1971 Two Door Datsun 510
A Journey to Phillip Island with a Datsun 510
March 10-12, 2023
It was the Spring’ of 2022, while on my daily ‘power walk,’ when along the street was a guy un-loading some motor parts from his pickup truck. He told me that the parts were for his “track car.” He proceeded to show me his Toyota Corolla with full race cage etc. I mentioned that I was a long time good friend with Pete Brock, as he was working for Max and Ina Balchowsky at Hollywood Motors, when our Old Yeller II Buick Special was built in 1959 from “chalk lines” on the garage floor. I told him that I had always wanted a Datsun 510, as Pete Brock had ‘opened the doors’ for sales and recognition in USA by winning the Championship, beating the Porsches and Alfas. This friendly guy, Feras, said that his good friend has a Datsun 510 and had been considering selling the car. Feras had gone to San Francisco with his friend, Mike, to pick up this Datsun that was an informal “track” car with a roll bar and fuel cell. Not trying to sound excited, I asked for a contact to find out if the Datsun was for sale. I called Mike and he said that it was a 1971 two door Datsun 510, as I almost dropped the cell phone, as that was the most #1, ideal Datsun 510 to buy, as that was the winning year for Pete Brock with BRE with the Datsun 510. I asked for details and I bought the car without seeing it in person… as in USA, it is difficult to find a two door 1971 Datsun 510, as BRE has such International Motorsports recognition and a huge following.
In the past, we have been closely working and racing with Mark Johnson of Lilydale, Victoria, Australia. His Race Shop is one of the most respected race shops. We were sending our 1959 Old Yeller Buick Special to Mark Johnson and decided to put the ‘510’ into the same container for full on race preparation. Over the next 10 months, Mark tackled the big project, as the ‘510’ had some of the common rust issues and needed a full professional welded roll cage. The work detail was amazing and incredible. The Phillip Island Classic Races were held March 9-12, 2023 and the ‘510’ race preparation just fell short of completion, as the Old Yeller II had required much in improvements following the Sydney Motorsports Park Races in December 2022.
How fortuitous and such a ‘dream’ to see and hear the most legendary and Iconic Nissan Skyline GTSR31 and the Nissan Skyline HR31 Race Cars with Steve Richards and Greg Murphy, as the masterful ‘wheelmen’ of the most potent racing ‘beasts.’ The racing of the mystical ‘Skylines’ was ‘fender to fender’ and ‘nose to tail’ for all of the appreciative race fans. We proudly exhibited our 1971 Datsun 510 with our Old Yeller II and the keen interest by face fans was quite unexpected… as it was noted to us that only 4 door Datsuns 1600s were imported into Australia. I had met Greg Murphy at the New Zealand ‘Leadfoot Hillclimb’ a few years prior and it was a thrill to once again met with Greg. We had Greg autograph our beautiful crafted race dashboard saving room in the future for Pete Brock and John Morton, as they had been following the progress of our race prep of the “510.”We joined the Nissan Skyline ‘photo shoot’ for our ‘team’ shots
The versatile ‘race driver,’ John Morton, at times joins us during the testing of our race-cars. John was a Shelby American driver for Carroll Shelby and he has tested with us, testing our CSX 2203 1964 Shelby Cobra. I asked John Morton for personal comments, as he raced the Datsun 510 for Pete Brock and BRE… winning the Championship. Here are John Morton’s comments about BRE racing: “The BRE team had won the SCCA class C Production National Championship in 1970 with Datsun’s new 240Z. Peter Brock and the BRE team were asked by Datsun to campaign the 1600cc Datsun 510 sedan for the 1971 Trans Am small sedan series. I felt that turning this inexpensive economy car into a competitive race car was a big ask. I as the one assigned to race the car, was not optimistic about our chances of being competitive much less actually winning races against such makes as BMW and Alfa Romeo. To everyone’s surprise and my shock, we were fastest qualifier at our first race in New Hampshire, we had missed the first race of the season at Lime Rock so began with a points disadvantage. We broke in that first race but subsequently won 6 races during the season as well as the Championship. In 1972 the BRE team repeated with 8 victories and another championship. Many say that the BRE team put Datsun on the racing map in the US. I’m proud to have been a part of it.”
On Sunday and the last day of the Phillip Island Races, the low angular golden rays of the Australian sun glowed on our Old Yeller II and Datsun 510, as our great team stood tall as well, to be a part of the Phillip Island Classic Races with the very best run of the Old Yeller II in over 33 years of Internationally racing. Just as important was the Mark Johnson Crew and Shop beaming brightly, being so proud of their workmanship on the Datsun 510 and seeing the great respect extended, from the many race fans at Phillip Island. The Weekend could not get any better than that!