By Jeff Glucker
All I have to do is type “240Z vs R1” or “Darius 240Z” into the search bar and I’m greeted with an old friend. I press play, wave hello, and nod with a contented smile on my face. That’s because I now get to watch a video that’s been seared into my brain for quite some time now. It’s a short, simple clip but it tells an amazing vehicular tale. A Datsun 240Z lines up way down the road against a Yamaha YZF-R1. This should be no contest for the bike but there’s an engine noise that arises to let you know things are not as simple as they seem.
The two vehicles come roaring towards the camera and as they pass the 240Z is ahead of the literbike!
I remember the first time I watched this. I was in college and barely knew shit about cars (insert, not much has changed jokes here). I had a 1985 Nissan 300ZX but always wished it was a 240Z. And I wasn’t too knowledgeable about the world of engine swaps. So when I saw this 240Z packing insane V8 heat, my worldview expanded greatly. How could a 240Z keep up with, or even beat a superbike in a race? The answer is with an LT1 swap and then the addition of a supercharger. This 240Z, owned by a motorcycle stunt rider named Darius Khashabi, is the one who built this beast and I’ve been in love with it ever since.
Rolling highway burnouts? Wild. V8 noise in a small Japanese sports car? The stuff of dreams. Crazy power in a machine that doesn’t look up to the task of delivering? Perfection.
Darius still has the car, interestingly enough. I just did a quick Instagram search and there it is albeit more modified now and outfitted for Shift Sector-style half-mile and mile drag race events.
Regardless, the car and those early videos still make me smile. What videos do you keep coming back to? Share in the comments below.
Kamil Kaluski
Jim Mero drove the SHIT out of that thing. Always an impressive watch
Good driver great car and a real good run . an old favorite .
I grew up on a farm that had a number of DT466-powered IH trucks and tractors around when I was a kid, so there’s something fun about seeing that familiar engine used for a decidedly different purpose. https://youtu.be/I2yn0CoH4fM
Yes! Love this one!
That is one sweet 240Z. Personally I think V8s are a bit much for that chassis, but regardless, I love those cars. I like the white-out (or silver?) on the tail.
Youtube used to keep pulling this one down because of the music, but I see that someone finally got the song properly attributed.
That was a good one, never saw it before either!
Reminds me of my first internet video experiences, shared vi FTP in message groups. Swedes destroying Volvo 240s, gleefully. Really opened my eyes as a teenager, as I was fully immersed in an upbringing that never would have opened for the intentional destruction of anything, let alone a car. This was pre-tube and I haven’t found any of them.
It used to be pretty common in the Mopar hobby to buy a six cylinder A, B, or E body donor and then transplant a potent V8 engine. Typically, nothing was wrong with the six cylinder except for the number of holes; slant sixes are known for durability. Of course the market value of a take-out slant six engine was its weight in scrap metal. Mopar events would often have a test stand set up, remove the oil pan on a slant six, and offer a prize to whoever guessed closest to the amount of time it would run at full throttle without any oil.
I guess six years is old in internet years. I’ve posted this probably 10 times in the comments here, love the sound…
This was one of my favorite MotorWeek reviews from back when a car video had to be on a VHS tape if I hoped to ever see it again.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIl6kKKpels
Fascinating! 150hp from 5 litres sounds like some mishap from the 70s, but this is almost 1990. I love that the car is creaking like a bucket full of nuts when the journalist takes a seat. And I will forever shiver at Americans’ pronounciation of coupé as “coop”…
Actually, 150 hp is a bit more power than Ford was getting out of the same engine in the 70’s (back when it was still carbureted), but the reviewed car didn’t have the HO version that was used n the Mustang GT. I have a 1989 LTD and occasionally consider swapping HO parts, but then it always seems like too much work. Besides, I get about 14 MPG with the lo-po engine, so I would hate to think what gas and tires would cost if it had more power.
14 mpg is nothing impressive, no, but I figure a low stress engine like that can go to the moon and back on nothing but oil changes and refueling?
Outside of a few swamp dwellers in southern Louisiana, we naturally bristle at anything vaguely French sounding (though Cajun French is only very vaguely French sounding). If people here knew how to spell “hors d’oeuvres”, the word would never be mentioned again.
Well, it should be said that Ford more often than not had the lowest power figures per engine size of the big three. My Chevy Caprice Classic was also powered by a 5.0L V8, but made 20 more ponies. It would also get low to mid 20mpg on the highway (admittedly it was one of the newer, more aerodynamic “bubble” Caprices).
This Honda ad spoof for a shitbox Austin Metro.
This is brilliant
Aww jeez I’m almost embarrassed to admit it but…
And I still love it for the ’60’s racecar spotting.
Accurate racing footage.
tszz8partner.yahoo.Com
never gets old – I think that’s a Lambo dude!
The story that spins off from that clip in my mind is pure Tom Wolfe stuff. It helps that I grew up about 20 miles from the spot.
never gets old – I think that’s a Lambo dude!
Sometime when I need to get out of a low mood, this helps: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z45rb9iA_CQ
More Ferraris: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_kwxzU4wL4
I re-watched that video before submitting my own. Love turning up the sound and hearing those engines evolve. I think the mid-70s car hit the best note to my ears.
The Snake Bite Cobra comes to mind, Terminators were incredible at the time.
Oh, so many…but I’ll stick to just a couple.
I’ve come back to this one a good few times. Not because of the movie spoof (which was admittedly well-done), but because whatever post-processing they used on that V8 starting up at the end, it sounds genuinely sinister when it comes to life.
The other’s gotta be this, just because nothing else sounds quite like these! That strange, almost “empty” quality to the revs at ~2:05…still dunno what causes that.
This Goodwood video of Tom Kristensen driving a 1959 Thunderbird at 10/10ths. 4 wheel drift after 4 wheel drift and even up on 3 once. Fantastic.