Samuri Conversions - FFA 196L

[Trex]

In response to those who are looking for more information on Samuri, I have put together some information which I have collected over the years from magazine articles about the legend behind Samuri Conversions. Acknowledgement and thanks to Peter Knivett and Classic Cars magazine.

Back in UK Datsun were sick of continued references to the big Healeys but there was no doubt that the arrival of the 240Z in the UK in October 1970 was greeted with great enthusiasm by many who lamented the demise of the Healey two years earlier: the 240Z was the sort of car the MarkIV Healey might have been and it behaved in the sort of way that the next generation Healey should have done.

Very few cars are famous to be known purely by their registration number. Only the works Mini Coopers, competition Jaguars and this car - the very first Super Samuri Datsun 240Z spring to mind. Why the Datsun ? Because FFA196L is a motorsport legend. It proved that a road legal Japanese sports car could take on Britian's best sports cars and beat then for nearly a decade. Interestingly, this success wasnt a big-budget works effort and ultimately can be traced to the skill of one engineer - Spike Anderson. He did more for Datsun's image and Japanese cars in general than any man before or since.

Very often it takes one man to create a legend. With Mini it was John Cooper but with the 240Z it was Spike Anderson. As a Broadspeed engineer in the late 60's Spike had gained considerable knowledge of engine and chassis tuning mainly on Minis and big Healeys whihc he loved. Having left Broadspeed to setup his own company ( Race Head Services ) with two other engineers, one of his first jobs wasa humble Datsun 1200. Spike promptly christened the 105hp car a 'Samuri" - a deliberate misspelling as the correct Samurai name was owned by an electronics company.

In 1973, Spike wanted a new car as his personal transport and purchased a Datsun 240Z registered FFA196L. Naturally it didnt stay in standard trim for long! Spike began the long and ongoing tuning process of FFA196L by gas flowing and matching the cylinder head ports of the Datsun 2.4 liter 150hp sohc six cylinder motor, retaining the standard valves and camshaft while the compression was raised tp 9.5:1 Next the standard carbs were ditched for a triple Weber 40DCOE setup. Then the inatke and exhaust manifold were made by Mangoletsi and later examples ran Janspeed six branch tubular manifold and exhaust. In this specification power increased from 150hp to 190hp.

At the same time the suspension was improved to cope with the performance. By lowering the car 40mm and replacing the standard dampers with Koni items, chassis dynamics were improved considerably. Harder Brake pads were fitted to cope with the extra speed. As a final touch the distinctive Samuri paintjob was added consisting of red and bronze and a deeper front spoiler was added. Pretty soon the motoring press had picked up on the story of this new 'Super Samuri " 240Z as Spike had christened it. A number of magazines tested FFA196L and gave it rave reviews clocking 6.4 seconds on the 0-60mph dash and coupled to a top speed of 140 mph. Thats impressive for today, so you can imagine what it must have been in 1973! The only point criticised were the brakes which were considred inadequate to cope with the awesome performance. Even at GBP645 over the original purchase price of GBP2690, Spike soon had 15 orders for Super Samuri conversions and the business was underway.

In the meantime Spike had responded to criticism of the brakes sourcing a set of vented discs and Lockheed four-pot calipers from a Range Rover which meant that the 14inch Wolfrace alloys were required to clear the bigger brakes. This raised the cost of the conversion to GBP1100.

By now Spike was using FFA as the company demonstrator and as a competition car, using it in the 1973 British Hillclimb championship. Against purpose built racing lightweights the Super Samuri finished second in class at the end of the year, hinting at the 240z's racing potential. With that in mind, Spike hooked up with a couple of his customers amongst them the young Win Percy and acquired an ex-works 240Z rally car. This was converted to full race spec and christened 'Big Sam" which went on to achieve considerable success.

In 1974 'Big Sam' was ready to race in the Modsports Cahmpionship but problems at the cas's Silverstone debut meant that FFA was pressed into duty instead. Against stiff opposition Percy won the class then Spike drove FFA home! That set the pattern for th'74 racing season with FFA used to back Big Sam up in the races no less than 12 times. FFA was always driven to and from the races in between doubling as customer and press demonstrator, development hack and Spikes own transport. Not surprisingly it had covered 35K miles bty the end of the year. Throughout 1974,75 and 76 many more Super Samuris were built and Spikes company was renamed Samuri. But in 1976 the company hit hard times and reluctantly FFA was sold to John Bradburn who continued to enter the car in hillclimbs and modsporst racse finishing 38 out of 39 events which showed the reliability of the car.

Halfway through '77 FFA was back at Samuri for engine repairs. Spike persuaded John to part with it - undertaking to build a replacement car as part of the deal. Spike had big plans for FFA centered around a 2.6 liter block producing around 230hp. Spike upgraded the suspension to near race spec and fitted 8 x 14 Minilite wheels. Yet again FFA attracted press and helped regenerate Spikes' business which relocated to Silverstone in 1978.

Throughout '78 FFA completed in 14 Modsports races always been driven to and from the circuit, yet it finished second in class. That feat was repeated in 1979, 80 and 81 but Spike clearly had an off year in 1982 as FFA only finished third in class.

By now FFA had more than 175k on the clock, had completed in over 60 races, 20 hillclimbs and featured in 15 different magazine articles making it arguably the bets known Japanese car in the country.(UK). Unfortunately the early '80 werent kind to Datsun z's secondhand prices fell Spikes racing activities were curtailed as business dropped off leading Spike to let FFA go for a second time.

By 1987 the 240Z was eligible for historic racing and the economic boom fo the time led to renewed interest in the Z. Spike with new business partner Kevin Irons built two new 240z's to race in the HSCC championship. Spike bought FFA back in 1988. After using FFA for promotional and club events Spike retired to Spian taking FFA with him.

In 1996 the car was returned to England and bought in 1997 by a long termn Z fan who had it restored by Dave Jarman of DJ road race.

FFA186L Super Samuri competition history

1973 British Hillclimb Championship 2nd in class

1978 Modsports Championship 2nd in class

1979 Modsports Championship 2nd in class

1980 Modsports Championship 2nd in class

1981 Modsports Championship 2nd in class

1982 Modsports Championship 3rd in class

Sorry Mike for the long article. I could not brake your maximum permitted message length of 10000 characters. Only manage an appalling 7224.

[sjcurtis]

Thanks Trex,

for taking the time to put this information in print, it made great reading.

I did know Big Sam had history. I did not know much about Spike and his efforts, but nothing of the (L) tax plated road car. As for Win Percy he is an exceptional bloke. I was fortunate to meet Win Percy a few years ago here in Australia.

Thanks again

Steve :classic:

[Alfadog]

Wow, this car seems to have certainly been pretty successful in its class, but what/who came 1st???

Still, it all seems a bit much to hail the Samuri as the definitive Z car, since when it comes down to it they were all really "only" tricked up Z's. Like it was mentioned in another thread, int he UK there has always been a stock Z section and a Samuri Z section, but no modified section??? That's absurd. Spike knew how to engineer the car to gain some more horses out of the fantastic L engine, that's for sure!

It's just a pity his business ethics weren't as good as his mechanical expertise...