When I was researching my book I specifically asked Teiichi Hara (head of the
section responsible for deign and construction of our roadsters) about Nissan
using Prince engineers, designs and licenses for the U20 engine. He said that
the U20 was 100% Nissan and had no Prince input and that Nissan did not use
any Prince knowledge for anything on the Roadster. I asked the question on
more than one ocassion and in different ways but the answer was always the
same. I will admit though that I wasn't and still am not completely convinced
by Mr Hara's denials as some of the other information he provided to me was
(to say the least) dubious.
It should also be remebered that Nissan had spent several years collaborating
with Yamaha on OHC motors so it is possible that Nissan built the U20 head
quite independently, taking their inspiration from the Mercedes engine. Some
friends who know more about these things than me also swear that the current
Nissan Skyline GT-R motor is a copy of Mercedes engine.
I had planned a section in chapter 6 of the book just on what I suspect but
can't yet confirm as strong connections between Prince and Nissan racing
development. If there were no links then there was a lot of cheating going on,
especially by Nissan who were losing out very embarrassingly to Toyota in
sedan racing.
BTW, Those old Prince Skyline GTs had another striking similarlty to 1967-70
roadsters; the extra link on the rear-end to help prevent axle tramp.
Those old Skyline GTs were also only sold on a couple of markets, mainly
Australia and New Zealand. They were built for production car racing in Japan,
and under the rules several hundred had to be built. They could not be legally
road registered in Japan at the time so we got them Downunder. They were very
quick cars in a straight line but didn't like turning corners because of all
the weight at the front.
Regards,
Phill Brook
>===== Original Message From "Laury, Victor" =====
>And did you see that pict of the Prince straight 6 with the triple Webers? I
>guess it's not not hard to see that Nissan got it's OHC technology from the
>Prince merger. The "U" motor and then the "L" right off the drawing boards
>of the Prince Engineers.
>
>Victor
>70 SRL 31113136
>Los Angeles
>http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumList?u=123073
>SoCalROC http://www.ameri-eagle.com/datsun/
|