg Bites Viper" at
http://www.PanteraAdventure.com/videos.htm

 

msm_portata - Be careful with those Porterfields. A 350Z had them at Buttonwillow and on his third session one of the pads completely melted away. The backing plate to the pad welded itself to the caliper piston and burnt through the seal draining all of his brake fluid out. Needless to say he went off the track with no brakes.

 

The Porterfields did well. I got to the end of the second session before they started to fade vs. middle of the first session on the stock pads.

I'll pull the pads out and inspect them this weekend to see what's left fo them.