For a more detailed story feel free to see the NZPC article here: http://www.themotorhood.com/themotorhood/2018/2/28/death-march
Our little Nissan March features a VQ35DETT mid/rear mounted attached to an HGT Precision five speed sequential gearbox, this drives a bespoke reversing transfer box of our own design manufactured with the help of some local business’s.
Kimberley Tool & Design CNC milled the case from billet aluminium for us, Waikato Bearings supplied the bearings, AH Gears CNC ground the gear faces for us & COGS from Tauranga manufactured the gears.
All fabrication work was completed by The Lab Limited including the genuine carbon fiber roof, full aluminium aero (fake carbon wrap purely for aesthetics), bespoke tube subframes and suspension components.
The little March made its competition debut with the new driveline layout at Leadfoot 2019 placing a respectable 13th overall with a best time of 53.31, we also made it into top ten best show and were voted by the crowd to 3rd place in that! 🙂
We returned the following year and improved on the time just missing out on the top ten shootout.
The car is constantly evolving rarely returning to the track in the exact same trim it was the previous time, this has resulted in lap times consistently falling over time and reliability increasing as all the little bugs are worked out and improvements implemented.
With help from our mates at Tuning and Performance in Hamilton we have been able to push the power out to a touch over one thousand horsepower at the engine (approx 825hp at the hubs) and this certainly gives the ole shopping trolley a decent amount of acceleration!
We’ve managed to get the lap time at Hampton Downs down to an unofficial 1.7.91 – a respectable time for even pretty serious race cars but still room to push her a little quicker!
A short list of current specs:
Nissan VQ35DE+TT engine (3.5L quad cam DOHC alloy V6)
Wiseco pistons custom machined to 10:1 compression
Eagle rods
ARP L19 head and main studs
Block guards
ACL race bearings
Z1 motorsports sump extensions modified to build a custom bespoke sump
The Lab bespoke exh manifolds
The Lab bespoke intake manifold
The Lab bespoke WTA intercooler
1300cc ID injectors running at 3.5BAR
Z1 heavy duty valve springs
Link ECU G5 Voodoo Pro ECU
Link ECU Razor PDM x 2
Link Dash 2 Pro
OMP seats, steering wheel
Woodward steering column
Holden Astra electric over hydraulic power steering pump
The Lab bespoke suspension arms, subframes etc, J31 Nissan Maxima knuckles, Nissan Akebono 370Z brake calipers, Z1 two piece brake rotors, custome Znoelli rear rotor hats.
All aero/body mods bespoke The Lab items with the excpetion of the roof vent that’s a Toyota Yaris AP4 item from Mike Shaw fibreglass.
Approx 1250kgs with near perfect weight split front to rear and side to side.