Tag Archives: Nissan

5 Hours in LA.

Call me crazy, but when you get an invite from Sean Lee to see the new Z in Los Angeles, with a cap on how many people can be in there at the same time. (COVID precautions), you go and spend some quality time with your new love 💕. The Z of course.

That Friday morning, woke up, drove to the airport, got picked up by a friend (Tyler Gray), grab lunch, and see the Z. Since my light was at 5, we had to leave the Z event a tad early so I could make it back on my flight back to Dallas. Take a peak at my weird video below that I threw together to document the day!

Video and photos by Melissa Miller

SkidZ Raceshop Drift Event @ZCON

The SkidZ drift event and Z reveal at ZCON was a blast! Nothing broke on or off track except my wallet with all the tires I went through! I really want to thank everyone that did a paid ride along or bought a cup or shirt, that helps so much with being able to go out to these events and put on a show!

Please take a moment to watch the video that Momentum Media put together for the drift event/real life Z reveal!

The New Nissan Z

The amount of build up for the new Z is absolutely crazy. Last year when the Proto Z was announced during ZCON 2020, I think every enthusiast was watching the reveal live on YouTube. I couldn’t have been the only one that was so happy they were on the verge of tears 😂 So when ZCON was coming around this year I knew I would have to go, especially since Nissan was making another announcement about the Z…and hoping it would show up. Well… it did! Here are a few photos…. I’m going to need one in white. Stat.

ZCON Thursday

Thursday started a bit hung over and late with another Starbucks…just call me basic. We met up with Tyler and Steph with the Q50, and got some Mexican food for lunch. After lunch we all took a dip in the pool trying to catch a tan. At about 4:30 Eric with Momentum Media and I went back to pikes peak to try and get some more rolling shots and photos with different lighting. I don’t have all the photos yet, but the ones that are finished are below… and damn.

ZCON Tuesday

My first day at ZCON 2021 was awesome! We started at Pikes Peak with a group of about ten cars per run group. We were told not to do over 30 mph, which is understandable, the speed limit on the mountain is 30mph and the hair pins are intense and banked. We started filming for my ZCON video with our run group… the footage sneak peaks I’ve seen are absolutely killer.

Once we got back from Pikes Peak, there was a Suds and Shine area at the host hotel. Basically an area with a car wash station to clean off all the dust your car accumulated up and down the mountain. It’s also a place where everyone can see each other and chat and hang out.

From the Suds and Shine we left for the Opening Ceremonies and the Z Reveal Party! The scenery was absolutely gorgeous there, and the venue was beautiful. It was an awesome feeling being literally surrounded by other Z enthusiasts while watching the new Z being revealed via YouTube. I almost had a ‘I’m not crying, your crying moment. If you missed it heres a link:

Link To Nissan Z Reveal

Motorsport Cups and Licence Plate frames!

The time is here for me to start posting a few things I’ve been doing to make money to get to drift events… besides the bodywork and paint, I’ve been making custom insulated cups and custom license plate frames. Below are a few of the items I’ve created.

If your interested in letting me create something for you please inquire at melissadrifts@yahoo.com. I can do pretty much any color combo and it can say whatever you want!

Pricing;

License plates; start at $45 for one, or two for $75. Plus shipping if not local.

Insulated cups; start at 45.00. Plus shipping if not local.

Add logo or graphics +5.00 (each color)

Premium glitter +10.00 (includes holographic, and ‘messy/starry glitter’)

The cups can be solid colors as well with no glitter. Solid color/no glitter cups are 55.00 and include an up to two color graphic/wording.

New Z Proto Unveil!

YouTube Z Unveil

Tonight Nissan went on livestream to unveil what we have all been looking forward to, the next generation Z car. A few questions had been officially answered;

“Will there be a manual transmission?” The answer is yes. With all the racing heritage the Z has, I believe the entire Z community would be an uproar if there wasn’t. (Remember the time Nissan unveiled the second gen 370 Nismo… without a manual transmission option? I do. Nissan fixed that by the following year).

“What engine? Turbos?” V6 Twin Turbo! I’m pumped about this. The amount of tune-ability we will have will be awesome. Turbos is what the Z car has been missing for the last 15 (plus or minus) years.

Questions I still have; *Price point *Trim levels *Type of differential and/or if an LSD will be in all trims *Power-HP/Torque *Weight Distribution

It seems that a lot of the new Z came from us the enthusiasts. I know that Nissan can’t please everyone but overall I believe they did a great job listening to us. As this is still the ‘Z Proto’ and I’m sure there will be a couple little tweaks, I’m extremely proud to own three different generation Z cars currently and continue my dads Z car legacy with another generation Z soon.

Social Distancing

During Covid Quarantine it was super important to keep busy. Trying to take on some work at the house to keep myself creative, obtained a puppy, went to ‘the drift spot’ in Dallas, and did a little road trip.

Meet Shiro (She-row). She is a Great Pyrenees who’s named after the ‘Shiro edition’ 300zx (Z31 chassis). Shiro also means ‘white’ which is fitting!

My friends Craig and Kimberly have a Great Pyrenees who ran away for a couple days and got knocked up by another Great Pyrenees and had 9 puppies. (Craig restores older Z cars under the name Simtec Motorsports; IG @simtecmotorsports). When I brought Shiro home that day, my neighbor saw her and they went to go pick up Shiros sister… now the sisters get to grow up together!

img_1121

The first order of work at the house was to complete brakes, hard wiring in a dash cam and radar detector on our friend Zahids GTR.

While we had it, Zahid started thinking about making the car his, and doing some customizing to it to make it pop. We started with new Nismo orange lugs and powder coating the wheels gold.

This looked great, but we needed something that really makes it stand out. I prefer to draw out ideas than build them on the computer… (I know the computer way is better and more accurate, but I really enjoy using my hands to draw it out!) So to the drawing board I went! I drew out three different ideas for graphics and texted Zahid to see what direction he wanted to go. (pictured below is the office, taking a break from the vinyl and looking at new couches)

img_0436

The final design reflected the Fast and Furious GTR, but with a little twist. Matte black vinyl over a sliver of gold to match the wheels. It came out really nice!

Some fun still had to be had out of the house and in my Z, so we went to the drift spot and showed Hayley (Silver GTR pictured below IG @stig_gtr) what that spot was all about! It was a freaking blast, it always is.

The 370Z also got a make over during this ‘down’ time. We had been sitting on a full new style nismo kit for it, a Seibon carbon fiber hood, sweet wing, and some little side skirt inserts.

Car cruises still existed during this time, and in my opinion that was the best part of social distancing! Thanks to Maly and George for getting a few sweet shots out there! (George IG @_alphalyfe)

Ending ‘Quarantine’ we took the dogs to San diego, and Tucson, visited family and made a planter for some herbs! Very productive.