PATRICK MORDAUNT 350Z For 2010 FORMULA DRIFT

[INFO]

PATRICK MORDAUNT 350Z For 2010 FORMULA DRIFT

Most details will be released soon.

[INFO]

this 350Z was previously driven by Verena Mei

[Justin Banner]

Wasn't that the car he was driving in the later part of '09?

[tougekids]

Wish I was you Pat!

[INFO]

Wasn't that the car he was driving in the later part of '09?

Pat had never used this 350Z to compete in Formula Drift.

[Justin Banner]

Pat had never used this 350Z to compete in Formula Drift.

Hm, alright. Who was driving her car last year, then?

[wrxwagon]

it did compete once at D1USA anahiem.. last year.. but really a shake down of the car...after that it was not take out to compete.

[numovementz]

I belive his car is getting a complete makeover and will be better than it was before

[wrxwagon]

agreed.. it should be some much better.

[INFO]

Pat just left Sparco and right now he is heading out to see his 350Z so we should have some updates online soon.

[Patrick Mordaunt]

Hey sorry everyone! Internet was down at the shop earlier! I WILL post new photos and a bunch of updates here in an hour or 2. :]

[Patrick Mordaunt]

As most of you know, I have campaigned a Nissan 240sx for the past 2 years in Formula Drift. Well it's finally time for that to change. Towards the end of 2009, I was lucky enough to acquire Verena Mei's old 350Z. After a lot of thought about new platforms and chassis to run, I decided the Z was my best choice. As much as I love my S-chassis, I was able to test out competing in a Z during the end of the 2008 FD season. Ever since, I have been hooked on the idea of building and competing in my own Z. That time has finally come. After doing a few demos in the car, we began the process of turning it into a fully-fledged Formula D car. Here's what the car looked like before being ripped apart:



Our biggest concerns with the Z chassis in comparison to my 240sx was weight. So our first step was to strip the car down to a bare shell and begin cutting excess weight. To do this, we took the Z down to one of my good friends, and an amazing fabricator, Scott Stanwood. Once we took the car to NuMovementz, it was time to finally begin. Scott began by taking everything off the car and setting it on a rotisserie, since 99% of the stock parts were going to be replaced anyway. Here's what a bare Z looks like:



Once the car was to this stage, we could really decide what metal can be cut out and what was still required for structural integrity. As you can see here, the stock rear strut bar was removed, as well as the original door bars.



After making progress on the chassis, I made a run down to AIT Racing to snag some new body panels. Your aero and body are another key role in weight savings. After visiting AIT Racing (www.AITRacing.com), I loaded my truck up and went back to the shop. Big thanks to Pat David at AIT!! Here's a quick list of everything we're using for the season:

350z parts:

-Carbon Fiber Doors
-Carbon Fiber Roof Cover
-ING-2 Style 4pcs Complete Kit
-Nismo 2 Style Front Bumper (spare front bumper)
-OEM Style Carbon Fiber Hatch
-BATTLE Series Carbon Fiber Hood



As you can see, the first thing we did was test fit our new carbon doors, just to see how they looked.



These are all quite a few weeks old. I'm working on another post with more recent shots right now.

[Patrick Mordaunt]

We wanted to free up some space and allow for better airflow through the engine bay, so we decided to go with a tubular front core support and bash bar. The final product came out looking great.



Once we finished mounting everything up, we test fitted the hood and headlights to see how the new front end looked. At this point in time, we had also temporarily removed the roof of the Z to make some additions to the roll cage and shave some metal to save weight.



Another item on my agenda were the doorbars. We wanted both sides to match, and to extend to the very edge or our carbon doors. Here is how they came out. Again, you can see the roof is off the car.



A shot from the other side.



Since there was going to be so much weight reduction and metal cut out, we didn't want to lose any strength in the shock towers. So we decided to add some bracing and plating.



And to finish off this post, I'll give you a quick shot of the rear end. If you look closely, we also have removed the quarter panels in order to have fiberglass fenders made.



I'll post up more updates tomorrow! The car is further along than this, I just am going to wait a day or 2 til I give away more. Let me know what you think of the shots and work so far!

[BigGameHit]

This is seriously awesome stuff bro. Most only see the cars in its finished state shiny and sliding at the tracks. Its awesome to see a ground up build.

will stay tuned in.

[tougekids]

WOW never seen a Z stripped down like that before. That's a lot of metal taken out of that Z. It's nice to see how everything goes together and all the time and hard work it actually takes to really built something like this. It's going to make me appreciate this car 10 times more when I see you go side ways in it at Formula D. Looks Great. Thanks for the info. & pics.