Datsun R-380-II on world record run
06/20/2011
Hardly anyone in our part of the world was familiar with the Japanese brand Datsun in the 1960s. Japanese cars were ridiculed at the time anyway and people doubted whether they would ever be able to compete with the top European (and American) products.
However, the Datsun R-380-II from 1967 (often referred to as the Nissan R380 or Prince R380) showed that the Japanese were certainly capable of building fast racing sports cars. Driven by Tatsu Yokoyama, this car set seven international speed records, including the one-hour record, in which the Datsun covered 250.98 kilometers. The previous record in the two-liter class had been 229.23 kilometers, almost 10% lower.
After the record runs, the car was shipped to the USA for further tests and exhibited on the Datsun stand at the Los Angeles Auto Show.
For close observers: even then, a Nissan sticker is visible on the flank of the vehicle. However, Nissan would not be introduced as a car brand in Europe until much later.
A report on this speed record can also be found in Automobil Revue .
