The 1961 Datsun Fairlady SPL213
went into production in October 1960 and continued through until September
1962. In all a total of 217 were built.
Visually the SPL213 is all but identical to the SPL212 that it replaces,
the only visual clue that this is a different model is the fact that for
the SPL212 the wheels were painted the same colour as the two-toned section
on the side of the car, and on the SPL213 they are painted silver. The
major differences can only be found when you lift the bonnet.
The SPL213 boasts a 12hp increase over the previous SPL212
model thanks to it's new 60hp E-1 series engine. Most of the engine is
the same as the old E engine, but the new E-1 has a new cylinder head design,
a new intake manifold, and a new dual throat down draught Nikki carburetor
to give it it's extra performance. Also the old school oil bath type air
cleaner has been replaced with a new paper element style air filter.
Changes were also made to the brakes and all four axles.
The SPL212 had brake drums that incorporated the axle hub, while the SPL213
had a seperate brake drum. These changes required the fitting of slightly
different wheels.
As with the previous model, the SPL213 was only available
in left hand drive, and was only ever sold in the United States. |
A Fair Lady Racer
It's a little known fact, but one of the first non-Japanese
drivers to race for the Nissan Motor Company was a woman.
When Nissan were first starting up operations in the USA
in 1959 they sent out Yutaka Katayama to head up their new venture, and
with him they sent an engineer by the name of Masahiko Zaitsu. Both Katayama
and Zaitsu were motor sports and sports car enthusiasts, in particular
Katayama, who founded the Sports Car Club of Japan in 1951, and more famously
headed up the team that won it's in class in the 1958 around Australia
race, the Mobil Gas Trial. Once they started to set things up in the USA
they decided they needed to hire a local mechanic to become the company's
Service Manager. They were quite fortunate because one of the people who
applied for the position was a gentleman called Jean LaPlant, who had considerable
experience with Austins, which was particularly handy when you consider
the fact that Nissan were building Austins under licence at the time, and
all the new Nissan models were based on Austin designs. Also helpful was
the fact that LaPlant was an amateur race car driver, as was Benny Ackerman,
another mechanic that was hired in the early days.
 In
1959 the first car to wear the Fairlady name, the SPL212, went on sale
in the USA. LaPlant, being the racer he was, suggested to Katayama and
Zaitsu that they should race the SPL212 for publicity. It no doubt took
little to persuade Katayama and Zaitsu, and soon funding arrived to set
up "Team Nissan". The first Fairlady wasn't quite the performance car the
later ones were, producing only 48hp, and was built on the chassis of a
223 series Datsun truck. The two American mechanics tinkered with the car
to up the performance, and it was eventually entered in the "F Modified"
class. The funding was minimal, with no provision for a pit crew, the drivers
had to do everything themselves. Team Nissan debuted in 1960 with LaPlant
driving, partnered by another local driver called Jim Nieland, and surprisingly
managed to win a race in 1960 in Palm Springs.
The car was campaigned into 1961 and 1962 by LaPlant and
Nieland, but in 1961 the decision was made to enter the car in another
category, the All-American Women's series. The driver chosen to compete
was a lady by the name of Norah Taylor. Norah's husband Sam was a racer,
and Norah followed in his footsteps and started racing herself in 1955,
driving her husband's MG TD. She soon got her own car and raced an MG TF
before moving into a Lotus 4.
In 1961 she started driving the Fairlady. The competition
in the "Ladies Series" was substantially more serious than the "F Modified"
series the men were racing in. The men were racing in cars of a similar
size and performance, whereas Norah went up against women driving Jaguar
XK120, Ford Thunderbirds, Lotus 7, Alfa Romeo Guiletta and Sunbeam Alpines,
to name a few. To her credit, although thoroughly out-classed in her truck
based sports car, she still held her own and even managed one 4th place.
Norah stopped racing after that, but Jean LaPlant continued
on, eventually driving the new SP310 race car when it debuted in 1963.
The new SP310 was a much more serious machine, which went on to win numerous
SCCA races between 1963 and 1965. |
A 1961 sales brochure for the Fairlady SPL213
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1961
Datsun Fairlady SPL213 Specifications
Length - 4025mm
Width - 1475mm
Height - 1380mm
Wheelbase - 2220mm
Weight - 890kg
Top speed - 132kph
Transmission - Floor change
4 speed |
Engine
Specifications
Model - E-1
OHV 4 Cylinder
Capacity - 1189cc
Bore & Stroke 73x71mm
Power - 60hp@5000rpm
Torque- 67ft/lb @2400rpm
Compression - 8.2 : 1
Carburettor - Nikki 2D-30C
dual throat down draught
Final drive - 4.625 : 1 |
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