Japan Grand Prix Grille Badge

[sblake01]

I found this grille badge a few years back. It was on the grille of a 411 sedan. It reads: JAPAN GRAND PRIX FISCO MAY 1966. I has a chequered flag with '3rd' and a diagram of a road course in the centre. I was just curious as to whether it had any historical signifigance.

[26th-Z]

FISCO stands for Fuji International Speedway Company, I think and the badge is from an event - I'll bet motorcycle races - in May 1966. That's my best guess.

[HS30-H]

Wow Stephen,

That's very cool.

26th-Z is correct, FISCO does indeed stand for the Fuji International Speedway COmpany, and that is the outline of the ( old ) banked track on the badge.

I went looking through my archives to see what I could find.

1966 features big in my collection, as it was when the Prince R380 debuted in the big event of the weekend; the actual "Japan Grand Prix" race. A Porsche Carrera 6 diced with a pair of works Toyota 2000GT racers, a pair of E-type Jaguars, a couple of Daihatsu P3's, a Lotus Elite, an Abarth Simca, a Fairlady and the one and only Fairlady S, four Prince R380's and ( amazingly ) a Cobra Daytona Coupe.

The Fairlady S set an incredible qualifying time ( 2 mins 37.7 ) in comparison to its nearest rival, one of the Toyotas ( 2 mins 52.4 ) but failed to finish the race. End result was a first and second for Prince R380's, with one of the Toyota 2000GT's in third and another R380 in fourth.

With the Toyota 2000GT coming in third, it would not make much sense for the badge to be on your Bluebird, so we have to dig deeper.....

Two works Fairladies took first and second places in the Grand Touring Car Race, with a Porsche 911 coming in third. Hmmm, that can't be it........

Aha! The Special Touring Car Race ( 20 laps, 120km ): A works Skyline GT takes first, and second is an Isuzu Bellett GT. And who comes in third? YES, a Bluebird SSS driven by Kenjiro Tanaka. That must be it. Your badge commemorates the third place for the Bluebird.

Treasure it. Its probably very collectable in Japan.

[HS30-H]

Here's a pic of the car in question. Its just behind the Skyline GT:

[26th-Z]

My compliments, Alan. I'm impressed. :classic:

[sblake01]

Thank you, Alan. I, too, am impressed. It wasn't my Bluebird although I did own a 66 RL411 some years back. I found that badge on a 410 sedan in the junkyard about 3 years ago. I believe I said it was a 411 but as I recall, it had to be a 410 because it had a J13 engine. I think it was also right hand drive. Mine had an R16 and was left hand drive.

[Fun_in_my_z]

how would a American come to get one of those?

[Gav240z]

originally quoted by Alan

1966 features big in my collection, as it was when the Prince R380 debuted in the big event of the weekend; the actual "Japan Grand Prix" race. A Porsche Carrera 6 diced with a pair of works Toyota 2000GT racers, a pair of E-type Jaguars, a couple of Daihatsu P3's, a Lotus Elite, an Abarth Simca, a Fairlady and the one and only Fairlady S, four Prince R380's and ( amazingly ) a Cobra Daytona Coupe.

You never told us what happened with the Daytona Coupe I've always loved those cars and thought that the big V8 would have stomped all over the 2ltr cars.

[Gav240z]

not that the R380's were 2 ltr or were they?

[HS30-H]

Hi Gav,

Actually, the poor Daytona Coupe never got a look in.

They don't say all that much about it in the race report, apart from the fact that it was battling with severe understeer throughout the race. They also say that it was hugely fast on the straights but painfully slow in the corners.

The driver ( a guy called Sakai ) might not have been all that good, or he might have been suffering from set-up woes made worse by language problems. The car was one of the 1965 Le Mans entries, and I have no idea how Sakai got to drive it in Japan, or indeed any of the story behind it.............

The R380's were indeed 2 litres ( they used the GR8 engine, the forerunner of the S20 ) and they would have had a lot of practice at FISCO, and would not have been phased by the banking. They would have had a good handle on gear ratios and the setup needed for that particular circuit.

Here's a pic of the poor Daytona being overtaken into a corner by one of the Works Toyotas:

[HS30-H]

Here's a nicely atmospheric shot of the Daytona from the rear.

Doesn't look all that slow in the photo..........

[Gav240z]

Great Alan many thanks for that. I believe only 6 of those Daytona coupe's were ever built. I have one question where do you acquire these pictures and documentation from?

I'd love to look into this stuff more, it's great learning the history of all these cars.

:classic: