ATTACK MODE

DYLAN AUTON'S WILD, V8-POWERED DATSUN 1600 WORLD TIME ATTACK CAR IS THE CULMINATION OF A FAMILY LOVE AFFAIR THAT BEGAN 56 YEARS AGO

- STORY IAIN KELLY PHOTOS NOAH THORLEY

CAR enthusiasts are generally products of their upbringing. So, if your dad drove a Kingswood, you'd likely bleed Holden red; if your mum ferried you to school in an XB hardtop, you might have sworn allegiance to the Blue Oval. Dylan Auton's dad bought Datsuns, and so he's been a diehard Datto fan for as long as he can recall.

"My dad, John, bought a 1600 new in 1969, and turned it into a rally car almost immediately, so since then there have been Datsuns in the family," Dylan says. "I've owned more than I could count, and eventually they'd all end up with rollcages and getting raced, as my family has a history in motorsport."

However, one look at Dylan's latest Datsun should make it clear that this 1600 isn't likely to pop down to your local show 'n' shine. "The original goal was to be the quickest Datsun at Phillip Island," he says. "Then I started attending the World Time Attack Challenge in Sydney."

Time attack racing originated in Japan in the mid-90s, the simple goal being to set the quickest flying lap time you can. Sydney's World Time Attack Challenge (WTAC) has become the global centre of the sport, with the best cars lapping Sydney Motorsport Park a monumental 12 seconds faster than a V8 Supercar.

For that reason, Dylan's Datto packs a wild amount of fabrication. "Dad and I used to build up Datsuns by pillaging parts from other Datsun models, but this time around, we've pillaged a V8 Supercar," he says.

Turning a humble Datsun 1600 into the swiftest time attack machine possible called for an almost complete re-engineering of the car. Andrew Brilliant from AMB Aero created the wild, all-important be-winged aerodynamics package it now sports, undertaking hundreds of computer simulations and models of different modifications before Dylan had even bought the car.