1967
For 1967, several racing teams had bought Keikas for various events through the year. These almost stock vehicles were rushed to be prepared, fitted with semi-slick tyres, further stripped out interiors and a richer fuel mixture. Differences between the privateers were minor, as the already basic and race ready chassis wasn’t easy to improve upon with little time to develop the car. The earliest team to get them didn’t have the money to improve the car either, so eight almost stock cars headed out onto the tracks of Japan throughout 1967.
Unfortunately for these teams, their hastily prepared cars lacked the development they so desperately needed. The new power helped greatly, which was gained by a much richer fuel mix and 10:1 compression ratio, which could be attained by running on 98 octane fuel. This brought their 0-100Km/h time down to 6.4 seconds, which was enough to give the Porsche 904 Daniel had watched three years ago a scare. Unfortunately, Porsche hadn’t just let the competition catch up. Their new 906 had already proven its dominance the year before, and with 220hp and a far lighter body, the Keikas stood no chance.
The lightly modified AR 20 NA 2BTWC got an extra 21hp over the standard model.
To make matters worse, the new semi-slick tyres hadn’t actually improved the handling. Since the car was tuned to be on the very edge of oversteer on hard compound tyres, the new grip from the semi-slicks meant the cars became very hard to drive, and cornered no better thanks to terminal oversteer.
The deadly handling of the rushed team cars.
Fuji 1000 Kilometers
The first of two major events of the year, the Fuji 1000 Kilometers, approached rapidly. The unprepared cars took place on the grid. During the first turn, one Keika spun immediately, heading straight into the crash barrier. The driver had no serious injuries from the accident. Another Keika experienced sudden oversteer only a couple laps later, taking it out of the race. For some cars, the oversteer was the least of the issues. Only thirty laps in, the lack of cooling caused another Keika to drop out. Things were not looking good.
Later on in the race, while trying to overtake a much slower Nissan Bluebird, the oversteer struck on another Keika, leaving two cars left. Another overheating engine left a lone Keika to claim 24th place. Despite the reliability problems and troublesome handling, the cars showed promise on Fuji’s high speed layout. And the fearsome Porsche ran into issues, finishing 36th, and giving hope for the Japanese companies. Unfortunately, all but one team had had enough of what could be a potential widowmaker, and dropped the cars. Daniel, obviously annoyed by the reputation he had lost, set about regaining it himself.
Rising from Ruins
He put together another Keika using the money from the teams he had built cars for, saving money and weight wherever he could. The exterior lacked any parts to make it road legal, all lights blanked and bumpers missing, instead filled in. Inside the car, the passenger seat was removed, as was the radio.
The lightweight racer personally built by Daniel Chase. Note the missing passenger door handle and mirror.
To save some time and money on finding a new wheel supplier, the same ones were used as the normal road car. But, instead of the budget hard compounds used before, semi-slick tyres were in place. After many hours of tuning, the suspension was set up to allow this car to corner at 1.06g. Now it just needed to get ahead of its production rivals on the straights.
Much like the racing models, the engine was ran on 98 octane fuel. The fuel mixture was made much richer, and the air filter was removed. Then some much more aggressive cams were put in place, and the compression ratio was raised to 10.5:1. The engine’s stroke was then decreased to allow it to rev further, up to 7000RPM, and brought the engine size down to 1.9L. Custom made tubular headers increased the total power output to 150hp.
The new AR 19 2BTWC
The final drive ratio was extended to increase the top speed to 204Km/h, and the gears shortened to bring 0-100Km/h down to 6.3 seconds.
Suzuka 1000 Kilometers
Dubbed the “Revenge” spec, this car was worked on day and night, built in three months, ready for the Suzuka 1000 Kilometers. This car was perfected until the very last moment, missing the qualifying session. The car, despite it’s not so legal state, was driven to the track with speed those roads would never carry again, and turned up seconds before entries closed. The remaining team running a Keika offered Daniel to use their pits during the race, which he accepted.
Parked up on the back of the grid in 66th place, Daniel waited for the count down. The moment the flag dropped, a legend was born.
The Keika accelerated off the line with fury, spinning a wheel all the way to third gear. Before the first turn, the brutal acceleration had put it halfway up the grid. And in the first turn, the finely tuned handling, allowed it to go around the outside of two Skyline GT-Bs, cars that were once the pinnacle of Japanese sports cars. By the end of the first lap, Daniel had made it up into the top twenty.
After an electric first lap, the car had to be driven slower to avoid overheating. Due to a lack of time, cooling couldn’t be improved, being driven hard for a long period of time wasn’t ideal. Despite this, due to the cars great handling on low speed turns, it could make up some time on the cars around it. On high speed turns though, handling was much to be desired, feeling light and vague.
The race went smoothly from there on, with the Keika Revenge taking 12th place. With this result, Keika’s worth had been proven, and interest in the company rose again.
As Daniel left, he overheard someone say his car “cut through the pack like a Katana through its foes.” This inspired him to call the 1967 models and onwards the Keika Katana, which seemed fitting for an elegant yet powerful design.
The Future
Demand increased significantly after the race result, resulting in high profit margins the following month from the road going variants sold to both teams and the public alike. By the end of 1967, there was now a total of 12 Keikas produced. Meanwhile, an updated version was in the works, and Keika had its sights set on bigger events outside of Japan.
Keika Revenge Spec Download: Keika - I Revenge.car (28.2 KB)
