Fun at Import Face Off Ohio 2009

After an unsuccessful trip to last year’s Import Face Off in Columbus, OH with our drag car (canceled due to rain), Hal decided to take his freshly tuned 350Z up for the race. Having only changed wheels and added race gas, Hal unloaded his daily driver 350Z for a beautiful day of racing, watching, and having fun. Despite bringing the motor home and stacker trailer, Hal maintained a low-key effort, focusing on enjoying the races with friends. This was his first full event for testing the car on the drag strip, so there was much to be learned in testing the car.

The first pass resulted in a respectable 10.8 at 145 mph quarter mile. After qualifying for first in his current class of about 30 competitors, Hal bumped up to the Forced Induction Pro class, where he would eventually also qualify first. His second pass overall showed a noticeable improvement at 10.1 with a similar trap speed. In between passes, the guys had a chance to get up on top of the motor home for a few pictures of the turnout on a cool and comfortable afternoon.

On just the third pass, showing how experience behind the wheel of a relatively new setup can drastically help, Hal fired off a 9.891 at just about 149 mph. This is almost exactly one second off the time from our own drag car at the same event last year. Needless to say, Hal is extremely happy with the results of his Injected Performance Stage 1+ short block and mildly modified head. The properly sized single turbo and piping setup makes for an amazing powerband that can still put the power down through the stock six-speed. As mentioned before, we like pushing the limits on our cars so that your builds don’t have to!

Sadly, in Hal’s first competition run, he got a bit “drift-happy” and let out after nearly reaching a 45 degree angle with his car at two separate points down the track. It wasn’t until the slowest qualifier, his competition for the first round, passed him until he remembered he was in an elimination round. We can forgive him though; I think we’d all be a little overwhelmed if we just found out our daily driver was capable of running 9 second times! Despite losing in the first round of the competition itself, it was a fun day for Injected Performance, and Hal joined the ranks of the fastest 350Z’s in the country. Although he has no plans to convert his car into a full drag build, we are still proud for him and his new best time.

Injected Performance 350Z Wins BOTI Texas

On a scorching summer day in Ennis, TX, our own Hal took the win for the Street Tuner class at Round 3 of the 2009 Battle of the Imports series in Ennis, TX. Air temperatures climbed to over 100 while track temperatures were measured to reach nearly 150 degrees.

Traction became an issue, as Hal managed a modest 9.559 at 156mph to quality for second in the Street Tuner class. Ross Baird, the number one qualifier, ran 9.320 in his 1994 Supra, but broke shortly afterward in the first round. Although capable of high 8-second passes, Hal piloted the reliable as ever Injected Performance 350Z to the finale with solid, clean passes.

Nearly matching his qualifying time, Hal crossed the finish line unopposed at the end of the day with a 9.558 at 152mph to take the Street Tuner win over Tony Ramadan’s RX7, who also broke. Despite a long winter and spring break for our drag racing efforts, we hope to continue to push the limits of our drag 350Z through 2009.

(Photos courtesy of Urban Racer)

Injected Performance Wins Street RWD at Autobahn

Aaron Leichty and Injected Performance were proud to win the Redline Time Attack Street RWD class at this past weekend’s event at Autobahn Country Club in Joliet, IL. Although it is Round 3 of the 2009 season, Autobahn is the first venue for the east coast segment of the series tour. We decided to team up with Aaron, a local customer, and his NASA TTC-prepared Honda S2000 to take a shot at victory in the Street RWD class - popular for Honda S2000s and Nissan 350Zs.

After setting up for the weekend, Aaron began his Saturday practice sessions testing out his new 275/40-17 Nitto NT-05s and giving rides to some of the employees and friends of Injected who traveled in support of the weekend. Even from the first run groups, Aaron’s times were in the low 1:42’s and 1:41’s, a promising start for Sunday’s Time Attack sessions.

As the day went on, times dropped across the board. Rides were exchanged, videos were watched, and plenty of water was drank in order to fight the severe heat and humidity of the afternoon. The day ended with optimistic hope for even lower times for Sunday’s main event.

Overnight, even more cars showed up in attendance. Hundreds, if not thousands, of spectators were on hand to represent the Chicagoland area and its enthusiasm for motorsports (and local powerhouse AMS). Two additional practice sessions in the morning were to determine the grid order for the first of two Time Attack sessions on Sunday afternoon. After both sessions had completed, Aaron qualified for third overall in the entire Stock/Street category, which had 28 participants.

Aaron’s times spoke for themselves, as he established a significant lead among his Street RWD competitors that would not be overtaken. His first session brought in a low 1:40, good enough to maintain his third place overall standing in the Stock/Street category, and first place in the Street RWD class. Immediately following the first Time Attack sessions, it became very clear that rain showers were imminent. Organizers decided to cancel the practice session in between Time Attack sessions to run both timed sessions back to back. In retrospect, this was a crucial decision, as rain arrived soon after the very last timed laps of the second session.

The second session was even more generous to Aaron than the first. After two back to back high 1:39 laps, Aaron pulled in for the event to take home first place in Street RWD and third overall in the Stock/Street category. His closest competitor in Street RWD would end up almost 2.5 seconds behind. After a persistent rain shower, a quick trophy presentation, and efficient packing job for the six hour trip home, Injected Performance headed home for the night.

Stay tuned for announcements of the next event we will be attending!

Full Stock/Street results:

Zdayz Dyno Shootout a Huge Success!

We were proud to host two full days of free dyno sessions at this year’s ZdayZ at Fontana Village, NC. In total, 36 participants signed their cars up for a free dyno session. Of all of the cars tested, we decided to award several trophies after Saturday’s dinner.

Shawn Ellis took home our trophy for the highest horsepower (naturally aspirated) with his 2007 350Z utilizing a few choice bolt on modifications to the VQ35HR, which is already a strong motor from the factory. He was able to make 282 whp on our Dyno Dynamics.

On the other side of the scale, Randy Shemin’s 1971 240Z took the honors of lowest horsepower, with a respectable 127 whp. We knew that his car was a likely contender for this award when “fresh oil” was listed under “major motor modifications”!

Paul McElroy and Stephen Kirovar were awarded some of our other novelty trophies, for “best powerband” and “favorite car to dyno,” respectively.

Joe Kenefic’s 2005 350Z won our highest overall horsepower award in his twin turbo setup running on E85. Making 651 whp on his final pull, quite a crowd had gathered to see his yellow monster wrap up our shootout. Joe was also awarded our “highest boost” trophy.

In a spur of the moment decision to make things a bit more interesting, we decided to host a “guess the horsepower” raffle for the dyno of our well-known drag car, which can make up to almost 1300 whp at full boost. Although it had been de-tuned for the weekend, in preparation for running Forged Performance’s “Top Dawg Airstrip Event,” it was still guaranteed to put on quite a show. Over 40 bystanders had signed up for the $1 raffle to see who could come closest to guessing the horsepower on Sunday afternoon.

When it was all said and done, Alisha Young walked away as the winner, guessing 973 whp. Our car actually produced 964 whp on its most conservative tune. Dozens upon dozens of Zdayz attendees stopped by to watch, but anyone in the Fontana Village area certainly heard it.

Despite staying busy the entire weekend, Zdayz 2009 overall was an amazing success for us and the organization as a whole. We look forward to making 2010 bigger, better, and more exciting for everyone involved!

Injected Performance Dyno Shootout at ZdayZ 2009

Injected Performance is proud to announce the official ZdayZ 2009 Dyno Shootout!

We will be bringing our Dyno Dynamics to Fontana Village for the weekend of ZdayZ, May 28-31st, 2009. We all know that there are infinitely many variables that determine your exact dyno results. Whether it be altitude, temperature, the brand of dyno, or just the time of the year - everyone is always trying to compare results from varying conditions. We wanted to provide yet another attraction to the ZdayZ festivities this year:

FREE DYNO PULLS!

On both Friday and Saturday of ZdayZ weekend, we will offer free dyno runs for registered attendees of ZdayZ 2009. Participants will have the opportunity to compete for trophies for the highest horsepower - both forced induction and naturally aspirated. Many other “honorable mention” trophies will be announced later

How can you receive a free dyno session at ZdayZ this year?

Simply send us an email (through this blog) with your name, contact info (email and cell phone, preferably), the year and model of your car, and a detailed list of applicable engine modifications currently done. A few pictures, if available, would be helpful as well for us to recognize you at Fontana Village. As we receive requests, we will try our best to accommodate everyone. A time slot will be provided to you as we come closer to finalizing the schedule.

LOCATION: The dyno will be available in front of the General Store at Fontana Village on select times on Friday and Saturday. Those who have signed up for a dyno session in advance will have an assigned time slot. If extra time is available, walk up sessions may be provided.

TIMES: There will be four sessions of dyno pulls. We will schedule as many as we can to a particular time slot so that you know when you should be readily available in the area for your dyno runs. Friday and Saturday will have two sessions each:

Friday, May 29th:
11:00am to 1:30pm (EST)
2:00pm to 5:00pm

Saturday, May 30th:
10:00am to 12:00pm
12:30pm to 3:00pm - High Horsepower Shootout

COST: All participants are eligible for a free dyno session consisting of 2-3 runs. A printout of your results will be provided at no extra charge. Unfortunately, due to time constraints, we can only accommodate a certain amount of dyno sessions.

OTHER INFO:
- Nissan Z and G cars (2WD only) have first priority.
- Trophies for highest horsepower (naturally aspirated and forced induction)
- Other honorable mention trophies
- Trophies will be awarded after Saturday’s session
- You will sign a waiver at ZdayZ acknowledging that your car is in optimal running condition to be used on the dyno. In an effort to offer as many free dyno sessions as possible, no tuning will be done.
- Please email us to request a spot and include the information described above. I cannot guarantee that we will accommodate everyone into one of the dyno sessions, although we will try our best.