Any interest in attending vintage races?

[BlackbirdM3]

The cars look great; I always thought the old Fairladies were cool little cars. The 2000s are pretty potent, too.

Potent, yes. I've got about the same hp in the Datsun as I do in the M3, but the Datsun is 1000 lbs lighter. Last year two of the front runners in my Autocross class where whining that the M3 was too new to fit the class :roll:(biggest rule of the class, must be 25+ years old.) I told them they should be happy I'm running the M3 (and winning with it.) and that the Datsun was a lot faster. When I finally brought the roadster out in August (no races in July last year) I was 5 seconds faster than what I would have been in the M3. They started bitching about the Datsun being over prepared. For this year however both guys have given up with one guy now racing a 370Z and the other guy not even showing up.

If you look on Youtube, I have a couple videos I shot when I raced with HSR-West and VSCCA back in April of 2011. My friend Ron brought his fully race prepped 67.5 2000 up from San Diego. He thought he was going to drop me like a bad habit. Do a search for "Datsun roadsters Laguna seca" and you should find them. If not, I can post the direct links if you want. I ended up finishing 21 of 58 cars in my first vintage race ever, on top of that I drove the car 150 miles each way to and from the race. Not bad for a car I can and do: daily drive.

There are a few of the original Bob Sharp cars on the East coast that come out and run one of them is in the red, white and blue later paint job, and the others are in the early all red scheme. One of them being the original #33 67.5 2000. Its still very fast. There are a few 1600s that run back there as well.

Will

[ELVA164]

Cool video, that track looks so fun to drive.

By the way...there were 58 cars in your group??

[BobombETA]

I went in 2011 (I'm a Datsun nut) with my Parents, and aunt and uncle. Even my mom loved it. Meant to go back last year but missed it :(

Last year was awesome. They honored the Mustang and there were some great examples.

[BlackbirdM3]

Cool video, that track looks so fun to drive.

By the way...there were 58 cars in your group??

Yep, 58 cars took the starting grid, Minis, 510s,2002s, a Volvo Amazon, a few MGBs (the only one to beat me was the Huffaker racing National championship winner.) , a couple of Alfas, a few sports racers and a pair of Lotus 7s. There were a few Porsche 356s and 911s in the field as well. I think the scariest cars in the group were the Lotus Cortinas. Luckily most of them failed to make it through the weekend.

I wish I had video of this battle between the Huffaker Genie, the Alfa and myself. I was way faster than the other two through the corners, and about the same speed on the straights, but they were geared a little shorter so they'd pull on me out of the corners (that I had to slow for to keep from rear ending them.) I got around the genie but never did find a way around the GTV. (the guy made himself VERY wide)








We had a good showing of Datsuns at that race




It was hands down the most fun weekend I've ever had. Both the car and I gained a lot of respect from people simply because they were proved wrong about the abilities of both the car and the driver. I'd say a 21st place in my first race in a car that I daily drive is a respectable showing. Especially since it didn't miss a beat the whole weekend. Everyone kept asking if there was anything I needed to do on the car, and the answer was always "nope, its running perfect", and it was. Everyone else seemed to need to do something to their cars, but for me, all I did was check the oil and tire pressures.

Will

[ELVA164]

I think the scariest cars in the group were the Lotus Cortinas. Luckily most of them failed to make it through the weekend.

This makes me very sad...hopefully I don't give that impression when I drive. What was it about them that was scary?

Also, that's an awesome first race weekend!

[BlackbirdM3]

This makes me very sad...hopefully I don't give that impression when I drive. What was it about them that was scary?

Also, that's an awesome first race weekend!

It wasn't the drivers, it was the cars themselves. In one of the videos from the weekend you can see a Cortina randomly lurch to the side while traveling in a straight line between turns 5 and 6. They all did weird things mid corner and nearly every corner.

I think they were all retired by the end of the final race due to having the touch of the Prince of Darkness (Joseph Lucas electrics )

It was sort of funny all the Datsun guys were pretty much all pitted together and everyone was commenting on how the Cortinas were scary. One of the Cortinas was driven by a friend of mine and when I asked him what the deal was with the way the Cortinas were cornering the best answer he could come up with was "Yeah, well, about that..." Both he and his father were running Cortinas, and his car blew a headgasket (apparently trying to chase me down) and his dads car had an ignition issue that they just couldn't figure out. I think 5 or 6 British Fords (Escorts and Cortinas) and I don't think one of them made it to the final race.

Will

[ELVA164]

Interesting. I guess I'm happy our Cortina doesn't do either of those things...