AMS Performance Nissan Z R34 Sets Quarter-Mile Record With Stock Engine

This AMS Performance-modified Nissan Z just became one of the quickest examples of the brood in the United States after completing a certified quarter-mile run in under 9.5 seconds. Incredibly, this seventh-generation example of Nissan’s flagship two-seater sports car did so with a stock engine and upgrades that could be added to any production example of the Z34 generation.

The AMS-spec Z Proto recently completed four runs at the Great Lakes Dragaway in Wisconsin, USA, in an average, eye-watering 9.47 seconds and 148 mph, besting its own personal best time (9.75 seconds) set two years ago. According to AMS Performance itself, the Z features a stock engine, no nitrous, and “no significant changes to the setup.”

No, Really, This Was An Unopened Engine

While this particular seventh-gen Z is not the fastest outright in the United States – this unofficial record currently belongs to the 2,000-horsepower monster fully modified by Emelia Hartford, which completed the standing quarter mile in 7.75 seconds – AMS’s Z Proto nevertheless completed its run with the block, head, and internals of the 3.0-liter twin-turbocharged ‘VR30’ V6 with which the Z left the factory intact.

AMS’s technicians, meanwhile, have incorporated their own bespoke turbochargers – all part of “a catalog of parts we’ve developed for the platform over the last handful of years” – and a full re-tune to this “unopened engine” to more than double the production Z’s 400 horsepower to a dizzying 820 hp at the wheels. For context, that’s more power than you’d get with a Ferrari 296 GTB.

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And you’ll be surprised to hear that we prefer the automatic transmission.

Incredibly, this monstrous new power output is still sent to just the rear wheels – “consistently” via Nissan’s stock nine-speed automatic gearbox. Given the violence involved with standing quarter-mile starts, that’s seriously impressive. The 18-inch rear alloys have also been ditched to make way for massive, Hoosier drag radials, though, interestingly, the ride height does not appear to have been radically altered.

A Good Start To The Year For The Nissan Z

Interestingly, AMS Performance’s update states that the team, despite arriving at the drag strip having effectively “dusted the cobwebs off of [their] Z Proto,” was not satisfied with its first run out the blocks. Despite this, and having gained momentum throughout the afternoon’s program, the Z Proto is said to have “ended up with a few more records than [AMS] started with.” In another post on its social media channels, AMS revealed all, telling the world that it had actually managed a 9.23-second run at 149 mph.

The tuning house now claims to have some serious records:

• World’s Quickest and Fastest RZ34 (9.23s at 149 mph)
• World’s Quickest and Fastest VR30 (9.23s at 149 mph)
• World’s First RZ34 in the 4s 60-130 (4.92s)
• World’s First RZ34 in the 10s 1/4 mile (10/15/2022)
• World’s First RZ34 in the 9s 1/4 mile (10/24/2022)

Though still far from factory-spec, proof of the Nissan Z’s performance capabilities will no doubt go down well at Nissan’s North American headquarters in Tennessee following a lucrative start to the year for the two-seater Z against its primary rival, the Toyota GR Supra.