New Zealand Datsun Club

Something a little interesting to read,
My wife's boss just brought a 1974 Alfa GTV2000.
Which prompted me to read a little into the history of the rivals so i had something to talk to him about.

Anyways. Found this. Be interested to hear what you people think

http://www.alfabb.com/bb/forums/anythin ... truth.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Interesting read

whinging Alfa goober wrote:a modern cross-flow push rod design and other special parts homologated in 1970

Errm.. no..

He also goes on about full factory supported race only parts and the Datsuns being gas-guzzlers compared to the "efficient long stroke" Alfas. What a bunch of bollocks.

Then he goes on to admit that Alfa were cheating on fuel tank capacity and that therefore EVERYONE must have been doing it, including BRE (although he admits he has no evidence to substantiate this claim) yada yada.

The facts are that the Alfas were twin-cam motors with greater capacity than the L16 and therefore deserved a weight penalty. Although one L18 car was entered it was the LESS successful #35 car, John Morton's #46 still used the L16.

BRE only used V912/A87 head castings in their race motors. If they really wanted to use super-exotic parts like the author claims, then they had access to the FIA head which would have really made some power gains.

What a sore loser, who can't even get his facts straight.

Yea of course it is from a Alfa perspective.
But its interesting to hear that all might not have been what I at least thought.

I love the way the "Alfesta" cry fowl that the BMW had been carrying a weight penalty for the years preceeding the Datsun entry into the class. oh No wait on they didn't mention that did they. Alfa had used the rules to their advantage, Datsun did no different it seems.
The Alfa had many years of development to this point, the 510 was just beginning, huge for any car to come out of the box and win. The writing was on the wall, and with no factory money like in Europe, all the privateers went with the better product in coming seasons. Technology moves on, the 105 is a lovely car, and in it's day a great competitor, but that was the 60's.

The thing that stands out for me in this is that the 510 was supposed to be a copy of the other car, the BMW. Here fitted with the smaller engine the Datsun proves to be a better engineered product, all be it in a "factory" race prepped car. Although the BMWs had years of race development at this point.

I rate the guy standing up for the 510, playing devils advocate, great to see some respect the Datsun.

This guy sums it up for me;
" the Datsun was an econobox, highly modified for racing (as has been pointed out in great detail in this tread), but was not in the same league as a lot of the European marques right off the showroom floor. Granted, the cars I liked cost a lot more, but I never felt the need to modify them (not too much, anyway!) to get them where I wanted to be in terms of performance, styling and comfort. The 510 was a remarkably well engineered car for the money back then, but it never appealed to me as a buyer because I'd have to sink a ton of money into it to get the perfomance I wanted, whereas a BMW 2002 or Alfa GTV had everything I wanted right out of the box, without the stigma of being seen by my contemporaries as an "economy car", regardless of the potential of building it up to be a screamer on the windy roads I enjoyed driving."

I.e. My Judgement is based on prejudice, therefore I cannot be open minded or consider another make, as I cannot debate my position. I have to knock the opposition and state unequivocally that they were wrong and rubbish. Based on prejudice, snobbery and market position.
check out the grids at skope this weekend and take note which dominant motor-sport makes are missing, remember this is a classic meeting the cars should be about 25 yrs old or older, so what was filling the grids 25 years ago?