Datsun rises for tarmac rally

History has not been especially kind to the Datsun 120Y. It's regarded as the troglodyte of automotive design and technology. If you need to prove the inaccuracy of speed cameras, for instance, the 120Y clocked at 158km/h is an excellent case in point.

"Overweight and undernourished" was how one local magazine characterised the 120Y on its release in the early 1970s. It was heavier and slower than the Datsun 1200 it replaced, yet the 120Y has proved curiously iconic in a way that the 1200 never was.

Top Gear UK plainly considered it the 1970s answer to the diesel Astra, as it was the car chosen for the Stig to set a baseline lap that a V8-engined Rover 3500 (Clarkson) and Triumph Dolomite Sprint (Hammond) failed to beat. And best not to ask at all about May in the Austin Princess. It was, as Clarkson pointed out, the car that introduced the poms to reliable cold-morning starts.

Anyone bent on competing in any sort of motorsport event driving a 120Y would be generally considered mad or impecunious -- or mad AND impecunious. Yet a bloke by the name of Jason Lea is entering a Datsun 120Y in the Targa High Country rally next month, and he doesn't seem to embody either of those qualities. Lea, a Queenslander with a background in historic circuit racing has acquired the unlikely rally rocket, once the car campaigned by rally and racing identity George Fury.

While the 120Y is probably not as readily recalled as Fury's Stanzas, Bluebirds and Skylines, it's a well prepared car that is bound to give the class competition a run for their spondoolies.

It's powered by an FJ24 engine driving through a close-ratio box to a five-link Stanza-derived rear axle. The DOHC FJ24 engine was developed for the Nissan 240RS and this particular example was originally fitted to a Group B rally car in Europe, before finding a home in the 120Y.

"The engine was out to well over the standard 240RS Nissan's power output of 270 horsepower," says Lea. "Its torque of 250 foot pounds was what gave the car an incredible ability to perform so well at the Alpine rallies from '83 to '86."

That sort of output is probably around four times the power of the 1.2-litre four fitted to the 120Y when it originally left the factory.

The 120Y will be among 225 cars entered in the three-day event, which is mapped out over an 850km route divided up into 17 stages. Spectators are invited to watch competitors in action over a 5km special stage through the town of Mansfield on Friday, November 5.

Organisers have arranged for the route to run north to Whitfield and Wangaratta on Saturday. On the Sunday, the field will make its way to Jamieson and Eildon. Each day the event will conclude with a 20km special stage up to the summit of Mt Buller.

Further details for the event are available through a promotional website, www.targahighcountry.com.au.

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