New weekly feature on the Bay motoring scene
● Pilcher is passionate about his Sentra 200STI — and making it go faster
As the old saying goes, if you love something let it go, and if it’s meant to be, it will come back to you.
And if it does, make it really, really fast.
Well, this has been the case for Kariega drag racer Cheston Pilcher and his 1992 Sentra 200STI, aptly named “Red Bull”, as the 32-year-old flies down a 400m straight.
The father of two has an inherent love affair with Nissan, which started as a boy growing up in Atlantis surrounded by fast cars, particularly Skylines from the 1980s, driven by his father, Chesley, and the dragsters of his day.
But while Pilcher has owned about 70 cars, predominantly of the SR20 variant, this VVL has a special place in his ethanolpumping heart.
Having separated about a decade ago, owner and machine are now reunited with a common goal of making it into the elusive 11-second bracket.
“I started [really] drag racing in 2007 when I finished matric.
“This red 200STI Sentra was my first SR20 I ever owned.
“And after that first time driving the car, what wasn’t there to love about a 200STI Sentra?
“It was beautiful blood red and was just the complete package for me.
“And now years later, that same red 200STI is my drag car,” Pilcher said.
At the time, the car ran 12.7 seconds over 400m.
But being a university student at the time with limited finances, Pilcher was forced to sell the car in 2010 and replaced it with a Citi Golf 1.4, which he owned for a number of years before moving back to the SR20s.
“I couldn’t leave it [the Nissan] and got myself a Sabre.
“So in 2018, my best friend Niethaam also wanted to get into SR20s and, lo and behold, my red 200STI was for sale in Mossel Bay, so we took the journey.”
When they arrived there, Pilcher describes a “heartsore” scene in terms of its condition — nevertheless, the Sentra was bought, loaded and returned to Kariega.
“We got the car for next to nothing — it had its VVL and Niethaam raced it and made a big name for himself.
“He then sold it to someone here and in about 2020 I got a call from the new owner.
“In the blink of an eye I fetched the car.
“At the time I wanted to build a race car, and there it was — it all just fell into my plans.
“At the time I remembered all the sacrifices I had made when I initially sold it, and here it came back to me when I could afford it.
“So basically full circle.” Since its return, Pilcher said they had predominantly focused on weight reduction and removed even unnecessary bolts in an effort to get an edge on the strip.
Consequently, the car no longer has the factory finish look it left his garage with all those years ago and instead has been resprayed in a custom design, which is basically the only aesthetic modification — that is, if you don’t count removing the bumpers and all the rest.
“Red Bull definitely has a list of mods, but most people won’t believe when I say it’s a very basic set-up.
“A set of big pistons. It sports the N1 VVL cams, headwork by Barry, a set of 750CC injectors, 4.4 SR16 LSD gearbox, runs on full ethanol.
“There isn’t really big mods aside from the basics and then a few suspension bits ... but a lot of this is your kind of backyard builds.”
The car is currently producing 211kw and 301nm on the flywheel.
“But in my opinion, the biggest mod you could have in terms of drag racing is your tyre.
“I’d rather run a car with a stock engine and proper tyre like Mickey Thompsons, that will take you a lot faster than a fully built engine on normal street tyres or semi-slicks.”
In the standard 200STI engine, with some mods, Pilcher was running in the high 12, low 13 bracket, which he said was “simply not enough”.
“We then put our racing engine together [imported Neo VVL] and the car ran a 12.3.
“In an event in East London, it ran two 12.1s. Soon, soon and very soon we will be pushing to hit the 11s.
“We will then be the only 11-second Sentra after the legend MW Derkson from Johannesburg that ran an 11.6 many moons ago.
“So we are hoping to be the first Sentra of this generation of drag racers to do that — it would be an awesome achievement,” he said.
Pilcher said Japworx, KS Auto, which sponsors him, as well as his tuner, Nazim Sirkhotte from Nisma Performance, were part of the STI’s progress thus far and continued to assist in attaining his 11-second dream.
Speaking about the Nelson Mandela Bay car culture, Pilcher said monetary support from both the public and private sector was necessary for the motorsport to expand and develop.
“As with everything, the expenses of this sport, whether it be dragging, spinning, stance, have all increased.
“Unfortunately, these types of events don’t get noticed by the government in terms of sponsors or donations.
“If things like that were to happen, and government gives a government-owned drag strip, spin pitch or stance arena, it would be a lot cheaper to build up the sport.
“Most of this is done out of love and the pockets of car fanatics here.”