Monday, December 20, 2010

The Legendary Rally Machine: Nissan 240RS

I'm always fascinated by rally machines. To me, they are one of the toughest road going machines in the world.. Just look at how the cars withstand the constant huge jump of Rally Finland, and how they constantly protect the drivers from massive crashes.. it gives me the feeling that rally cars are invincible.. It'll be my preferred means of transport, in the event of zombie outbreak..lol..

Being a huge rally fan, i am hoping that one day i'll be able to see classic rally cars like Lancia Delta Integrale, or Lancia Stratoses on the road, or better still, in a rally.. It never cross my mind that one day, i'll be able to see a legendary rally car, which is even rarer than the 2 cars that i mentioned earlier.. To put it into perspective, there are about 492 units of Stratos produced by Lancia; the car that i saw has only 200 units produced and it's said that there are less than 20 units known left in the world. The car in question is non other than Nissan 240RS


Steve Irwin: "What a beau-ty!"

I stumbled upon this beauty at MRU motorsports about 2 months ago. It belongs to veteran Malaysian Rally driver, Mr Chew Tee Wong. Mr Chew had sent this beautiful piece of machinery to MRU motorsports workshop for maintenance checks and fixes. He was preparing this car for the Berjaya Hill climb, which was held on 30th October 2010. Mr Chew isn't the first owner of the car, no. He bought the car from another veteran rally driver who got this car from Tan Chong (Malaysia's official Nissan car distributor) as a token of appreciation for his achievement rallying for Nissan. Nope, this car is not a replica converted from S110, it is actually a Group B works car from Nissan. There are only 2-3 units brought in to Malaysia, and i would believe that this is the only one left here.


Look at 'em mean arches, i reckon it can store KGs of gravel in SS

The Nissan 240RS was initially created by Nissan in 1982 to compete in Group B of the World Rally Championship. 200 units were produced by Nissan for the FIA Group B homologation. The 240RS is based on the Silvia body, equipped with an FJ24-type 2.4L DOHC straight-4 sporting a custom cylinder block and crankshaft. Various body parts were reinforced: the bonet, boot lid, over-arches and more were all made with fibreglass-reinforced plastic and all windows except the front were exchanged with polycarbonate, lowering the weight to 100kg under that of the stock Silvia RS. Output was nearly doubled to 237 bhp. (Facts are borrowed from Gran Turismo GT)


Boxy looking ass.. spank it and u'll suffer the consequences

However, Nissan's bid for the 240RS to be competitive in Group B WRC is not a story of success. In the 1983 Safari Rally, Nissan's work team entered the 240RS Group B, aiming to win four championships, only to find that it was dampen by engine troubles. Moreover rival machines were all evolution models. Nissan eventually managed to create an evolution model for 240RS, but it was too late. Group B has moved on to 4wd turbo monsters.

Despite all that, the 240RS has its taste of victory as well. It finished 2nd in the 1983 New Zealand Rally.


The 240RS in its WRC glory

I'll let the pictures do the talking now. Enjoy the shots taken using our camera phone.. If time allows it, we'll post videos of us cranking the engine as well.. ;) Until then, please enjoy the pictures..


..Look at all the old skool meters..

..Simple, nice, and purposeful..

..the fuel cell is located inside the boot compartment rather than undercarriage..
..the fuel system uses anti-slosh foam instead of a surge tank..

..check out the reinforced rear axle..designed to take on the harsh rally environment..

..the powerplant is running on dry sump system..