AD240Z
Club Member
Re Datsun Sunny, I'll reply tomorrow.
Is this the same one : https://zclub.net/community/index.php?threads/another-bit-of-datsun-history.6807/
Re Datsun Sunny, I'll reply tomorrow.
Hi Steve,Hi JK
LAL, looked in good shape on the racks at MZR, looks fantastic now.
Do you know the whereabouts of the Capri? Would love to buy that car.
Steve
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Man, I'd love that !I'm sure the Samuri Celica was found a few years ago and even mentioned on here somewhere, but I did search the forum and couldn't find anything...?
Re Datsun Sunny, I'll reply tomorrow.
PLEASE ONLY POST ON HERE IF YOU WANT TO COMMENT ON THIS CAR AND THE RACE.
SAMURI KNOCKERS NEED NOT GET INVOLVED.
Not classified:
No. Drivers Car Entrant Laps Distance Km/h Reason Gr. Div.
47 Richardson / Walton Datsun 240Z Samuri Conversions with B & W Motors Ltd. 158 Laps GT Div.2
49 Marshall / Lanfranchi / Williams BMW 3.0 Si Mayfair Magazine 157 Laps ser.T Div.2
58 Poole / Tjan / Handley Datsun Sunny Janspeed Engineeing Ltd. 128 Laps Gr.5 Div.1
22 Hamilton / Preece Aston Martin AM V8 Robin Hamilton Aston Martin Specialists 115 Laps Gr.5 Div.3
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And we have a Capri , Celica and now Sunny being discussed.
@ Rob, can you self moderate and tidy up the thread
Just look at the entry list - the quality is amazing e.g. Ickx, Mass, Peterson etc etc.
The car LAL was bought as a 'banger' for £900 just 3 weeks earlier and viewed outside a chipshop. It was knackered and dangerous to drive home apparently but bear in mind it would only be a few years old in '77 so £900 was the deal. The Samuri guys worked night and day to get this car fit for the 'World Manufactures Six Hour' race!
This is a great story and just one of the 'escapades' that in my mind make Samuri stand out in the history of Zs.
Yes agreed and I realised all that but we should admire the endeavour and wouldn't you tell the story if you had done similar.It is indeed a great story, but there were many factors that made it possible. Its hard to imagine such a scenario being possible in the last 30 years, so the end of the Seventies was perhaps the last time for such an extreme example of local 'garagistes' being allowed to take part in their local rounds of a true World Championship series.
Think of it; The car was a well-used example of a road car that Nissan had stopped selling four years earlier. Its race preparation was fairly perfunctory (certainly for the Silverstone round, perhaps less so for the better-prepared entry in the Brands Hatch round) and whilst running in FIA Group 4 it wasn't even prepped to the full potential of the 1977 Group 4 standards. To be blunt, it was always going to outgunned from the get-go.
They - obviously - had no budget, let alone intention, to enter the full championship. I can't imagine they ever dreamed they might win their class and on paper they would have to be very lucky indeed - benefiting from the misfortune of others - to even place well in that class. At Silverstone in Class B they were up against a gaggle of 3-litre Capris and Porsche Carreras/RSRs with a 3-litre BMW thrown in for good measure. At Brands they were up against six Carreras, a lone Mazda RX5 (light and fast) and no less than a factory-entered BMW 320 Turbo in their class.
Rain was a big leveller, and they certainly got it at the Brands Hatch round.
Finished in front of an AstonNot classified:
No. Drivers Car Entrant Laps Distance Km/h Reason Gr. Div.
47 Richardson / Walton Datsun 240Z Samuri Conversions with B & W Motors Ltd. 158 Laps GT Div.2
49 Marshall / Lanfranchi / Williams BMW 3.0 Si Mayfair Magazine 157 Laps ser.T Div.2
58 Poole / Tjan / Handley Datsun Sunny Janspeed Engineeing Ltd. 128 Laps Gr.5 Div.1
22 Hamilton / Preece Aston Martin AM V8 Robin Hamilton Aston Martin Specialists 115 Laps Gr.5 Div.3
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