David's Poor Datsun

[Crash Test]

The poor Datsun had a rather nasty coming together with the tyres at Lakeside today....but David was ok and was able to drive back to the pits, with a Datsun 1600 in need of a new left side.

[Danielsun]

Mr Paterson!! I'm grieving for you. I do hope everything's okay. Just make sure you have the car ready for my return (whenever that may be) so I can be there with Mr Test and the Patto Fan Club!!

[marcus]

Bad luck David..glad to hear you are Ok and i hope ya can repair the beast soon and get back on track.

all the best

[DAVID PATERSON]

Thanks for the kind words guys, we actually started repairing the car that night, still a long way to go, we're attending to a few other things that needed doing whilst it's in bits. So the end result will be a better car than what it was. Hey Crash, did you get any photos, it's too late now, the car is in bits already.

[Crash Test]

Sorry David, was out of film/in shock by that stage of the day...

BTW- what is the official line on the accident for the race report?

[TimD]

David, I only just heard.

Really sorry to hear about the Datto. Hope the rebuild isn't too traumatic, and that the car comes out leaner and meaner as a result.

There are scarcely any of those Datsuns left over here, so here's to yours keeping the faith and keeping the opposition honest for years to come.

Best thing, of course is that you're okay. However rare a Datsun 1600 is, David Patersons are a very limited edition. It's reassuring to know that you are in one piece.

[Crash Test]

Actually it was a shyte weekend for the Datsun 1600, as David was joined by another (baby **** matte brown....oooh I love that color on a race car!) version which was sadly stuck into the scenery in its first ever race

[Sparky]

Glad to hear YOU'RE alright, David.

Poor ol' Datto.

Erm... I just remembered... you asked about brakes a few weeks back. Was that the reason?

If you get r e a l l y creative with the panel beating, it could look like a Mexico!

Just kidding. Good luck with the repairs.

[DAVID PATERSON]

Cheers guys, i was fine after the incident, but pretty sore for the next few days. Yeah, sparky we're having brake problems and they contributed majorly to the shunt. So we;re going to harder/better/dearer pads and a bigger master cylinder, maybe better disc rotors too. We're also going to pull a lot of weight out of the car, replace the worn original rubber bushes with nolathane and port the head and replace the cam.

We hope/guess/estimate we are looking at a 60kg reduction and 25hp increase for a 1.5 second improvement, that should put those pesky Escorts, Cortinas and Minis behind me.

[Danielsun]

Then, when I return home and am officialling at Lakeside, it'll be you those Falcon 500s are trying to outbrake (not RX7s) and they'll crush the wall. You will continue unabated, laughing in the cockpit!!

This car will be rather nice, Mr P. Might even challenge a Magna, eh?

[DAVID PATERSON]

Daniel i went straight around the outside of a Magna just the other day. Though i was on Sandgate Rd, in a Hilux 1 Tonner, diesel, carrying half a ton of freight.
But I'm sure the Magna driver was really trying, they all are in fact.

[DAVID PATERSON]

I've bought new left side doors from a good friend in the Datsun club for the princely sum of $10 each! It appears that both mudguards, that's wings to the pommies and fenders to the yanks, are repairable.

We also had to replace a number of components in the steering but we did that whilst renewing all the suspension bushes and the car is back on its wheels, rolling now.

I say rolling because the cylinder head is away at the machine shop getting ported, they are also going to replace most of the top end with bigger, better componentry, we're hoping to get 100hp at the wheels!

I considered a colour change but decided to stick with familiar old Monza Red. Hey Crash, that's a Ford colour!

[Crash Test]

Does that mean that it isnt going to be the least powerful car in the field any more?

Also what where the other options WRT colour? Monza red is good, but surely you weren't going to go for the Max Davies "orange"

[DAVID PATERSON]

I actually considered doing it the same colour as my Falcon, Regency Red, but pearlescent metallic is probably a little too expensive. I also considered doing it in red, white and blue, like the works cars from the '70s. In the end, I decided it would be so much cheaper and easier to leave it as is.

[DAVID PATERSON]

If we get 100hp it will no longer be the least powerful car on the track, most of the 1300cc cars are getting about 85-90hp. Sadly, they are all 150-300kg lighter!

[DAVID PATERSON]

Well we got the head back the other day, all nicely ported and polished, with a bigger cam and the biggest valves that will fit! I think it will flow plenty. When we fired it up, it was very loud and very grumpy, quite a change from what I was used to. Can't wait to go testing in early March.

It's going to the panel beater's tommorrow to have the rear guard knocked out and the rest of the panels tidied up. Bit worried about time now, a lot to do and only 5 weekends to do it in.

[DAVID PATERSON]

Well, I forgot to give you all an update. We did in fact make it to Round 1 at Lakeside, only just though, a couple of very late nights in the week prior. In fact we tested on Friday afternoon, the day before the meeting and some of the paint was still wet.

Disappointed with the new top end though, we were hoping for 100hp and only got 85.

We wanted to pull 60kg out of the car and only got 10. However, there is still more to come. Watch this space.

Renewed suspension and steering has definitely improved the feel of the car and given it more positive turn-in.

I was hoping for an improvement of at least 1 second. The car in fact was 1/2 a second slower, but on a day when everyone was complaining of a slow track and they were all 1 or 2 seconds off their best, so it's still promising.

[DAVID PATERSON]

A further update, actually just a spot of gloating to be honest. We managed 65s around Lakeside yesterday at the Datsun Club Day. WOOHOO !!!

[Crash Test]

Wow, way to go David!

BTW- Does that make you look like a good thing out at QR??

[DAVID PATERSON]

Err, no. I still need a lot more grunt to do well at QR.