BY STEPHEN ROMERO
PHOTOS COURTESY OF JOE HAYASHIBARA
AND LARRY SAAVEDRA
DISCOVERING
THE DATSUN
510
PETER BROCK MADE
DESERT RACING
HISTORY IN A HUMBLE
COMPACT CAR
I
n the summer of 1969,
America was fascinated
with technology that was
ignited by NASA landing a
man on the Moon. With
a country fascinated with
space travel, technology, and
a bright future ahead, race
driver Peter "Pete" Brock, was
planning a mission of a different
sort that would utilize the latest
in compact car technology.
Brock wanted to win the
Mexican 1000 in a Japanese-
built car, something that had
never been done before.
Some say, Brock's run in '69,
using three right-hand-drive
spec African Safari 510's was
a stroke of advertising genius
for the automaker Datsun, who
sponsored the effort. Whatever
the case, Brock was intent on
showcasing the performance
possibilities of these new
compact-cars set against the
grueling Mexican desert. It
would be a feat that at the time,
seemed near impossible, even
those who understood Brock's
unbridled passion for racing.
In the Sixties, Mexico's
desert was extremely primitive
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