B12 Nissan Sentra - Driving The Dream

This Sentra was pretty stout to begin with, even before its preparation for the salt, but top-speed racing is not the same as having a ridiculously fast street or track day machine. Further modifications were needed to ensure reliability under extreme conditions. For example, running for over two miles at 160mph. This is much more rigorous than a typical quarter-mile blast or illegal freeway run. Top-speed running on the salt flats means that the car will see as much as 90 continuous seconds of full-throttle, high-boost, full-load stress. This is like six to seven quarter-miles passes with no time for cool down between runs. Therefore a few key modifications had to take place.

1. The SR20, although strong, has a penchant for overheating when pushed at high revs. The no-brainer solution: a huge aluminum Koyo Motorsports radiator of the type favored by SE-R Cup racers was installed. Excessively high oil temperatures also plague SR20s, so Johnson had Afterhours Automotive offset the radiator's mounting points, making room for a Setrab 13-row oil cooler to be mounted alongside.

2. As the wire harness had been hacked into by Johnson as a teenage ricer many years ago and had also become brittle through 21 years of constant use, the car had developed a slew of intermittent electrical problems. Some of the more serious ones included no-start situations. An older and smarter Johnson set about troubleshooting and repairing the harness and connectors, a daunting task that took a lot time.

3. Because of the lack of aftermarket development for the B12 Sentra, Johnson arrived at several ingenious solutions for his suspension. At one time, the B12 was a popular FIA Group A racer in Japan, so Nismo developed a racing damper for it. Johnson bought the last of these parts in existence (so please don't bother Nissan Motorsports looking for them).

4. As the '80s-era speedometer only went to 120mph and there are severe penalties involved with going too fast on licensing runs at Bonneville, a Garmin Street Pilot GPS system was installed for accurate speed readings.

By Mike Kojima

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