The ex-Reg Cook Datsun 160J #100

A champion's team

Reg Cook won the Shellsport 2-litre Saloon Series in a Datsun three years running, 1979, 1980 and 1981, and the 1983 New Zealand Gold Star Hillclimb Championship in a Datsun Sunny, the same title Lyn had won in 1976. The official records don't name the car, but a period newspaper profile does: "Reg Cook, New Zealand saloon car champion, and 'Big Bertha', the Datsun two-litre Coupe", the car Lyn later owned. In 1981 Kevin Ryan of Timaru, its next owner, was 3rd in the Shellsport 0-2000 cc series.

Sources: "Veteran is hard to miss", Dave Blanchard (paper and date not recorded); MotorSport NZ, discontinued championships; MotorSport NZ, Gold Star Hillclimb roll of honour; DriverDB (1981 Shellsport placings)

Reg Cook in his racing overalls, helmet in hand, kneeling beside the Cook Datsun Parts car

Reg Cook with "Big Bertha" outside Cook Motor Racing, his Manurewa workshop. The same photo ran with the profile "Veteran is hard to miss": "Reg Cook, New Zealand saloon car champion, and 'Big Bertha', the Datsun two-litre Coupe."

Reg Cook's Datsun #100 in Cook Datsun Performance colours with COOKIE on the bonnet — Bright Road hill-climb, Hastings, 1979 or 1980 Photo: Ross Cammick

"Big Bertha", the CMR 160J

CMR built … the below 1300 Datsun to be the quickest 1300 car of all time … But Datsun wanted me to race a current model. So CMR built the Datsun 160J coupe with 2000 cc engine … I raced the 160J Big Bertha. Later the 160J went to Kevin Ryan of Timaru, who competed extremely well with it.Reg Cook, Shellsport Motor Racing New Zealand (Facebook), 4 July 2021

In period the car was Reg Cook's: #100, "Cookie" across the bonnet, "Cook Datsun Parts" across the windscreen and "Cook Datsun Performance" down the sides, later with a red bonnet and "Cook Datsun Engines". It raced in the saloon fields of the time, very often wheel to wheel with Grant Aitken's #10 Datsun.

Reg raced it in hill-climbs too. Of Ross Cammick's photo above, captioned "Bright Rd 1979", Reg wrote: "I think Hastings, maybe Bright Road 1980, where we broke the record again."

Sources: Reg Cook, Shellsport Motor Racing New Zealand (Facebook), 4 July 2021 and February 2022

The Cook Datsun 160J #100 in colour, red bonnet and blue tail, at speed past a crowd

"Cook Datsun Performance, 2 litre": the red, white and blue colours at speed. Photo: Ross Cammick

"Veteran is hard to miss"

A newspaper profile by Dave Blanchard, from around the time of Reg Cook's Shellsport titles, tells the car's story:

#100: Reg's "registered number, 100, first came to the fore in the days of the old 0-1000cc championship, when the only car anybody racing seriously drove was the Mini Cooper", in a long battle with his arch-rival Barry Phillips.
From Minis to Datsun: when the class opened to 1300 cc he turned "toward Japan and Datsun"; his Datsun 1200 coupe "became the car every Shellsport driver was out to beat in 0-1300cc races".
Big Bertha: with the change to a straight under-2000 cc class, "Cookie", as he was known, built "a car based on a new 120Y-based Datsun Coupe with a 1960cc engine". It "won Cook last year's championship, while he is so far unbeaten in the present season."
Hill-climbs: he had "even won hill-climbs in his two-litre Datsun".
Cook Motor Racing: his Manurewa workshop specialised in Datsuns and held the New Zealand franchise for Datsun competition parts.

Ford have developed their cars as far as they can go. We have only just started developing Datsun, and we can beat them now.Reg Cook, "Veteran is hard to miss"

Source: "Veteran is hard to miss", Dave Blanchard; paper and date not recorded (likely 1980 or 1981, between Reg's 1979-81 titles). It describes Big Bertha as 120Y-based with a 1960 cc engine; Reg's 2021 post calls it a 160J coupe with a 2000 cc engine.

Grant Aitken's #10 Datsun, in Graeme Dyer Auto and Wilson Neill Wines & Spirits colours, turns up beside the Cook car again and again: the two Datsuns fought at the front of the saloon fields of the time.

Reg Cook's Datsun #100 leads Grant Aitken's #10 through a sandy corner, spectators behind — Cook ahead of Aitken

Grant Aitken's #10 leads the red-bonneted Cook Datsun — Aitken ahead, the Cook car now with a red bonnet

Reg Cook's red and white Datsun #100, Cook Datsun Engines on the bonnet, ahead of Aitken's #10 — "Cook Datsun Engines" and "Cook Performance" in colour

Grant Aitken's Datsun #10 and Reg Cook's Datsun #100 side by side — Side by side, with hills behind

Grant Aitken's #10 leads Reg Cook's Datsun and a pack of saloons through a bend — Aitken leads Cook and the pack. From a framed print; photographer not recorded

Grant Aitken's #10 ahead of Reg Cook's Datsun past an Aurora AFX banner — Past the Aurora AFX banner. Photographer not recorded

Reg Cook's Datsun from behind, COOKIE on the boot, chasing Aitken's #10 past a Castrol GTX sign — "Cookie" on the boot lip, chasing Aitken past the Castrol GTX sign

The Cook Datsun on a circuit with hills and tents behind — Hills, tents and a "Dummy" sign behind. Venue not recorded

A saloon field starts in front of a packed grandstand, the Cook Datsun and Aitken's #10 on the front row — Front row at the start, in front of a packed grandstand

Newspaper photos: Grant Aitken leads Reg Cook in a very wet Shellsport race at Pukekohe — "Grant Aitken leads Reg Cook in a very wet Shellsport race at Pukekohe"

The rivalry ran through the Shellsport saloon series, the national championship for 2-litre saloons, in which Reg Cook was champion. A newspaper caught the two Datsuns in "a very wet Shellsport race at Pukekohe".

Reg Cook's Datsun #100 on the front of a saloon grid beside Bailey's #20 Escort, Aitken's #10 behind

On the front of the grid beside Bailey's #20 Escort, with Aitken's #10 behind. Photo: iMMage / Terry Marshall

Grant Aitken's #10 leads Reg Cook's Datsun, Fountain's Escort and #69 through a bend — Aitken, Cook, Fountain. Photographer not recorded

Reg Cook's Datsun #100 leads a saloon field through spray — Leading the field in the wet at a New Zealand Grand Prix meeting (the marshal's vest reads NZIGP), probably Pukekohe

Meetings and dates aren't recorded on these photos. If you know where any of them were taken, please tell us.

Painting of Aitken's #10 Datsun, Fountain's Escort, the #69 Escort and the Cook Datsun at a corner by a Fujicolor banner — Michael J. Nidd, 1980 Photo: painting by Michael J. Nidd, 1980

In paint

The era was memorable enough to be painted: Michael J. Nidd's 1980 picture has Aitken's #10 Datsun leading Fountain's Escort and the yellow #69 Escort into a corner by the Fujicolor banner, with the Cook Datsun Parts car close behind.

The ex-Reg Cook Datsun #100 in a garage, with Grant Aitken's Datsun #10 behind — Back in the period livery, with Grant Aitken's #10 alongside again

Bought in 1995

Lyn bought the ex-Reg Cook car in 1995 and raced it himself, keeping its Cook Datsun Performance livery and the #100: "Driver: Lyn Hatton" is lettered under the door window. In this later photo it sits beside Grant Aitken's #10, the car it raced in period, also back in its old colours, and carries a Timaru ENZED sticker and Shell Sport screen banner.

Lyn Hatton racing the Cook Datsun Performance car as number 108, red, white and blue, on a circuit

Lyn racing it in colour as #108, red, white and blue with a Timaru ENZED sticker on the rear window.

We don't yet have Lyn's results in the car. If you have them, or photos of Lyn racing it, please share them.

Source: Lyn Hatton's family

Open questions

Which meetings and series did Lyn race it in, and with what results?
When did he sell it, and where is it now?
Did Lyn buy it from Kevin Ryan of Timaru, or was there an owner in between?

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The Cook Datsun

Reg Cook's car