Nissan 200SX New Raytown

This 200sx was built by Don Preston Racing in the early 80's for Frank Carney, and the initial reported race condition was with a cross-flow twin cam four valve 2.3 liter naturally aspirated Nissan engine. The head configuration was an aftermarket piece by OS Giken of Japan. I got the following photos from Don Preston, which show the car as it was raced in 1983-1985. I'm not sure which track it is, perhaps some of our readers will recognize the venue? This configuration was not competitive in GTU and the decision was made to convert it to an L18 (1770 cc) turbocharged configuration. The L18 was a SOHC non cross flow engine available in the US in the Datsun (Nissan) 1973-75 PL610 and 710 sedans. A very similar street turbocharged and fuel injected 200SX (Silvia, Bluebird) sedan was built in Japan which allowed the combination to be raced in IMSA as a homologated car under FIA sanctioning rules. In racing series (such as IMSA) that are "production-based" (the vehicles entered in the series are based on production vehicles for sale to the public), homologation requires not only compliance with a racing series' technical guidelines (for example, engine displacement, chassis construction, suspension design and such) but it often includes minimum levels of sales to ensure that vehicles are not designed and produced solely for racing in that series. Since such vehicles are primarily intended for the race track, practical use on public roads is generally a secondary design consideration, so long as government regulations are met. While the 200SX was relatively rare in US-based racing series, there was no shortage of them in Japanese racing history. The yellow and white #23 Japanese version of the car has a different front end but the chassis is the same. Originally built with a huge IHI turbocharger and a Hilborn fuel injection system, the Hilborn system could not be developed/modified to work as needed for road racing. As a replacement, a BMW boost compensated Bosch Kugelfisher mechanical system was chosen and adapted to the Nissan/Datsun engine. Believe me, this was no small task as is evidenced by the elaborate mounts/brackets that had to be custom fabricated, not to mention the ensuing tuning challenges. This photo shows the BMW engine that the fuel injection system was developed for. A similar set up was used for BMW's Formula 1 effort where the horsepower reported was hard to believe. A special boost modified MSD 7AL2 was also built for the car, probably by Electramotive. The L18 was a surprising power plant for the 200SX, generating 450 HP at the crank at 30 PSI boost. Unfortunately, other surprises showed up as the power resulted in broken rear ends, transmissions, and turbochargers... even destroyed wastegates. This led to many DNF's (Did Not Finish) early in the car's racing campaign which required the purchase or custom build of very robust components to stand up to this "mouse" motor power. Most notable of these was a stock car style Halibrand quick-change rear end and a custom built Nissan competition 5 speed, modified to accept large dog-style Hewland straight cut gear box internals. The car competed at Road Atlanta, Watkins Glenn, Charlotte, Road America, Daytona, Riverside for several seasons. The final race was at Watkins Glen resulting in a DNF due to a turbocharger failure and small fire. You can see the resultant fire damage below: ased on the limited information I have found, the car led some races and finished 2nd in two. This was no small feat in this fiercely competitive IMSA factory-backed arena for an independent team to accomplish. Remember, this is the series that produced the amazing RX 7's, Roush 700+ hp Merkurs and the dominating Toyota Celicas of Dan Gurney's All American Racing. So, for an independent team with an as-yet unproven chassis to perform competitively, this really speaks volumes not only about the car, but about the efforts of the builders and drivers. Here is a very interesting IMSA quote regarding a 1985 Road Atlanta race: 1985 : Porsche takes over, part 2 "The next race was held at Road Atlanta, a 500-Miler. A strong fifty-three car field was to take the start of the first continental race. Porsche 962s were the favorites as Al Holbert wound up a new pole position, just ahead of John Paul Jr, who had his beautiful Porsche 934 entered. For sure, the opposition was stronger for the quite unbeatable Mustangs. In the Lights class, while the Argos appeared unbeatable in the previous races, a new car, designed by Dave Klym, and powered by a Porsche flat-six engine, was new to the field: it was called a Fabcar. That Porsche would have the race won, but Al Holbert / Derek Bell lost four laps in the pits, losing the race to the Group 44 Jaguar XJR5s of Winters-Elliot Forbes Robinson, who survived the race. The GTO class was won once again by the Roush Racing Ford Mustang driven by John Jones-Wally Dallenbach. The GTU class saw a new victory by Jack Baldwin who drove solo, but the second place finisher was the astonishing little Nissan 200SX driven by Frank Carney and Dick Davenport who upset everyone in a new Raytown Datsun sponsored entry." EDITOR'S NOTE: For several years thereafter, the 200SX sat... In such a competitive series, new chassis designs and better technology often relegate perfectly-good race cars to the back of the shop, where they're occasionally never seen again. After all, the S13 chassis had been released by now and was making its own mark in the series, not to mention the extreme dominance of the Z32 chassis in IMSA for several years. It seemed, given the circumstances, that the S12 chassis might not ever compete again. However, thanks to Bob Burgess, the 200SX got a new lease on life...

The Nissan 200SX prior to the race at Road Atlanta 1985.