It did not come easy, but then victory without a battle is seldom sweet.
Friday's practice on 2nd November at 11h45 produced enough work and effort alone. Early indications were that the head gasket was faulty and the decision to replace was made. After having done the replacement, enough water to float the Titanic was used to merely fill the radiator hoses. Something was wrong. A check into the car indicated that the dry-sump tank had already overflowed with all the water having been put in, further indicating catastrophic block failure. Martin was disheartened, disappointed and felt he'd been through enough already this season with motor rebuilds, engine failures etc. and declared unreservedly 'that's it, I'm done for the season'. Like 'bloody hell' I stated. Always remember this I said, 'quitters never win and winners never quit'. It seemed to have struck a cord somehow!
We towed the car back to his workshop, removed the motor, stripped all the external parts we needed, removed the faulty head from the previous run motor, replaced the head gasket on that motor first, put it all together again, transferred all the race parts across to the spare motor, tightened everything up, dropped the spare motor in, fired the 'mother' up, cleaned up all the oil mess and we were back at the track by 19h00 ready for race day. A well deserved 'braai' and a few 'milos' were enjoyed by a handful of racing regulars.
Qualifying was done on Saturday morning in the wet and Martin managed to qualify ahead of his closest contender Charles Arton in the BMW 530M and put up the fastest time in class A, effectively giving another point ahead of Charles making it 5 points clear.
Race 1 was on a dry track and the Datsun held out for second place ahead of Charles who finished third (0.2 secs) behind Martin. That's another point, making it 6 points clear of Charles. Effectively Charles could no longer win but could still tie for 1st place providing he won the second heat.
Race two and the Datsun SSS gave it's all this time finishing in 4th place while Charles managed to finish second but not enough to hand Martin the class A winner for the season. This if my memory serves me correctly is the first time ever that a 4-cylinder wins overall in class A. History I believe has been made.
You deserve every accolade bestowed upon you my 'Boet'. Well done on a thoroughly deserved class win. More importantly, your true 'spirit of classics' has been achieved through shear persistency and determination.
Congrats My Champ.
Well done Martin. To win Class A with the smallest piston engined car in the class is a true achievement. This makes all the breakages and cracked blocks worthwhile. You are an example to all the other fat cat chequebook racers. You built it, drive it, break it, fix it and won the championship all by yourself.
ReplyDeleteHope you are there again next year to entertain us. Henry
If it was not for Martin and the widest Datsun in the business, the 2007 would have been dead boring for me. As it was 2007 turned out to be the best fun I've had in Classic Racing - fighting with Martin all season has been hard fought, challenging, fun and fair. Martin and his freind Trevor are to me the true heart of genuine decent Classic Racers - well done Martin on the most deserved win over " all those other fat cat chequebook racers " - may those bastards learn from your example! I hope you'll be there in 2008 and Classic Racing continue to grow and prosper. Charles Arton (BMW 530mle)
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