KwaZulu-Natal South Coast dragster Terry Yannikakas was at Dezzi Raceway this past weekend dialing in his newly built Datsun 1200 Rotary turbo bakkie.
Loud Addicts hosted its first timed event of the year, which saw a lot of drag racers taking advantage of the opportunity to get an official time stamp.
Terry ran a 9.9 second quarter mile at 232 km/h and a 1.6 second 60ft in the 6s01 class.
Keeping with the theme
His lime green bakkie with black details features a serious set-up; from under the hood to inside the cockpit. He’s also kept it the same colour theme as Trixie, his Mazda F1000 drag bakkie.
“This is not something you can just jump in and drive,” Terry explained.
And he wasn’t lying. At first glance, I had no idea what the plethora of buttons, levels and releasers are meant for. The cockpit inside the Datsun bakkie is something out of Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar.
“Mr Up and Go who came to steal the show”, as Gareth Charles refers to him, didn’t want to disclose too many details on this new build. He did spill some beans, however.
A big A$$ turbo
“It has a mothersize turbo, that’s all I can tell you.”
The bakkie is powered by a 13b rotary which has been crafted to perfection by No Sweat Racing’s Steve Clark.
It’s not the first vehicle Clark’s built for Terry. His other drag bakkie Trixie, a Mazda F100 with a similar rotary turbo set-up, was also trusted to Clark.
“That boy’s got mad skills I tell you. It’s not just with the engine stuff but looking inside at how detailed everything is and not forgetting to mention how neat,” Terry explained.
A Haltech Elite ECU runs the vehicle and features a host of output options, giving the bakkie the functionality of a supercar.
At 67-years-old, Terry Yannikakas is still sharper than a bobcat protecting its young when it comes to reflexes.
In under 10 seconds, Terry not only has to steer this beastly rotary trying to tear him apart. But also engage 3 different braking systems, a parachute, launch control, accelerate and change gears.
The veteran racer says he is looking forward to the full-prep event coming up at Dezzi in March but plans to bring out the big guns.
“Look, this car is still fairly new so I wouldn’t feel as comfortable as I do in Trixie. So for that event I will likely bring the Mazda bakkie out to play,” he said.
