Kiwi motorsport identity Reg Cook, 78, is about to head overseas in pursuit of more titles, taking with him four custom-built race vehicles and a small bunch of dedicated Kiwi support crew.
Last century, with the strong support of Datsun New Zealand, Cook was ‘Mr Datsun’ to hordes of motorsport fans and competitors.
He ran a variety of Datsuns in the ultra-competitive Shellsport series for 2.0-litre cars against the likes of Bryce Platt, Grant Aitken and Wayne ‘Noddy’ Murdoch. Cook created potent race cars from Datsun’s humble Sunny and Stanza sedans and challenged the might of the Ford Escort teams, winning title after title.
He reconfigured the Sunny – complete with its signature blue perspex side windows – for gravel and won the 1982 Ashley Forest Rallysprint.
Cook rallied a full factory spec Datsun Stanza and then a similarly full-on factory-spec Group 2 Nissan Bluebird Turbo, once again going up against Ford’s all-conquering Escort.
As the four-wheel drive supercars of Group B dominated the rallying world, he stepped up to a ‘works’ rear wheel drive Nissan 240 RS.
All through the late 20th century, Reg Cook was also building high output Datsun and Nissan engines, gearboxes and differentials for Kiwi race and rally drivers. He was Nissan’s motorsport ‘cellar door’, accessing and selling competition gear to local competitors at preferential prices.
Cook now has a new motorsport passion: Land Speed Records. He already holds five world land speed records and is readying for a further tilt at a new world land speed record of 550mph (880kph).
He has just put his four LSR cars in 40-foot shipping containers and sent them to Bolivia aiming to showcase Kiwi ingenuity and engineering on a global stage.
The vehicle for his latest bid at the 880kph record is Wairua II, a massive 1.7 tonne ‘streamliner’ built entirely in sheds at his Clevedon property in south Auckland. The vehicle builds on what was learned from Wairua I, built in 2018, which clocked 380mph (611km/h).
The Cook teams had planned an LSR bid in Bolivia last year but were let down by Bolivian motorsport authorities. This year, the team is managing the bid themselves.
“Disappointed. Did we want to do it? Absolutely. Did we want to pull out? Absolutely not. The ‘Kiwi can do’ can only overcome so much BS from other people. But this time, it’s going to happen.
“We are taking control of the whole LSR event ourselves. That’s the only way to make it happen.”
The 2025 LSR bid will be managed by Kiwi motorsport identity Brian Lawrence and will take place at Uyuni Salt Lake in Bolivia. It will be observed and ratified by official motorsport authority FIA Bolivia. It is open to other LSR teams hoping to break the record.
