PH Fleet: Nissan 370Z
RacingPete blags a ride up the Goodwood hill - with ESP off - and welcomes anyone brave enough to join him
Though the effort to press the button is not a huge one, if you forget to do it on any given journey the ESP system's over-exuberance will come as a shock at your first enthusiastic exit from a junction. The Electronic Stability Programme seems merely to cut the power to the wheels instead of controlling their slip, and you are suddenly not accelerating into the gap you had aimed for.
Add a little drizzle (or a slightly heavier right foot) and you can suddenly have a lot more fun, too, as you can coax the tail out a little if you so desire. The gulf between the behaviour of the 370Z with the ESP button on and off is so vast it is strange Nissan didn't fit a halfway-house setting.
The best place to really test an ESP-less 370Z, however, is on track. So, on bended knee, we asked the good people at Nissan if we could take the car on track. Not only did they agree to this, but they also suggested that an appropriate venue would be a drive up the Goodwood hill at the Festival of Speed on Saturday 3 July.
Presumably in order to avoid wheelspin-ey abuse of our own PH fleet car (probably shouldn't have you running it in that case, Pete... - Riggers), Nissan has also given us a chance to run the roadster version instead of the PH coupe.
We have a pair of Festival of Speed Saturday tickets to go along with the prize, and the run up the hill will be at 1pm. And I will be turning off the ESP!
The e-mail should contain the following info:
- Your name
- Your age (on July 3rd 2010)
- Your daytime telephone number
- Your address so we can send you the tickets (should you win)
- Your current vehicle (because I need to chat to you about something when we are waiting to be pulled back out of the hay bales)
Entries will close at midday on Tuesday June 29th, and our lucky winner will be pulled at random from the PH electronic beanie hat that very afternoon.
T&Cs. Entrants must be at least 18 years old on July 3rd 2010 as they are signing on as a competitor. Please note there is no substitute or alternative to the prize being offered if you can't make the designated time and place, or if circumstances outside our control mean the prize has to be withdrawn.
Pick me! Pick me!
In spec terms, if you're buying an import, make sure it's an S or ST so you get the Brembos. UK cars are more expensive, but often cheaper to insure. The orange leather knocks a chunk off resale so make sure you pay less if you get that. Blue's the best colour. Fact.
I've had some scary situations generated by the traction control cutting power when it felt the rear inside tyre slipping slightly - namely at junctions with busses heading towards a stationary 350Z rolling across the junction at walking pace. Best bit is that the power then comes back all at once if you've not backed off almost completely so it's often a 3 stage event getting your throttle back.
New Eagle F1 Assymetric tyres have helped...
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