MPC Season Opener – Zwartkops 27/02/10

Race Report

For the new season we did a series of upgrades and tweaks to really stamp our authority on the upcoming season, having picked up an additional sponsor in the form of studio 55 I was underway to get the car that little bit quicker

The Battle scars from last years tussles where also sorted out by 959 panel beaters and spray painters

We started with an Individual throttle conversion which was undertaken by Sarel at 8 Valve performance, with a few space issues here and there we finally got the upgrade done and the car had a newfound bark to match its bite

With only a few days left to the season opener it was a mad rush to get the car tuned and new signage applied

Bern and Ross from RBTS kindly squeezed me in on the Thursday before the race and tuned the car

Next was Signage, originally I had been let down by the signage company with them blabbering excuses about there computers having crashed, but with some course conversation they agreed to squeeze me in late Thursday and we completed the signage just in time

In fear of heavy rain on Saturday I decided to get some brand spanking new tyres with lots of tread to fit for the Saturday.

Rob, Elton and myself then headed for the temporary bunker headquarters in the form of my workshop to do a few odds and ends , 23h00 and loaded up I was ready for the weekend ahead

Friday morning I landed my rig at the Zwartkops raceway and by 8h00 had battled the very anal scruteneers and documentation was done, the time to see if all the upgrades had made a difference had arrived

First Session out and with the roar emanating from the throttles. the car felt exceptional, and like it was on rails around the corners , so happy with the car I pulled it in , checked for any small faults, with Sarel from 8 valve performance at the track he had installed a fuel pressure regulator to make doubly sure the motor was getting all the go go juice it needed. One last final burn to check everything was ok , unfortunately I had a minor accelerator cable failure , but other than that the car was on song , Sarel quickly remedied the problem back in the pits

During the break I checked the wheel alignment along with Wayne from fast by Wayne, all seemed good

Second session out and the car was faultless! I decided to pull it in, park it and prep for Saturdays race

Saturday morning and equipped with my new tyres it was off to the track, I quickly fitted the tyres and was ready for the qualifying session, I positioned myself right in front of the queue as not to be bothered by slower traffic and put in 7 blistering laps without any fail,

I Qualified First in Class, ahead of my newfound rival Adrian Dalton and Jurgen Pillhoffer, mere tenths of a second ahead of them and was third on the overall grid with two class A cars ahead of me

with the new tyres being new however the rear of the car was a little too grippy for the cars ideal setup, with no signs of rain I had wondered if going for the newer tyres had been such a good idea after all, I tweaked the suspension setup a little to encourage the rear of the car to break loose and was ready for the first race!

Race One!

With the starts being changed from standing starts to a rolling start we exited the Pre Race Paddock, staying close behind the pole sitter Sean Laverick and keeping heat in the tyres the safety car was in and we where headed for the lights as the lights dimmed I slammed the throttles and was connected to the back of the pole sitting class A car, as I pitched the car into the first turn —– BAM!!!! —- the right side of the car had collapsed and sent me hurling for the sand trap and ever nearing tyre barrier, with little to no steering I guided the car away from the barrier and stopped approximately a meter from the tyre wall , with a rush of emotion I exited the car and quickly hopped behind the tyre wall, from there spectating was to be my only participation in the race, to make matters worse , directly in front of the Firequip gazebo
At the end of the race the marshals and I loaded the car onto a lowbed and were bound for the pits to investigate the problem, I snapped hub carrier was the culprit. This being a custom part to accommodate the bigger brakes spelt doom for the rest of the weekend, after much brainstorming between myself and Dave from Firequip we decided there was nothing we could do to fix the problem as a new part would have to be engineered

Overall a very disappointing weekend and I can only look forward to the next race, Where losing will not be an option

The next Race will be on the 24th of April at the Kyalami Grand Prix circuit, Please come and support , we will also have a firequip Gazebo up with a few drinks and boerie roll available

A Huge Thanks must go out to the following supporters

Dave ,Allison , Dirk and Wade from Firequip for the support on and off the track www.firequip.co.za
My parents and Studio 55 for fully supporting my ventures of driving around in circles as fast as I can
Stacey for pouring her heart into my passion , and putting together with Allison an excellent courtesy gazebo
Sarel From 8 Valve performance for the excellent motor and trackside support sarel@8vperformance.co.za
Wayne from fast by wayne for the trackside assistance
Ross and Bern from RBTS Racing for the tuning on such short notice www.rbtsracing.co.za
Billy from Bunker Racing  www.bunker.co.za

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