Gordon Dobbie and the Bathurst 2+2 260Z

[Sirpent]

Hi all,

 

Thought I'd share something which to me was pretty special,

 

I managed to track down some contact details for Gordon Dobbie a few days ago and sent him an email regarding some questions I had about what way to go with my L26 engine rebuild which needs to start soon, reading about all the differing opinions about which way to go, as in L28, stroker, RB's etc etc etc, I really wanted to stick with the L26 which is the cars original motor and get some ideas about carb's, heads, bottom ends, exhuast combo's etc etc etc.

 

Well the guy was a wealth of knowledge to say the least and gave me some good pointers that would deliver high torque and somewhere around 250+ HP out of the old lady, enough pep to keep me happy.

 

Anyhow, as he explained he is retired now and off the tools which we all figured, but the bloke is lovely to say the least, as he explained when he was a young buck not many people where about to help him out, so it became a case of suck and see I guess, and he is always happy to give out advice.

 

We spoke for some time, got onto motor sport, his history with Datsuns which started in 1965, the year I was born, and I just had to ask him about the 260Z 2+2 that made it to Bathurst for 2 laps back in the seventies and which we all discussed in another thread about 4 or 5 months ago, well he let it rip, and this is the inside story.

 

Gordon wasnt part of that team, but he was a CAMS deligate, the car did do 2 laps, but it didnt over heat on lap 2 with a DNF as is recorded, the car was actually disqualified.

 

What happened was that the rules back then were that cars had to have seating capacity for 4 whether they were a sedan or coupe, the 2 seater s30's couldnt even make it in so the 2+2 was the option, however the other part to the rule was that the rear seat area had to have a certian leg room measurement, crazy I know, and at lap 2 apparently it was disqaulified when this was realised, anyhow thats how I understood it as he explained.

 

It wasnt until Alan Moffat wanted to race an RX7 that CAMS revised this rule under some intense pressure from Moffat, by then the 260 series had passed over to the 280 series so the opportunity had well and truely passed.

 

Now, it just makes me wonder, what position was that 2+2 in when it was hauled into pit lane and who had the vested interest in making sure that some bright spark CAMS scrutineer recieved a whisper as to the rule loop hole?

 

Cheers

 

John

 

 

[620Z]

Well John that is an interesting story. Sounds like you had a great chat with Gordon. I agree it sounds a bit rough with the Zed being pulled in on the second lap and even more interesting that they felt the need to make up some excuse like over heating to stop any contriversial discussion later on.

Well done and thanks for sharing. 

[Quandary]

I've seen a snapshot 2 or so seconds of a 260z on Bathurst with extensive front end damage.  Actually it was driving on 3 wheels.  So how many Z's were there?

[Huw]

Interestingly, late last year I ran into him at the car wash on South road. I was in the zed and we had a good chat, really nice bloke.....should have taken the opportunity to ask some questions but was in a slight hurry to get to uni.....

 

[.]

Well John that is an interesting story. Sounds like you had a great chat with Gordon. I agree it sounds a bit rough with the Zed being pulled in on the second lap and even more interesting that they felt the need to make up some excuse like over heating to stop any contriversial discussion later on.

Well done and thanks for sharing. 

 

Maybe it was the driver over heating after disqualification