TS Class Warfare: Civics, Sunnys, Starlets, RX-3s

Here is the first of a series of vintage race videos that we’ll be posting this week. We stumbled upon this while catching up with beoneoneoh, who can always be counted on to unearth the Sunny-related. This is footage from a race that took place at Tsukuba Circuit almost exactly 32 years ago, on May 29, 1977.

In the hotly contested TS Class all the major players came to the fight: Nissan with the Sunny, Toyota with the Starlet, Honda with the Civic, and Mazda with the Savanna RX-3. Sunnys saw much success in the series and this race was no exception. According to the video’s notes, factory Nissan driver Kenji Tohira took first place in the No. 15 Sunny 1200GX.

As much as we like seeing the various marques battle for supremacy, Nissan fans will probably prefer the TS-EX class, which was dominated by the Sunnys (though a couple of SB1 Civics do manage to hold their own at the front of the pack).

And lest the boys have all the fun, the LC (Ladies’ Class) also gets a spin and the Sunnys are no less dominant as the weapon of choice.

You so desire, You can click here to see some open wheel racing in the FL500 Class that took place on the same day.