280ZX and 300ZX Racing: GT-1, GT-2, Trans-Am and IMSA

What Were GT-1 and GT-2?

GT-1 and GT-2 are SCCA club racing classes for heavily modified production-based "GT" cars, with tube-frame and extensively modified cars allowed. GT-1 is the fastest, unlimited-displacement class, often running cars close to Trans-Am spec; GT-2 sits just below it. Each year's national champion in a class is decided at the SCCA National Championship Runoffs, held at Road Atlanta through most of the 1970s and 1980s.

The GT-2 Z cars were far from stock under the paint. Everything from the beltline down was fiberglass; only the stock roof and rear deck were kept, to meet the class requirements for a production-based silhouette.

Later GT-2 cars were built on the longer 2+2 chassis. Drivers preferred its longer wheelbase because it was more stable through the corners.

From 1980 to 2000, Nissan collected 47 SCCA national championships across classes from GT-1 to GT-5, Production, Showroom Stock and even D Sports Racing, and the 280ZX and 300ZX were a big part of that.

The 280ZX (S130) on Track

• 1979 SCCA C Production national champion: Paul Newman, driving a Bob Sharp Racing 280ZX. It was the first of his four SCCA national titles, three of them in Nissans.
• 1979 IMSA GTU champion: Electramotive's red, white and blue 280ZX, with Tony Adamowicz driving.
• 1982 IMSA GTO champion: Electramotive's turbocharged, electronically controlled 280ZX Turbo, driven by team founder Don Devendorf with Tony Adamowicz.
• 1982 Trans-Am win: Paul Newman won at Brainerd in the Bob Sharp Racing 280ZX Turbo.
• Bill Erdman's #1 280ZX: a white #1 S130 race car once owned by Bill Erdman, who later raced a GT-2 300ZX (see below).
• SCCA GT-2: Bob Sharp's son Scott Sharp raced his father's GT-2 car on the way to three SCCA national titles in four starts (1986-1988).

See also the 280ZX-R and the 280ZX pace car.

The 300ZX (Z31) on Track

• 1984 SCCA GT-1 national champion: Jim Fitzgerald, in a Bob Sharp Racing 300ZX Turbo, the new Z31's first year. Fitzgerald, SCCA's winningest driver with over 350 career wins, finished second in GT-1 in both 1985 and 1986.
• 1985 and 1986 SCCA GT-1 national champion: Paul Newman, in a 300ZX, with Fitzgerald second both years.
• 1986 Trans-Am, Lime Rock: Paul Newman won in the Bob Sharp Racing 300ZX. It remains the only Trans-Am win for a 300ZX.
• SCCA GT-1, 1986-1988: Scott Sharp drove his father's GT-1 300ZX among his three national championships.
• 1987 Trans-Am, St. Petersburg: Jim Fitzgerald was killed when his 300ZX Turbo hit a barrier on lap three of the season finale. Road Atlanta dedicated the Jim Fitzgerald Memorial Park in 1988, and he entered the SCCA Hall of Fame in 2011.
• 1988-1990 Trans-Am: Newman's last Nissans were a pair of 1987 300ZXs raced in the 1988 Trans-Am season, and Bob Sharp and Newman were teammates in Trans-Am in 1989 and 1990, with a handful of GT-1 and GT-2 races as well.

The famous IMSA GTO/GTS 300ZXs driven by Steve Millen from 1989 to 1995, including the 1994 Le Mans class win, were the next-generation Z32, not the Z31.

Bill Erdman's GT-2 300ZX

Bill Erdman, a Nissan Z car racer, raced this black Z31 300ZX in SCCA GT-2. It's an early car, built on the shorter 2-seater chassis before GT-2 builders moved to the longer 2+2. Like other GT-2 cars, it's fiberglass from the beltline down, keeping only the stock roof and rear deck, with a wide race nose and splitter, BBS wheels and a NISSAN windshield banner. In April 2020 Bill invited XenonZcar out to his shop to see his collection, and he walks through his cars in the video below; the shop photos are from that visit.

Video: XenonZcar is Drooling (XenonZcar on YouTube, April 2020).

The Engine

Under the hood is a heavily built Nissan VG V6:

• Induction: triple Weber carburetors on a custom lower intake manifold.
• Valvetrain: solid (mechanical) lifters in place of the stock hydraulic lifters, with adjustable rockers.
• Rocker covers: magnesium, with extra clearance for the adjustable rockers.
• Crankshaft: there's no forged crank available for the VG, so it runs a modified GM 2.8L 60-degree V6 crankshaft, made to fit. The VG is also a 60-degree V6, which makes the swap possible.
• Oiling: dry-sump system.

Bill also previously owned this white #1 S130 280ZX race car:

Know this car's history, results or specs? Email us and we'll add it.

Electramotive and the GTP VG30

Electramotive Engineering, founded by Don Devendorf, started with the 280ZX in IMSA GTU and GTO and became Nissan's official North American racing development arm. In 1984 it signed with Nissan North America to build a prototype for IMSA's top GTP class: the Nissan GTP ZX-Turbo, a Lola-based chassis powered by a racing version of the Z31's VG30ET V6.

The GTP ZX-Turbo gave Nissan its first IMSA GTP win, at Miami in 1987, ahead of the Porsche 962s, and went on to dominate the class. Electramotive later became Nissan Performance Technology Inc. (NPTI).

The photos below show the Electramotive GTP VG30: a full race engine with external dry-sump pumps that still shares its basic V6 layout with the VG30 under the hood of every 300ZX, along with competition cylinder heads.

Photos

Electramotive GTP VG30 engine

Competition VG30 cylinder head

Bob Sharp Racing #33 300ZX

Timeline