Before we released the new Big Country Labs DF1800 Wing, one of the first cars we wanted to see it on was Chris Clark’s S14.9.
Chris has been running BCL aero for a while, including our 1850mm GT wing, so his car gave us a pretty ideal real-world comparison between the two designs.
Wing setup featured: DF1800 in Carbon Fiber, Vengeance end plates with a custom Laser etched design and FD-height uprights.
And this isn’t a car that just gets driven to shows.
It gets used.
Chris Clark’s S14.9
Chris runs Clark’s Auto and has spent years developing this S14 into a car that takes inspiration from both drifting and road racing.
Under the hood is an RB25 NEO making around 540 HP and 450 lb-ft of torque at 19 PSI on E85.
The engine combination includes:
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Manley rods
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Wiseco pistons
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ARP main and head studs
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Ferrea valves
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Garrett GTX3076 Gen II turbo
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Link ECU with a Haltech IC7 Dash
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DeatschWerks fuel pumps and surge tanks
The chassis has been developed around actually using the car hard too, with Reinharte/Stance coilovers using custom spring rates for the RB-powered setup, Falken RT660+ tires and a prototype EBC Apollo 6-piston big brake kit.
It’s a properly developed car rather than a collection of parts.
Why an S14?
For Chris, the S14 started with something pretty simple — he liked the way they looked.
“I’ve always loved the look of an S14 Kouki with the angry eyes, and the S15 was always the forbidden fruit. I wanted a left-hand-drive S-chassis, so I decided to start cheaper with an S14 chassis.”
But the choice ended up making sense beyond just the styling.
“The cars have proven to be well balanced and versatile in drifting and road racing, and since I’m not much of a drifter, I wanted to build something that takes inspiration from both.”
That combination is probably the best way to describe the car.
It looks like something that belongs at a drift event, but the setup and development behind it are much more focused on making the car work everywhere.
The New DF1800 Circuit Wing
Chris had previously been running our 1850mm atmosphere demolisher wing .
That wing was originally designed around the demands of drifting — big angle, big presence and a lot of rear load.
The new DF1800 Wing was developed with a different goal.
We wanted something more efficient, with significantly less drag while still generating meaningful rear downforce at speed.
That made Chris’s car a perfect test.
Same car.
Same driver.
Same general use.
Just a completely different wing philosophy.
1800 vs 1850
This was the part we were most interested in.
Chris had enough seat time with the old 1850 to know exactly how the car behaved with it, so he wasn’t coming into the new wing without a reference point.
And he noticed the difference immediately.
“Although the 1850 wing increased my confidence in corners, you could literally feel it dragging the rear of the car on the straights.”
That extra drag was doing more than just slowing the car down.
“It would cause lift at the front end, which gave the steering a light sensation, and that wasn’t good.”
That’s one of those things you don’t really get from looking at a wing in a parking lot.
At higher speed, aero balance affects the entire car.
Adding a heap of load or drag at the rear can change what the front of the car is doing too.
With the new 1800, that feeling changed.
“The 1800 completely removes that drag, but it still holds up in the corners and increases apex grip.”
That is pretty much exactly what we wanted from the new design.
Less unnecessary drag on the straights without giving away the rear confidence you actually want when the car is loaded through a corner.
Balancing the Car
Chris’s S14 is also a good example of why aero needs to work with the whole car rather than just adding the biggest wing possible.
“There’s basically nothing in the rear of my car — it’s all fiberglass — so the front is naturally a lot heavier with the iron-block RB. The wing compensates for that.”
That front-heavy weight distribution makes rear aero particularly useful on his setup.
The goal isn’t just to create downforce for the sake of saying it makes downforce.
It’s about helping the chassis work better as a complete package.
The Little Datsun
After years of building, changing and learning the car, Chris says one of his favorite things about it is simply how familiar it has become.
“I love how easy it is to work on and how well I know the chassis.”
And despite being an old Nissan with an RB stuffed in the front of it, the car tends to surprise people.
“The car grips and shocks everyone that comes for a ride along. The little Datsun holds its own against GT3 Porsches and C8 Corvettes.”
That might be our favorite description of the car.
It still has all the character of an S-chassis, but underneath it is a car that has been developed over years of actually driving it.
Built to Be Used
This is exactly the kind of car we wanted the new Circuit Wing to end up on.
Not something built around a spec sheet.
Not something that gets bolted together and never pushed hard enough to find out what works.
Chris has driven this car enough to know what it does well, what it doesn’t and what changes actually make a difference.
Going from the 1850 to the new DF1800 gave us a direct comparison on the same chassis, and the feedback matched what we were aiming for when we developed the new wing:
less drag, better balance and usable rear grip without upsetting the rest of the car.
And judging by the cars Chris is chasing down with the little Datsun, it seems to be working.
Follow Chris and the continued development of the S14.9 at @clarks_auto.