Article - Hino Samurai

[Steve Holmes]

The Samurai incorporated a steel tube-frame chassis, into which a 1300cc GR100 Contessa 4-cylinder engine, with twin Mikuni-Solex carburettors was installed. Power output was 100-horsepower, and the little Hino unit was backed by a 5-speed transmission.

Brock designed a slippery low-slung body, in which styling cues from the Daytona Cobra Coupe were evident. The most notable feature was the tall ‘hoop’ rear wing, which sprouted naturally up from the rear bodywork, and curved inwards at each end. The centre section of the wing was attached to the outer hoops, and its angle could be adjusted manually by the driver while the car was in motion.



Thanks to its light alloy body, the little Hino Samurai weighed just 530-kilograms.

The swept front windscreen designed for the Samurai would also find its way onto another Pete Brock creation, the Triumph TR250K.

The Samurai was completed and tested in readiness for the 1967 Japan Grand Prix. However, in a bizarre turn of events, race officials failed it on the grounds of its ride height being too low. And as such, it was denied a start.



Regardless of its failed racing pedigree, the wild little Hino Samurai attracted an immense amount of attention, and even made the cover of the November 1967 issue of Road & Track magazine.

However, before BRE could progress with the next Hino racing project, the company, which had been absorbed into the fast-growing Toyota group, reverted back to pure truck manufacturing, and its passenger car production was cancelled, along with its ambitious racing projects. BRE hoped to win a contract to race Toyota’s in the US, but the company was instead wooed by Carroll Shelby, who scored a lucrative deal to campaign a fleet of beautiful 2000GT’s in SCCA C/Production sports car racing. Ultimately, Toyota’s decision proved to be a mistake. Shelby enjoyed little success with its products, while BRE won-over Nissan, and went on to achieve great things in both D/Production with the Datsun 2000 Roadster, C/Production with the 240Z, and the Trans-Am 2.5 division, where the BRE Datsun 510s won races and championships.

As for the one-off Hino Samurai, this passed through various owners in the US, and was raced unsuccessfully in SCCA club racing. For the most-part, nobody seemed to understand its high-revving little engine, and struggled to make the car stop and turn. Eventually it was purchased by Ron Bianchi, who invested a good deal of time and money into its development, and he went on to enjoy a lot of success with it until he retired from racing. Eventually, the Samurai’s creator, Pete Brock, reached out to Bianchi and persuaded him to sell. Brock didn’t keep it for long, however, and soon sold it to wealthy Japanese collector Satoshi Ezawa, where it joined his extensive Hino collection.