The Motorsport Auto "Z Bash" may not have had a lot of advance planning, but the turnout was astonishing! Many observers agreed that there must have been 400-500 Zs in attendance, more than at any Z convention I've ever attended.
The great number of attendees was surely due in-part to the venue shift to the Anaheim Angels stadium parking lot, as well as great weather and mild temperatures. I wonder, too, if there hasn't been a lot of pent-up demand for opportunities for Z owners to get their cars together. I'm sure that must have also been a big factor in the healthy turnout for the "Z Day" event in Pismo Beach a few weeks ago put on by Tony Anaya and SoCal Z.
As recently as a couple of days before the event, I wasn't planning to attend Z Bash. But new ZTrix customer Bob Roumimper from Santa Cruz was in LA for the weekend; and it provided a convenient opportunity to deliver his new 280YZ™ fender kit...as well as save him some shipping cost. Bob is restoring an old GT2 racecar that last turned laps in anger more than 30 years ago, wearing some very dated bubble flares.
ZTrix customer Dave Bailey brought his ever-evolving convertible Subtle Z™, notable (beyond those features) for its flat-black finish, its ZTrix "Origin" dashboard, Dakota Digital VHX - 1014 dual universal gauges, and futuristic steering wheel from Forever Sharp. Dave also has a 5.4-inch round, GM-spec 30-inch steering column, keyless with wheel tilt. His radio is made by Dual for marine application. Lastly, Dave has the Innovate gauge for his wide-band 02 air/fuel readings.
A couple of other ZTrix builders were at the show with their creations, both of which have generated quite a following on social media.
Web designer Jeff Mayland, debuted his highly-stylized gloss black "240Zeffyr." This car has been a 20+ year project for Jeff, with many starts-and-stops along the way. But clearly his efforts have paid off, yielding one of the most well-integrated and organic examples of a Z widebody conversion.
Jeff started with a ZTrix "Subtle Z™" front end, and a "280YZ™" quarter panel package. But he has radically changed every part of the kit to make it his own, including extending the quarter panels forward onto the doors to create a scoop feeding the rear wheel wells, and customizing the airdam to echo the shapes of that scoop forward to the front of the car. Jeff is continuing the theme by completely redesigning the interior of the car, which is currently gutted to the components essential to make it driveable. [Jeff photos, link]
In contrast to Jeff's car, Rich Madlangbayan's "Blue Ballz" 280YZ™-bodied car has had many small changes to the ZTrix components. But like with Jeff's car, the small changes have integrated together nicely to provide cover for the big meats required by Rich's incredible turbocharged RB25 engine installation.
In a highlight of the weekend, Rich's car drew a huge crowd when it went on Kevin Murray's MCE Racing trailer-mounted dynomometer. Unlike a lot of cars that come to these events ready to show but not necessarily go, the blue beast put down an incredible 515 horsepower to the tires, the highest of any S30 at the show! And then Rich drove it home to Oxnard after the show.
