Built by Dylan Auton, the Datsun is a blend of old school cool and modern engineering – aiming to be the fastest of its kind in the world.
The carbon fibre-clad time attack car is powered by a modified Nissan V8 from former Supercars team Kelly Racing, shoehorned into the front of the pint-sized coupe.
In its original specification the Nissan Altima Supercars ran with a 5.0-litre, naturally aspirated VK56-derived engine. However, in its new time attack specification, the V8 has been stroked to be a 6.0-litre beast with nitrous oxide.
The Supercars theme isn’t limited to the engine, ditching the MacPherson struts for dual A arm uprights and Gen2-spec wheels.
All that power needs a brake package to suit. Auton has filled the wheel rims with 380mm carbon fibre rotors, AP Racing callipers and titanium pistons.
The car’s aerodynamic package is the work of Andrew Brilliant behind AMB Aero. In true time attack style, the car features an enormous rear wing and diffuser.
Golding will pilot the car under the Nulon Racing banner as part of the MoTeC Pro Open class.
The passion project has been a long time coming. Auton said the build took six years and was inspired to create the wild weapon after attending WTAC for the first time.
“I think the pivotal moment was when we hooked up with Kelly Racing and got the Supercar engine,” said Auton.
“It’s a stroked 6.0-litre version of their Nissan engine that they were running. It was by chance. I believe they had an engine that was being built for a customer that pulled out. We swooped in on that.
“My original goal was I just wanted to build the fastest Datsun to go around Phillip Island,” he added.
“I started attending World Time Attack and read the rule book. I liked the set of rules, it was going to allow me to do the things that I wanted to do that other classes wouldn’t let me, so I chose to build a car for World Time Attack.”
Golding said the choice of engine should make getting up to speed and maximising its potential easier.
“I think having a Supercar engine onboard is awesome and probably good for me. It’s similar to what I’ve experienced,” he explained.
“There is nitrous onboard, which will certainly stir things up a bit more, but I can’t wait to really feel that and this car overall has been built a bit better in terms of having a nice balance between everything.
“From a driver’s point of view, it should be fairly user-friendly and that will allow me to maximise the lap time as well.
“They’ve done a lot of work with the placement of everything on the car, so to really maximise the performance of the car. The car looks pretty tough sitting there on the ground and it’s going to make a lot of downforce.
“I’m pretty excited to tip it into turn one at Sydney and really feel the G-force. Flat through turn one is a pretty crazy thing. We’ve seen cars do it previously, but I definitely won’t be doing it on the first lap, I can tell you that much.”
World Time Attack Challenge at Sydney Motorsport Park takes place on September 5-6.
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