Witbank drag racer Leon du Plooy sets bold new South African record
A little under three decades ago when a twenty-something Leon du Plooy hoped in a drag racing vehicle for the first time, he had no idea that he'd become a South African 'legend'.
Du Plooy, who hails from the northern City of Witbank in Mpumalanga, became the first South African to cross the quarter mile trap in 7.5 seconds in a bakkie.
His Nissan 1400 bakkie, which is the country's most beloved utility vehicle aside from the Toyota Hilux, is also the fastest 4 cylinder drag racing vehicle in the country.
Du Plooy set a new record at Tarlton International Raceway on Saturday, May 31, in front of a sold-out crowd at the Mecca of South African drag racing. 7.57 seconds at 290km/h was his fastest time of the day.
What's in it?
Now, let's just state at the outset that this is not some Nissan 1400 that anyone can jump in and start driving. The engine is made of a range of custom parts, from the pistons, crank and rods. The base structure that Leon used is a Toyota twincam 16 valve engine, that comes out of a Corolla RSI.
It's been fitted with custom, aftermarket parts from the United States, which is also where Du Plooy sourced the G-Force 2000 gearbox from. The G-Force 2000 gearbox is one of the most expensive parts within this machine.
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