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First Impressions on Track: My 2005 ZHP takes its maiden voyage around Texas World Speedway
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Can I find a four-door manual sedan for under $15k that can take the kids to school during the week and then hold its own on track during the weekend? That’s the question that led me to purchase an ’05 6-speed ZHP two months ago. It has excelled at taking the kids to school (and looking good doing it), but how would it fair running side-by-side with the GT3’s, ZR1’s, M3’s, and Miatas that crowd our local track every weekend? I had a chance to find out this weekend as I took both the ZHP and my ’96 Miata track rat out to Texas World Speedway, a 2.9 mile, 15-turn road course with a mix of fast sweepers, on and off-camber banked turns, a 180 deg carousel, and a front straight that uses a portion of the high-bank Nascar oval. Here's a track map for those who've never had the pleasure to drive it.
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A little background: I’ve done approximately 10 HPDE events - most at TWS. I’m not a newbie, but definitely not advanced/instructor level either. So this isn’t a Randy Pobst or Chris Harris kind of review. I’m just your average HPDE enthusiast. I’ve driven an NC Miata and a 5th gen Mustang on track, but my primary track toy is this heavily modified NA Miata (suspension, brakes, safety, engine, and r-comps).
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I started the day with three sessions in the Miata in damp, 42 degree weather. I was on fairly old NT01’s. It was like driving on ice. Lots of opposite-lock practice! In good weather, the Miata is a champ in the corners and an easy target on the straights. But I love driving it - feels like a go-kart that will do 100+! It’s extremely direct thanks to it’s taught track suspension and lack of either traction control or anti-lock brakes. Since it’s not my daily driver, I can flog it without fear. I’ve had numerous off-track “experiences” over the last couple years, but have since then gained what I would consider pretty good car control skills.
By 11am I was ready to switch to the ZHP. It has 98k miles and I’ve done a bunch of preventative maintenance including VCG, OFHG, full coolant rebuild, and brakes. It’s stock other than an AFE Stage 1 intake, Stewart hi-flo water pump, and Motul RBF 600 brake fluid. Let me start with a disclaimer: I left the traction control on all day. The car was brand new to me, the conditions were not at all ideal, and the track was crowded… and I’ve got to take the kids to school in this on Monday. So I sacrificed a bit of speed and some dynamic feel to go a safer route. The good news: the traction control was surprisingly unobtrusive and effective. I expected a car designed 16+ years ago to suffer from a rather unsophisticated system. I was wrong. It intervened only at the right moments. I had only one obtrusive intervention towards the end of the day while laying down power on a corner exit, but that was one time out of two full hours of high speed driving. That said, the traction control did prevent me from hanging the car on it’s limits like I can with the Miata, costing some lap time and enjoyment.
So now that we’ve started, let’s continue with the good. First and foremost, I simply cannot imagine a better calibrated dual-duty suspension that is not adjustable. I drove nuked roads in downtown Houston last week, then a couple hours on a butter-smooth highway, and then two hours of fast laps on track. The car was excellent in all three environments. Could it be better? Yes. It could be softer downtown, quieter on the highway, stiffer on the track… but if you want it to do well in all three, this suspension is superb. There was little roll on track and it took a set quickly for a stock suspension. It absorbed rough patches flawlessly. My biggest complaint is that like all modern cars it’s skewed towards understeer. I plan to move to a squared tire set-up which will help mitigate understeer. Adjustable dampers or a stiffer rear anti-roll bar would also help. But to be honest, the understeer was not as much as I expected for a stock sedan. Up to 9/10ths the car felt neutral, and I could counter understeer with judicious use of trail braking, particularly in the tight carousel turn 10.
Now to rate driver inputs. Steering: what can I say other than flawless? It’s my favorite I’ve ever interacted with. It has just the right amount of weight, centers well, and the ratio feels excellent. I was impressed. Sadly, the same cannot be said for the brakes. The fluid upgrade helped prevent fade, but the brakes lacked the bite I’m used to from the Hawk and Carbotech pads I’ve used. Braking effort took longer to build than I would prefer, and I did not have the feedback in the pedal at the limit that I expected. This is certainly not a surprise - you can’t expect track performance from pads designed for daily driving. But I believe this car would really benefit from a set of spare track pads and rotors that can be switched out before HPDE weekends. As for the throttle, I actually liked the responsiveness on track. While the throttle rate feels slower than I’d like on the street, it was ideal on the track for smoothing out my inputs and maintaining traction. My one complaint with the throttle is that I’m not used to a bottom-pivot pedal and it made heel-toe shifting difficult for me (which was exacerbated by an overly mute engine note - more on that shortly). Finally, I love this transmission, shifter, and clutch! I deleted the clutch delay valve last week and have NO regrets at all. The clutch now feels predictable and consistent under hard driving. I’m also using the BMW performance shift knob which is a little shorter than stock and felt a little more direct to me as a result. TWS is a 3rd and 4th gear track for this car, and I was able to move between these gears under load without any trouble even at redline.
While I appreciate modern automotive design, I hate when design trumps driver visibility. Fortunately that was not an issue in this car. The cockpit was created with spirited driving in mind and the result is excellent visibility in all directions. I had no trouble seeing the GT3’s closing from the rear. Gauges were also easy to read. But now for my biggest complaint: when this car is at its limits, the driver-restraint is not at all adequate. I’m exactly medium height and build and weigh 155 pounds. The seats feel wonderful on the road, but are not nearly tight enough on track. I could barely hold myself in place in high-speed sweepers. If this car sees more track time I will definitely be investing in a harness and removable harness bar so I can strap myself in tightly. Until then, there’s no reason to improve the car’s cornering ability. It’s already driver limited :)
Finally, what about power? Most people would not consider a 330i “fast,” at least not compared to typical track cars. That’s true; I can attest that it’s no match for GT3’s or C7’s on the straights. But most of the track isn’t straight, and in the corners this car did exceptionally well for a stock sedan. With an aftermarket suspension and r-comp tires (and the aforementioned driver restraint improvements) I am confident it could hold its own in the turns. Since easily ⅔ of the TWS track is traction-limited, not power-limited for cars like this, that means that additional power would be of little benefit for the majority of a lap. On the straights a ZHP will get passed, but not nearly as quickly as my Miata. On the front straight at TWS my Miata hits it’s terminal velocity of ~105. The high-power Vettes and Porsches will reach 145. I did 125 in the ZHP - right in the middle of the pack. It never felt slow. The ZHP truly felt like it belonged on track. The engine pulled hard when I needed it, lap after lap, for two solid hours. I attached a scan gauge to monitor coolant temps (why don’t cars come with better coolant, oil temp, and oil pressure gauges!?) and the car ran a cool 190+/-5 most of the day in 45 degree ambient air. I was very pleased with every aspect of the driveline… except the sound. Even with the stage 1 AFE intake I could barely hear the engine. I rely on sound to judge RPM when I heel-toe since I can’t afford to look at the gauges in those crucial moments. But with the wind buffeting through the open windows (required on track) and the tires screeching at their limits, I couldn’t hear the engine at all. I will need to consider installing a louder exhaust before I get back out there.
Conclusion: My goal was to find a kindergarten shuttle that could hold its own on the track and cost less than $15k to purchase and $2k per year to maintain. I believe I’ve found the perfect match, my Huckleberry, in my ZHP. I love driving it downtown, on the highway, and now on track as well. It excels at what matters most to me: composure at the limits, cornering ability, and that impossible-to-measure thing we call “feel.” It felt GREAT to drive at its limits. What it lacks is largely fixable (harness bar, stronger track brakes, louder exhaust). It will never have the go-kart reflexes of a Miata or the blistering torque of a Viper, but neither of those will ever work as a kindergarten shuttle. So for a car that must do both school and track, there’s few that can compete at this price point with a ZHP.
