Last week NSW police near Mittagong on the Hume Highway detected a speeding motorist travelling at 263km/h which on its own is a worry but in this case is just the start of a tale of highway hi-jinx.
The driver was a 21-year old lad who hails from Rouse Hill in Sydney who was on his way home after a day at the track in his 1995 Nissan 200SX. According to press reports the dashboard was loose, the back seats were removed, the battery was held in place by a bracket (and well placed rag) and there was a strong smell of petrol. Oh, and the bodywork was secured with cable ties…
Translated, we take that to mean that some of the cars panels were secured with cable ties, quite possibly lightweight bonnet and boot-lid panels given that this sounds like one very ‘dedicated’ track machine.
The driver has been banned from driving the stripped out racer until it is returned to a roadworthy condition and will appear in the Moss Vale Local Court on June 16 to answer speeding charges.
Mike would be happy to adopt the 200SX, promising to provide it with a good home and plenty of love and attention.
Appreciate the tip Bavarian Missile!
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First thing I thought when I heard it was a stripped-out Nissan was “drift pig”…
The “bodywork was secured with cable ties” is probably referring to the front bumper being tied on with cable ties. Drifters do this because if the car leaves the road/hits a bump etc the bumper will fly off ’safely’ rather than get mangled up. Since drift cars leave the road so often that the bumpers are usually the first casualty…
Either that, or have the bonnet secured with a secondary restraint system as is required at many of Australia’s race tracks. In this case being cable ties, it’s the standard thing at many an open ‘track day’ because many drivers don’t want to go down the path of bonnet pins.
As an example of this phenomenon, you will often find used cable ties all over the ground out the back in the scrutiny bays around Winton Raceway.
I reckon you’d be spot on there Tony.
How do they manage to get approved to drive it on a track,I thought that there are standards?
While the speed is not really open to debate, given the fact that its being measured on police radar, the condition of the car is a bit of a media beatup.
The dash wasn’t loose. The head unit was.
The battery being held with a bracket is misleading - pop the bonnet on pretty much any car and look at what’s securing the battery. If its being covered with a rag, that could just mean that its being damped or otherwise vibration isolated.
The front bar being secured with cable ties, while different, is also not exactly an issue of itself. Most front bars as secured with plastic clips, which aren’t as strong as cable ties. They’ll often have metal screws as well, but there’s no indication that those were missing. “Secured” and “attached” are two different things.
Cars smelling of petrol isn’t unusual coming from a track day either. Goulburn isn’t exactly a large metropolitan area, so it can be hard to find 98RON. I bring jerry cans when I do track days, and so my car tends to have a faint whiff of petrol too.