The standard of burnout cars in Australia has gone through the roof in the past decade or so. Top 60-quality cars are now a common sight on pads around the country, and the stakes are being raised each year.

First published in the February 2025 issue of Street Machine

One of the guys doing the raising is Thomas McManaway in his insane Datsun 1200 ute. The Queensland-based LS fanatic has a stack of Chinese Chev-powered bullets, including S15 and 180SX drift cars, and a staunch VF ClubSport. The Datsun was something completely different.

“The Datto plan all started a couple of years ago when I was watching Summernats burnout videos with mates and joked that we should build something,” Thomas recalls. “We got onto Gumtree that day and found a little Datto ute sitting in a farm shed up near Jimboomba, between Brisbane and the Gold Coast.

“So, we headed up there, and there it was, sitting behind a Massey tractor, dents and all – no interior; just a roller.”

Thomas made a deal with the farmer, pushed the ute onto the trailer, and the bad ideas started from there.

“As a shell, it wasn’t horrible,” he says. “It was very simple, and it fitted with our simple theme of a Datsun 1200 with 1200hp on tap.

“We started ordering parts and wanted to build something stupid, initially as just a burnout car. Then I saw some big Weld rims for sale and figured we might as well see if we can go fast as well.”

To achieve the goal of having a car that could do it all, Thomas called on the expertise of Spot On Performance. “I told the boys I wanted them to build me a full tube-chassis car that could do Powercruise, drag race and rip off mental skids as well,” he says.

The build began three weeks later, and the Spot On team really nailed the brief. The planning and execution are faultless, and from an engineering viewpoint, it’s a true thing of beauty. As Thomas says, “it’s tube all the way from the headlights to the tail-lights.” The engine bay only has the motor and a Clear View filter; everything else is mounted in the rear.

“We wanted the big tyres and big power, but we needed to make it safe, and this would be the only burnout car with a full fire-suppression system installed, and a serious chassis that would allow me to walk away from a rollover,” says Thomas.

The rear of the car is a busy space, with a nine-inch diff, Afco shocks and a five-link suspension set-up. Also squeezed in back there is a radiator, dry-sump oil tank, 80-litre fuel tank, surge tank, puke tanks and the batteries.

The supercharged LS engine has been mounted with both front and rear engine plates. Built by Pro Street racer Michael Arnold at M&A Mechanical, the 427ci Dart-based small-block is a serious bit of gear. It sounds like it’s on 10,000rpm when it’s unleashed on the pad on 30 pounds of boost.

The iron block has been fitted with a Callies rotating assembly and NxtGen heads by Tremaniac Racing. The Plazmaman billet intake is topped with a BDS 10/71 Teflon blower with a Joe Blo Big & Ugly hat. The hat is fitted with eight Deka injectors, with another eight injectors mounted in the intake manifold. The rear-mounted mechanical fuel pump is cable-driven off the NxtGen dry-sump pump.

Kappa at 12 Volt Performance on the Gold Coast installed a state-of-the-art wiring system. A CDI ignition box is mounted under the dash, and the engine is controlled with a MoTeC M190 ECU with a full motorsport loom.

The transmission is a Powerglide with all the bells and whistles, including a Reid case, 10-clutch drum, and a 1.80 straight-cut gearset from Elite Automatics.

In finished trim, minus driver, the car weighs 2600lb and has been set up with a 52 per cent front-weight bias. Trick mods include the floor being lowered 50mm in order to give Thomas, who stands 6ft 4in, more legroom.

“We basically started the project in January 2023 and had the car running for September Powercruise in primer to get bugs ironed out,” Thomas says. “We won the off-street drags, had a massive fire in the burnouts, which we won, stripped the car down, and debuted it at Summernats 2024.”

On the pad, Thomas drives it like he stole it. Bulk wheel speed, great driving skills and an engine package tuned to perfection makes one killer combination. Between events, the car is serviced by Justin Wilkinson at JW Automotive – Thomas basically drops it off and lets JW do whatever’s needed.

“The car is awesome to drive,” says Thomas. “I like the way it handles. Like many of my cars, it has the Nissan S15 front end, which I reckon makes all the difference. The car is a good fit. I’m not saying that I want to drive it interstate, but there are lots of creature comforts like full electric steering, a functioning fuel gauge and a lowered floor that make it just that little bit nicer to drive.”

After debuting the car at Summernats 36, Thomas competed in roughly half a dozen events during 2024 as he gradually got a handle on the wild little beastie.

“We ended up winning a ticket into the Summernats Pro Burnout Series,” he says. “The best part of having the new car has been meeting all the people involved in the sport. We love the atmosphere and how much people enjoy it; it’s super cool.

“We’d like to thank the boys at Spot On, JW Automotive, Michael Arnold, and the team at KG’s Restorations in Capalaba, who have painted all of my cars. Despite me always picking hard colours and giving them timelines that are tough, they always come through.”

This mighty little Datto is primed for an even bigger year, as Thomas has plenty of shows and travel on the agenda, so expect to see it lighting up even more of the nation’s burnouts pads throughout 2025.