Graham Goode - Datsun Bluebird Turbo

[30psi]

Hi there, I'm Martin. Great forum by the way

I'm trying to find some info on Graham Goode's Datsun Bluebird Turbo. This forum looks like it has some knowledgeable people so wondering if anyone knew of the history of this car and how well it did in the early 80's and maybe even where it ended up?

I did ask his company a few years back if they had any info but I didn't get anything back as Graham was unavailable at that time. Also some pics on found on flickr with a bit of info:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/16788879@N02/3163929731/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/16788879@N02/5105509558/







And a poster I got hold of



Cheers

Martin

[Dan Rear]

From memory, 1983, the first year of Group A here. The car went very well in the enxt class down from the big one, (£2500cc?), though there were problems with its eligibility later on as I recall. Goode was a quick driver, so I wonder how much of the car's speed was down to him, and how much the car.

[KA]

As Dan said, once Graham had got it sorted, it was very quick in the 1600-2500cc class. It was a bit troublesome at first, but the first class win came by the middle of the '84 season and it was pretty much unbeatable during the first half of '85 until Richard Longman's Escort RS Turbo appeared.
There were a few issues with the rule book along the way (intercooler as I remember?), and Graham skipped the last couple of 1985 rounds, then took a break from the BTCC altogether in '86, before coming back with a Sierra Cosworth for '87.

The Bluebird was sold on to Kevin Eaton (also Leicester-based I think) who ran it in about half-a-dozen BTCC rounds in 1987, painted plain white and sponsored by East Midlands Transport.
He advertised it for sale in Autosport around the end of '87 and I haven't got a clue where it went after that- a lot of ex-BTCC cars went on to have careers in modified saloons, or Thundersaloons, but I don't think I ever remember seeing the Bluebird after Eaton's handful of 1987 BTCC starts. Anyone got any idea what happened to it?

[30psi]

Thanks for the replies.

What sort of regs would there be in the 1600-2500 class? i.e. maximum power or turbo sizes?

Yep, it's interesting KA that you mention the intercooler as you can see from the pics its not on all of them - I wondered why it was absent on most of the shots.

[ghinzani]

My first job when I joined Goodey was polishing this baby up before it went off to its new owner. All the above info is correct, and indeed I never saw it after a few group A outings in 87. Graham had issues in 84 when the powers that be didn't agree with his interpretation of the rules, otherwise he would have been class b champ at the very least. In85 he was forced to run without the intercooler. But it was still quick, i think hd lead overall at silverstone.

Viva gt still works for Goodes, il point him this way.

[chunterer]

Yes it was a great little car, Goode did an amazing job as an engineer to spot that particular model (that was homologated in Japan and not as I understand it a UK available mode)l and turn it into a competitive machine with very little support from Nissan against the Alfetta GTV6's and works Metro Turbo's.

If Graham had picked the Skyline instead of the Bluebird (there may actually have been production similarities?) then who knows maybe he would have got a works contract to run that car in the UK like Fred Gibson did in Australia. Or at the very least, some better factory support would've ensure it remained competitive for longer against the RS Turbo when that arrived on the scene.

Goode spotted that in Group A, a Turbo car was the way to go for the future, as Dave Brodie had also done with the Starion.

[ghinzani]

Iirc Datsun UK weren't interested I believe Graham said. And you are correct Graham is a fantastic engineer, one of the best. Not a bad driver too, on his day.

[30psi]

The 2 door 910 series Bluebird was available here in the UK but they're very rare (one 8 left taxed). Thats the reason I'm looking in to Graham's one as I have 2 of that shape, both 1981 models, but one I'm building up with a turbo engine. I would have initially assumed his was a japanese market car, however the rear lights are the european spec which would suggest otherwise.

[GTRMagic]

So this car is a Datsun Bluebird?

When you look at the pics, the window line etc.. it looks very similar to the Group A DR30 Nissan Skyline run in Australia, by the factory, by Mr Carter and Messrs Baigent & Bowkett in NZ, but with a '83 Bluebird front end..



What engine did it have aboard? The DR30 had an FJ20T 4 cylinder, with turbo...

[30psi]

Yeah that's an R30. The Bluebird is a 910 chassis, RWD. The difference is the rear screen in the way it is quite angular as can be seen on one of mine.

Mechanically they have similar suspension and IRS, although the 910 has a smaller diff and less adequate brakes.

Engine in these 2 door coupes (known as hardtops) as standard is an L18T, the 'T' on the FJ20ET denotes turbo, but on the L18 it denotes twin carb.

[chunterer]

Yeah you could definitely buy a 2 door coupe in the UK as 30psi has illustrated but only in normally aspirated 1.6 or 1.6 litre spec?
The turbo model was a Japanese spec car.

My cousins had one, I think met brown or bronze.

I guess it's a bit like the Toyota Corolla in Japan you could buy one with pop up headlights, but in UK and Europe i'm sure they were only standard style front lamps.

There was always little variations on Japanese models from country to country to suit local marketing etc..

[30psi]

Yeah the turbo japanese ones were a Z18ET (1770cc) and the UK ones were L18 (also 1770cc). Would be interesting to know what engine was in there, custom turbo'd L18 or a Z18ET. The rear lights and grill are UK spec and are different to the japanese cars which suggests to me it was a UK car (at least in appearance).

[KA]

Originally Posted by 30psi

Yeah that's an R30. The Bluebird is a 910 chassis, RWD. The difference is the rear screen in the way it is quite angular as can be seen on one of mine.

Mechanically they have similar suspension and IRS, although the 910 has a smaller diff and less adequate brakes.

Engine in these 2 door coupes (known as hardtops) as standard is an L18T, the 'T' on the FJ20ET denotes turbo, but on the L18 it denotes twin carb.

Slightly off on a tangent, but noticed the Kent-issued 'UKM' registration on your car- about 5/6 years back, I worked in Sittingbourne, and used to regularly see a very similar (definitely the same colour) Bluebird Coupe in a car park near work...

[30psi]

That's exactly where I bought this one from. It's the only automatic one taxed. It was bought brand new by a gent in '81 who passed away in '95 and then his wife continued driving it till she passed away in '09.

[KA]

Originally Posted by chunterer

Yeah you could definitely buy a 2 door coupe in the UK as 30psi has illustrated but only in normally aspirated 1.6 or 1.6 litre spec?
The turbo model was a Japanese spec car.

Staying slightly off-topic for a minute, was the 4-door saloon available as a turbo on the UK market? There was a Group A Bluebird Turbo on the British rally scene in the early-mid 80's. You can just see it peeking into the edge of this shot of Tony Pond's Rover during scrutineering for the '85 Scottish.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/3179715...n/photostream/
A look at early 80's RAC Rally entry lists suggests the driver was Clifford Spencer.

[KA]

Originally Posted by 30psi

That's exactly where I bought this one from. It's the only automatic one taxed. It was bought brand new by a gent in '81 who passed away in '95 and then his wife continued driving it till she passed away in '09.

I thought I recognised it! I worked in Sittingbourne between '04-'07, and used to see it at least once a week in the car park outside the library. I remember it was always an elderly lady driving it, and I used to notice it because, as you say, they're such a rare car in the UK these days. Nice to see it's still around!

[30psi]

No turbo models here at all on Bluebirds until they had gone over to FWD around '84/'85. I have an old magazine about a rallied 4 door with a turbo which was a custom job.

KA - It's a small world! There were old library tickets left in the car as it goes.

[ghinzani]

Are you going to build a replica then 30psi? Ive got some pics I took of it in Kevins livery somewhere, if you decided to do something different to Grahams. Or do a split livery ;-)

[Gerry Taylor]

Going even further back, in 1973 I had a deal almost sewn up to run a Datsun with Ashfield Motors in Burton On Trent. But when I presented my proposals to my sponsor, they declined to support a Japanese car manufacturer. I learned much later that it was because of personal/War reasons, which I had to respect, although from my career point of view I was dissappointed.

[30psi]

Originally Posted by ghinzani

Are you going to build a replica then 30psi? Ive got some pics I took of it in Kevins livery somewhere, if you decided to do something different to Grahams. Or do a split livery ;-)

Hi Steve, here's how the fast one looks now:

[/url]

It would be good to do a replica as Graham's looked great, especially with the wheels. If you do have pics of Kevins livery I'd be interested in seeing them as maybe your vision of a split livery is one I need to share too

[ghinzani]

Change of mind, can you do this?
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...Gr-5_KDR30.jpg

[30psi]

How much will all that fibreglass weigh?

[GTRMagic]

Nissan Bluebird, 1984 Bathurst pole sitter... 2.13:85





She only has a small body kit aboard

A sister car for sale

Nissan Know How Come Alive.. Come and drive.. Nissan

[30psi]

Well known car that is in Datsun circles, with George Fury piloting. The price is a bit beyond my pocket depth which is a shame

[KA]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

Nissan Bluebird, 1984 Bathurst pole sitter... 2.13:85





She only has a small body kit aboard

A sister car for sale

Nissan Know How Come Alive.. Come and drive.. Nissan

That raises an interesting question- Chunterer speculated about what might have been if Graham Goode had opted to run a Skyline, rather than the Bluebird, in the BTCC.
The flip-side to that question has to be, bearing in mind that they'd got plenty of experience with the Bluebird under Group C regs, when Australia adopted Group A in '85, it's interesting that Nissan opted to sit on the sidelines for a year before running the Skyline in '86. Did they look at running a Group A programme in '85- they must presumably have been aware of what was happening in the UK?
Given what Goode managed to get out of the car with no factory support, I can't help wondering if Nissan Australia missed a trick by not looking at the Bluebird for the first year of Group A.
OK, the different class split in Australia would have hurt the car a bit (1600-2500cc in Europe against 2000-3000cc in Aus which put the Volvos and Starions in the middle class), but a factory-backed Bluebird surely would have been a potential class winner?