SlyOne

Haven't been here for awhile but here's a couple of pics of the finished rebuilt Datto. It had it's first run in three years at the MG classic in November. Rebuild consisted of a new Lawton 13BPP engine and complete exhaust system. A series 1 RX7 LSD replaced the open diff. New double adjustable QA1 rear shocks and springs. All new Autometer gauges and a complete rewire. Paint job courtesy of my mate Craig Berquist and then Wrapped by sign fusion in a design that i worked on with Pit Crew Designs Brett Gunnel. We are just waiting on the rear wing to be finished aswell. We are having the expected teething problems and a few little redesigns but should have it back up and humming in the next month or so and hope to be competing in the Manawatu car clubs winter series and aswell as running GT3/4 later in the year and of course the MG classic. Will add some pics later this week. Was nice to catch up with some of the Oldschool clan at the MG classic!

I've got a couple of pics here of whats been going on with the Datto. Stripped it back and it's getting a fresh coat and a different look for next year. A massive amount of work getting the body back into shape by Berky, it really was a bit of a mess once it was stripped back. We wont paint it until it's all back together. It will also have a new rear wing and front splitter. Also expanded the G/Box tunnel while it's apart thanks to Ryan Baker, gives us unlimited options to slot a better box in further down the track. Some pics of new bits to help us get around a bit quicker. LSD, Wilwoods, Griffin radiator and PWR oil cooler(no pic). Car completely rewired by Feilding Auto Electrical. All new Autometer gauges to monitor the new 13BPP power plant built by Stu Lawton who will also do a complete new exhaust system for it...cant wait to fire this thing up. All things going well we should complete the car during my January holidays, ready to race at the Manfeild IRC meeting in Feb.

Long time since I've posted here. It's been over a year since the little Datto raced but we are getting close to making a return. To help fund the rebuild I had to sell my fun RX8 above

Havent done much racing this year but we did make it to the MG classic last wknd and this is a quick report. Previous meeting we managed to smash the diff (not lsd). So we pulled it out while searching for another, at this time we decided to mount some disc brakes on rear as opposed to the rx3 drums the car has run since 1990. Berky got to work while i sorted a diff. Tried desperately to find a lsd center to no avail. So i called Monty (Alan Montgomery RX3 racing legend) who kindly helped out with some bits to repair our diff. Gave them to Geartech and they put them together aswell as replacing rear wheelbearings while axels out. Got home from Aus thurs arvo (day before testing) and Berky (Datto engineer) was having some dramas with new calipers, actually old calipers from wreckers off Starlet Turbo. Anyway turns out one side had taken a knock and wasnt going to work. A little panic set in and fri morn(test day) we went in search of a replacement. A quick trip to levin solved problem and 2.30pm fri arvo we made the track. One lap and back to pits, rear end foating around. Turns out when we broke two of the link arms for diff previously we actually ended up splitting the axel housing....not good. Back on trailer and around to Huw n kath @ Feilding Auto Electrical....great people! Kath yelled out "whats wrong with it" replied with a "it's f.....d" was enough for kath to clear the hoist and we were in there. Once we realised our predicament Huw made a quick call to Ryan (a member here) and he shot around and welded up the axel housing. I kid you not that was some impressive job Ryan did...best ive seen. Ryan also helped with the brake caliper mount which suffered some bending when axel rotated on split. A few beers late that day in the wkshp and i thanked them all for their help, fantastic. I'll just add that when we put it on the trailer Friday we smashed the front splitter off yet Berky stayed up till 11pm fri night fibreglassing it back up....legend! Sat morn and Quali was now testing for us hoping all was good with brakes etc. To add to the fun it decided to bucket down...on with new wets. First lap fairly cautious as never really driven it in full wet conditions let alone with untested brake replacement. All seemed great so pressed on and somehow managed poll position by 2sec! Started doing a raindance after that but the wind came, rain stopped and by racetime track was dry, i think we were 5th. Next up we were entered in a Toyota challenge,7 toyos vs 7 others. Was looking fwd to my first chance to race against Ian Williamsons quick RX2 but he snapped an axel in the race previous so no go. We won that by 40 seconds due to a failed handicap which had us starting from pitlane but released too early? More dramas were to come with a smashed windscreen first lap of next race then snapped 2 link arms again on diff when dropping the clutch in final race.Might have to nana off the line from now on. Still had some fun racing. Want to thank those who got us there, Berky for his massive amount of work, Huw n Kath always helpful Dan (my son) who i drag out there and he puts in a great effort at the track and Ryan who saved the day aswell. http://m.youtube.com/results?q=2014%20mg%20classic&sm=12

me too

I Haven't posted for awhile so here's a couple of pics and a quick update. Finally found some new wheels which we are pretty happy with. 6kgs lighter overall and look pretty good i reckon. First run with these on was the IRC round at Manfeild on a very hot wknd that took a lot out've the car. Blistered The left right tyre in practice, then the new tyre same wheel in race 1. Decided this was maybe due to the slightly wider spacing required to make the wheels fit, creating more camber. Stood the left front up a bit straighter and had no more problems, although a bit gutted to have ruined two decent slicks. Numbers weren't good enough to run a clubmans class so we ended up in NZGT class. A DNF in race one due to the blistered tyre then a win in race 2 and a 6th in race 3. Was a lot of fun. A week later we had the Rotary Revival meeting. Good bunch of people. Unfortunately we smashed 3rd gear in race 1 so that was that. Sticky tyres and maybe a bit too much horsepower for the MX5 box may have been the culprit. A series 3 turbo box inserted 2 weeks later on Friday morn, Manfeild for quick test in arvo and loaded up and straight to Taupo that night for another run with the Rotary boys. Race 1 tore the panhard rod mount out've the floor...weekend over. The series 3 gbox ratios are not as good as the MX5 and thanks to the Rotary Racing Enthusiasts we have acquired a series 5 gbox for a future upgrade We keep smiling, fixing and having another go.....Hampton Downs for the first time on the 3rd May

https://imageshack.com/i/3o8vrqj I cant seem to just post a pic up on here anymore so here's a link to a pic I took tonight. A bit blurry as phone has no flash. Thanks to Berky who has spent 2 full days on the Datto replacing and tweaking brakes, making the new wheels fit(big mission)and adding a new breather. The wheels are probably at least 6kg in total lighter than my widened steel wheels, add that to my slow moving diet and we will test tomorrow at least 16kg lighter than we were at the last outing(MG Classic). Looking forward to seeing how much difference that makes. IRC meet at Manfeild this weekend and we've just entered in a clubmans class for Sunday but may see if we can join NZGT class aswell. For the Rotary fans out there the week after is a Rotary revival meeting at Manfeild which is for anything Rotary powered, road or race cars...all can have a go in what sounds like will be a relaxed fun event.

Thought I'd throw this up on youtube, not terribly exciting but we had a lot of fun at the MG classic Manfeild November last year. This vid starts after the safety car period during a reverse grid handicap race....unfortunately brought all the fast cars up to us.The whole weekend was brilliant weather wise and a fantastic 40 years of Manfeild anniversary dinner on the Saturday night was awesome with the likes of Ken Smith, Chris Amon and Graeme Lawrence speaking. Also a bloke I watched win the first two ever World Superbike championships finishing at Manfeild(yes Manfeild!) Fred Merkel. And of course the man who made Manfeild happen Rob Lester. Was awesome. Our weekend went pretty smooth with no real issues except a new oil cooler failing. Had the old one so put that back in. We ran in the Sports n GT class because we don't really fit anywhere else. Very quick cars in this class and a big variety with Radicals and Juno sportscars(very hard to see coming!), space framed V8 RX7s etc etc. Outclassed but a lot of fun. Car did start smoking when backing off the throttle towards the end of the weekend which is a worry. We did go a little heavier on the oil in the fuel late in the weekend but I suspect it may be more than that. May have to freshen the engine. Hoping to maybe have a run in the IRC round at Manfeild in NZGT class in a few weeks. If I can get leave from work, the week after is the Rotary Racing enthusiasts meeting at Manfeild at the end of Feb which also includes the 2k cup and Honda cup I think? Be some pretty crazy Rotary powered cars there by the sound of it. We haven't touched the car(apart from another new oil cooler) since November so we will have to compression test the engine to make sure it's holding together.

Finally got the car back together after replacing the oil cooler and a split brake caliper and gave up on the externally regulated alternator and brought a factory RX7 one. So the new cooler was relocated in front of the radiator so we could mount the new front splitter. With the new summer series kicking off at Manfeild Sunday just gone I was hoping to have a trouble free run for once, Weather was great! Went out for quali and the replacement caliper wasn't working as it should so the car was pulling left under brakes. Happily it freed up and was good after 2 laps. Qualified 2nd in class. Quick bleed again of the brakes and into it. Ended the day with 2 wins from 3 races and my quickest lap of 1.18.1. It definitely has 1.17s in it now. Good battle with a S6 Turbo 7. Really happy with the car and the difference the splitter makes to the front end handling. With the MG classic on this weekend for once we have very little to do to the car to get it ready! Going to be a huge wknd, Hope the weather behaves. http://www.flickr.com/photos/71670482@N08/10662129475/

The great news is the F5000s are back for this one! Plus central Muscle cars 10th year anniversary...awesome. http://www.manfeild.co.nz/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=uslmGfdOzzU%3d&tabid=38

Ok so another disaster for us. Spent Saturday morning bedding in new rotors then a final bleed ended our weekend as a bleed nipple was stripped. I guess there's always a chance of that with 40yr old calipers. Spent the rest of the day attempting to find a replacement bleed valve then trying to make it work. In the end we plugged the hole and sealed it up and left it overnight to see If it would do the job as we could still bleed them with the second bleed nipple. A early start Sunday saw us rock up and bleed the brakes and all seemed good, no leaks. Out for Qualifying and all was not good as car was pulling to the left under braking. Pressed on and set 3rd quickest time, off with the wheel and problem was bigger than first thought as caliper was cracked causing the good nipple to bleed out under heavy braking. End of weekend. After a bit of swearing & bleating on that I'm over it and car has to go, I got home and straight on net and have found some Wilwoods that will bolt straight on....when I can afford to buy them. So this is where we spent our weekend, in the shed and idling in pit lane lol...very expensive weekend again. Idling in the pits http://www.flickr.com/photos/71670482@N08/9659534587/

Ok so a failed effort at Taupo hasn't dampened our spirits too much. Car was suffering big time with a lack of grip everywhere mainly due to no LSD and the anti-clockwise layout at Taupo. Throw in some toasted slicks and it wasn't really driveable at all. Electrical dramas meant she almost went up in smoke on the Sunday. To top it off we cracked a brake rotor.... Dusted ourselves of from that diversion and now focused back on the final round of the Feilding Auto Electrical Winter series at Manfeild this wknd which should prove to be huge going by reported entries so far and the forecast looks good. A truckshow incorporated should mean bring a few people in aswell. Replacement brake rotors arrived, car spent sometime at auto sparkies prior to testing last Friday but still had some small electrical issues which should be resolved by Tomorrow. Have a replacement set of slicks ready to go on for the wknd too as in testing we were sliding around everywhere. Prior to Taupo we finally decided to Dyno the car as we were suffering heating issues which we thought might be associated with fuelling at high RPMs. As it turns out we were on the money as it was leaning out up top which is not good for a rotor. Also found the Tacho to be reading 1000rpm low. Re-jetted and gained some more horsepower(approx. 250 at the wheels now) so looking forward to having some rubber under us to test it out. Next project is definitely an LSD which will make a massive difference along with disc rear. That is if I keep it as I have my eyes on a RX3 coupe in aus. Hoping for a good fun wknd!

This was a bit of a mess for our first trip north. Beaut weather but winter chills meant a slippery track. Dan had the driving duties on Saturday and struggled for grip badly. We knew the tyres were getting close to the end of their life but with the flat corners at Taupo as opposed to the banked ones at Manfeild really showed the cars weakness. The corner we struggle the most for grip with at Manfeild is the left hand hairpin after the esses and with Taupo running the opposite direction the majority of corners are left handers. I would say an LSD will be a must for us to run there again as it just kept unloading and spinning up in the lefties. Dan did well considering we could easily have run half the horsepower and gone as quick.. I jumped in for the clubmans on Sunday having not run the track at all and scooted out for quali. I wish I hadn't. Felt like a skidpan. Came in halfway through quali as i'd had enough. A few guys offered up advice so the tyre pressures were drastically altered but that was even worse. Started on the front row of our group but lucky not to loop it in second off the line and just nana'd it around staying out've everyones way until I looped it out've the back straight. Then next lap the power cut and cab filled with smoke...some electrical issue which put me out've my misery lol. On trailer and headed home nice n early. Lots of work to do before we run again. We put the Datto on the dyno on Thursday and managed to put another 40kw into it and maybe that didn't help too much but should be good at Manfeild when we run the last round of the winter series On a brighter note we had a mean night out in Taupo Saturday which was definitely the highlight of our weekend

Will be there as well and this weekends Intermarque at Manfeild if the weather holds up

Hi all, quick update without pics(have none at this stage) on our weekend at round one of the Winter series Manfeild. As I said above, we had some charging issues and unfortunately the alternator which we had rebuilt before xmas was toast? Wasn't happy about this or the excuses for it but anyway had no time to argue so we brought a new one. Problem solved. Saturday was practice. Found that we had snipped wires for the oil pressure and water temp gauges when we added a volt gauge to keep an eye on the alternator. Lucky my pit neighbour was Hugh from Feilding Auto Electrical who came to a quick rescue. Back on track and the car drove better than ever with the new brakes and tie rod ends etc. Times weren't up at all but I was really happy with the car. Late afternoon and the forecast rain came down so we chucked the R888s on and had a run in case Sunday was much the same. I looped it twice early on, it was like ice skating. On to Sunday and qualifying went really well. Weather was great. Managed pole from 36 cars in class, close times though and a very crowded track with GT class also qualifying so expected some of the quickies may not have got a clear lap, as I didn't either. Race 1 Finished with me in second having succumbed to Peter Edmonds quick Volvo s40 turbo. Great battles with another Datto I think is powered by a sr20 and a v8 powered mx5 plus others. Race 2 was a reverse grid handicap start that had me on grid 32. Made my way through to 4th at the flag. Race 3 also a reverse grid handicap. Made another good start but had gear selection issues lap one and fell along way last before it came right. Had these issues all day but not quite this severe. Set my quickest lap of the day charging back but only made it as far as 16th. A new format by Manawatu car club with the time splits for each category changed worked well for us and others obviously as the numbers were very good for each class and less time difference from front to back. Overall I couldn't be happier with the car over the weekend and am now happy to travel with it which is what we'll do end of the month for the clubmans at Taupo. Yesterday I was thumbing through magazines at Auckland airport to buy for the trip back to Aus when I came across your artilcle in Performance car mag about oldschool nats and there was the Datto! Thanks for including it!

Discussion: //oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/42081-slyones-rotary-datsun-racecar/ Hi all, met a few of you at Nats trackday Manfeild recently and couple asked me to post a bit about the Datto so here goes.... A little about me...sports mad bike mad car mad fella who was around when some of the old cars you guys cheerish were new, yep I'm old My Dad was a racer in the 60s/70s when racing was at it's greatest in my opinion, and was lucky enough to travel around the country with dad and watch some of the all time greatest race in NZ. It;s in my blood and i love it! I've done a bit of racing here in cars and bikes and in Aus in MX. I work in Aus but Feilding NZ is home. On to the datto.... I thought it was time to have a play car for me and my oldest boy Dan(who also has a kewl ke30). So when i saw this car i thought it migt be a marriage of two greats of the 70s...Datsun and Mazda Rotary. Not everyones cup of tea but my first car was an RX3 when i turned 15 and i loved watching the dattos in shellsport over the years.So i brought it from Mark Wade from North Shore who delivered it to Feilding when my Jeep decided to pack up on the way to pick it up, top bloke. We wheeled it into the shed and that's where it stayed for 6 months. Found this gem on the interweb The car was built in Wellington back about 1990 as a racecar so is far from pristine. It had a mild port midmounted 13B running a 48mm sidedraught and still the old dizzy and points(gawd i hated them way back when). Some handy work to get it in there for sure. In more recent times Mark had done some handy fabrication work to tidy it up and the graphics were his work aswell.Finally after purchasing some Kuhmo semi slicks from Palmside CHCH, we took it down to Manfeild for an Intermarque sprints meeting. We learnt a fair bit about it that day and what it needed going forward. I think it did a respectable club car time of 1.25 So we started out by removing the old 4speed RX3 box and fitting an MX5 5speed(not convinced this was a good move). Added a lightened flywheel, electronic ignition, button clutch and removable steering wheel(big fatty now). It has a four link rear still with drum brakes and an open diff from an RX3. Up front it has Capri rotors with Austin Princess 4pot calipers. Back to the track and had g/box troubles straight away. So in with a replacement and cut some more laps. The flywheel was very noticable as was the clutch, the box not so much. Down to 1.22 but a little smokey rolling off the throttle which made me nervous. I'd owned a rediculous amount of rotarys back in the day to know this was a bad sign..So the cheap fun car was getting away on me a little. So why stop now? Out comes the engine, 13BPP was decided on and replace the sidedraught with a 48mm downdraught. The original Datsun fuel tank and lines just weren't going to cut it so Palmerston North Automotive did me a 40l fuel cell flowing into a surge tank via holley pump then on to the IDA via carter pump and large braided fuel line. Now we're getting serious... This all created it's own little problems. Not so little really. With the tank now exposed in what used to be the boot meant the boot had to be sealed again from the main cabin. And with the Downdraught replacing the sidedraught meant more cutting back towards the windscreen to make it fit with the engine mounted well back. In steps my good mate Berky who's a genius in my eyes. We used to terrorise Palmy as teenages in our Rotary's. He did some great fabrication work for me and generally does any prep work i need done on the Datto between runs. I couldn't do any of it without him. I never had plans of posting anything up so don't have great pics but can add more later maybe?So a couple of not so good times with the engine meant 2 rebuilds and a bit less hair before it made the track again. It happens sometimes. I can credit Berky(Craig Berquist) and a lot of other locals for helping get the car up and running like Palmerston North Automotive, Kester Olivecrona and Bevan Parker (Feilding Automotive), Cameron Jones etc etc.The first serious hit out was in the MG classic(Whittakers) at Manfeild last year where we had a fantastic time. Went to 15" wheels with R888s but with the tall RX3(3.9) diff it left me a little slow out've the turns but very easy to drive with only 2nd,3rd required lol. The Falcon beat me by .2 over the finish line. Awesome car! Now back on 13" x 9" And as it was on Oldschool trackday. Bonnet still experimental as we try to get enough air in the thing. The 5.5" K&N we put on the day before worked a treat. When we decided early on to press on with the build we had a target time of 1.18 for Manfeild which we have now acheived. If i want to go faster now that's easy....stop eating.... Time for Dan to get more seat time. Reliability has been the issue and this needs to lift so we can travel to Taupo, Hamptons and Pukekohe with the car soon. We're getting closer. I took it to the Oldschool trackdays as a good opportunity to get some decent testing in with the winter series coming up and have a bit of fun. Also knew there wouldn't be a whole lot of cars with cages that could take passengers so intended to offer up rides in the arvo but unfortunately issues with the new box meant limited runs and early trailer time sorry. Maybe next year. I do spend a fair few Friday test days at Manfeild so feel free to come and have a chat and mention oldschool and I'm happy to take people for rides if I have the time. I was impressed with the cars and the passion you guys have...very cool As i was leaving a chap asked me for my email address as he had taken lots of pics which i always appreciate. May have lost my email simonhetterscheid@gmail.com Some more flickr pics .... http://www.flickr.com/photos/71670482@N08/ So we have just spent the weekend finishing the Datto for the upcoming round 1 of the winter series at Manfeild. The new crossdrilled slotted vented Capri front rotors fitted up no problem with the caliper spacer kit also purchased from NZAD fitted perfectly. We also replaced balljoints and tie rod ends. The Tie rod ends were flogged out and bent. Steering and stopping should improve 100% Wheel alignment number 4 today, sparky tomorrow to check whether we've cured the lack of battery charging and a quick polish and fingers crossed a successful fun weekend coming up. Now that we have sorted out the air requirements for the IDA, the new bonnet has been fitted with appropriate air intake. Fingers crossed for some fine weather!

He was testing a few weeks back when we were. Liked the cars theme, looks cool and very quick. Lets hope for sunshine!

Watched this at intermarque and very impressed with. Speed..even mprr impressed when you told me its a 10a! Welldone!

Agreed

Hi, emailed interest. Be fun

oh sorry sprints are Sunday

and if you do an overnighter you can run in the Intermarque sprints on Saturday Very cool car

Yes that was me m8, would've liked to have chatted longer but got the call up lol. We had our best day so far, managing to finish five runs without breaking the car, although my son managed to loop it at dunlop . I only did one solo run as we were trying to get family in the car for rides but manged a 1.23. Another solo run i'm sure i could've done a low 22. It's a standard 13B and drumbrake rear so reas happy with that. Big things to come. Maybe catch you up here for one of those praccy days, both need more time on track to sort car and driver lol. Have a better look over yr beast next time Cheers Sly