Kyalami Spring Races 26/09/09

Kyalami Race Report 26th September 2009

Friday Practice

After Running some Friday morning errands shaun from 959 and myself headed for one of if not the most technical circuits south Africa has to offer , Kyalami With his new Mazda BT50 we were bound Midrand and my does it tow like a dream On arrival we met up with rob and mic and had a whole pit to ourselves , rob however was not having a good day and was trying to find the mysterious problem with his car I did a quick check on on the car and headed out for my shakedown session, with no timekeepers at the track , we did not have any idea of times , but the car felt well hooked up and not wanting to put too much strain on it we packed it up and cracked a beer, Rob finally found his gremlin in the form of a chaffed wire running through his firewall and the PEX Golf 2 was soon up and running again

Saturday Qualifying

Our modified production car race had been combined with the silvercup races so I had entered myself into both race series’ figuring it a good idea to get two results out of one race , however there where 49 cars of various shapes and forms in the race,I knew it was important to get out in front early as to avoid traffic , lined second to go out in the pit lane I was then re directed to pre race paddock where I was greeted by at least 30 cars lined up before me, the silvercups had been pitting on the pit roof and I had no clue they had lined up already, with an abundance of slower cars ahead I got the car warm and pushed my way through the traffic , on my hot lap and heading for sunset corner I was fast approaching ian smith in his red scirroco when the marshals had there yellow flags out for a spinning car ahead,under yellows naturally no passing is allowed, I was stranded behind ian and I had to wait for the following lap to get a decent time in .the car had become very loose while completing that lap and headed for turn two on my next lap I had it completely sideways by turn 4 the red flag was out , a Nissan skyline had blown his oil cooler and coated the track with oil, ending the session prematurely I had ended qualifying 8th in silver cup but more importantly 1st in modifieds , with my old nemesis and championship rival Andy Gossman right behind me on the grid

Race 1

13th on the overall grid, I again had a lightning start and passed silvercup racers Kevin Paytner and Rory Eland into turn one/two and had a fast charging Andy Gossman behind me, andy and I tussled through sunset,clubhouse and into the esses , I held him at bay for the first two laps but he eventually had better drive out of clubhouse on the 2nd lap and slid up the inside going into the esses, I stuck onto his tail but on entering the terrifying turn two went a bit wide and andy pulled a slight gap, we had caught up to the turbo alfa and andy was having a battle royal with the alfa, through the esses I was pasted to Andy’s bumper when his car gave a slight hiccup, I thought he must have slipped gear and couldn’t believe my luck, but afterwards found out he had broker a crank and had to retire, I backed off slightly on the final two laps as my nearest competition was out of sight, final lap and into the bowl after the mineshaft, hard on the gas and my faithful golf gave a massive misfire, but was still going , through the second last corner she completely died, I couldn’t believe my luck, but free wheeled the car thought the final turn and had just crossed over the line before it came to a stop, unfortunately Mark Du toit had just caught me on the line and finished one second ahead of me,the issue also demoted me from 7th overall to 13th I had placed 2nd in Modifieds class B and 4th in Silvercup class B

After the race we Frantically tried to find the issue, I had Craig from precision performance helping me change the throttle body, ignition module, coil and checking fuel pressure, my arch rival andy kindly donated the parts from his stricken car to help get me up and running again but to no avail, Sarel from 8 V performance and Craig Marais then stepped in and re thought the problem, they hooked up the laptop to the engine management and found there was no signal coming from the throttle body, we had already tried three different throttle bodies , so put the fault down to wiring, soon they found a wire from the throttle looking a bit suspect but still connected ,Sarel was off to hi jack a throttle plug from Legend motorsport, while Craig stripped the wires and I sourced a soldering iron, in no time the plug was on and the dodgy plug was indeed the problem,

Race Two I had Lined up near the front of the que and ready to go out, swinging the car from side to side to get as much heat in the tyres ,up the mine shaft my throttle went flat, the accelerator cable had worked itself loose , i quickly parked the car and dashed to the front end of the car, bonnet off and with the car still running opened the throttle and reconnected the cable, with the engine screaming on rev limit I gave the plastic section a quick squeeze popped the bonnet on and hoped for the best, the whole grid had passed me and getting to the start line as quickly as possible was priority, I re strapped myself while going up the mineshaft , tried to get my gloves back on down the mineshaft and crammed the safety net which was flapping out the window into a ball while going through the bowl corner.on arrival at the grid the cars right at the back where just taking there positions and I was allowed to rejoin my position further up the grid Off the line I had a reasonable start, but with my tyres not being as warm as id liked I took an easy approach to the first corner, I had a gaggle of modified prod cars behind me, Jurgen was close to my tail but through Nashua 2 he lost it and backed up all the cars behind him, I snapped changed my way through the  few laps as not to come on and off the throttle in case the accelerator cable came loose again. On lap three I had massive brake fade heading into the ultra fast turn two and nearly ran off the track, with enough of a lead in the modified class I nursed the car home pumping the brake pedal for some stopping power on every corner , I finished 10 seconds ahead of Andy who was in his sons car and 1st in class B Modified production cars,giving me the overall class B win, to my surprise I had also finished 3rd in silver cup which I later found out at prize giving had given me a third in silvercup overall for the day

A huge thanks must go out to -

-Andy Gossman for the use of his broken car as spare parts to get mine running again,

-Matt Taylor for the throttle body

The camaraderie in motorsport definitely is something special

Dave and Wade from Firequip , for helping me get myself and the car to where it is today, and your endless support

Sarel from 8 Valve Performance and Craig Marais – with out your help I wouldn’t have started the second heat-

Craig From Precision Performance – for helping me brainstorm the issue and being a great help at the track

Stace for probably screaming the accelerator cable back on when I didn’t come around with the grid and as always being my number one supporter

Shaun and tam from 959- My bodywork specialists, transporters and supporters

Wayne from Gemini auto sport, for technical and moral support

Everyone who came to support me at kyalami Dirk and Allison from Firequip Mike, Michelle and Ethan Rob I am (the steaks where wicked!)

Advertisement