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Monday, 07 July 2008

Slip Sliding Away

Round 5 of the Classic Car racing was held on the 5th July in AGAIN miserable wet and cold conditions, not something I particularly aspire towards nor enjoy. Race officials have it on record as one of the worst race seasons in years and cannot recall such ongoing adverse weather conditions. As I stated early in the year (see February blog if you don't believe me) I would have to adapt to the conditions as 'mother nature' sure as hell 'aint gonna' change for me. My weather information early in the week indicated severe weather conditions forecasted for the race weekend and I made the decision to buy a set of 'wets' to tackle this situation head on.

Earlier in the month Martin ordered the required parts to fix the Datti's front suspension which had caused me to somewhat loose out on the previous race event. That now being all repaired, wheel alignment done and a thorough check of all the under carriage works and all was ready for race day. We replaced the set of slicks with a set of proper wets and were as prepared as could be. Lo and behold came Friday and the rain poured as predicted. I eventually got down to the track at about 13h00, did my usual pre-practice routine checks and was ready for a soaking track. Believe it or not by 13h30 the rain had subsided and the track had somewhat started drying. I eventually took to the track on schedule at 14h00 and only managed 2 laps before I pulled in as the track was simply not wet enough for wet tyres and I sure as hell wasn't going to destroy them by trying to be heroic.

Sadly the rest of Friday was a total waste and I never got any further practice time as the rain simply held off. I settled for Saturday's qualifying without much wet weather practice under the belt and hoped for the best. As luck would have it Martin and I rose extra early on Saturday morning as qualifying was scheduled for 07h45 (even although statistics showed that sunrise was only at 07h51) all while the rain gently fell and ensured that wet weather was here for the day. Having fueled the Datsun the previous night already I began by warming the engine and ensured a repellant windscreen was ready for the rain conditions. I strapped in, pulled onto the pit apron and awaited the go ahead from the pit marshals to enter the track along with everyone else patiently waiting as well. 5 Minutes before the scheduled qualifying time the C.O.C called it off due to poor light and bad track conditions. Man I was peeved off. This was now the fifth time without setting a qualifying time. Back to the garage we all went and awaited further instructions which again turned out to be a draw from the 'Hat'. This time round though it worked in my favour and I was drawn for pole position in class D. Not that it meant much in the rain!!!

Not much else of interest really happened throughout the day save to say race 1 was held in very wet conditions causing many drivers to spin and some even digging in on the infields never to get out again. (See recent photos) I played it relatively calm and settled for a comfortable second place behind 'old dog' Nick van Rensburg who has many years of oval track and wet weather racing under his belt. Nick incidentally started last in class D and ran away from the rest of us in conditions which he loves.

Race 2 was in even worse conditions as it rained quite heavily and made it super slippery out there with poor visibility. Again I settled for a comfortable second place again behind Nick who made it 2 wins for the day. I must say however that the wets played a major role in my personal above average results as 'intermediates' just don't work for me in these conditions. So much so that Nick and I even lapped some drivers twice in 8 laps!! Money well spent I'd say.

Again I must give credit where credit is due and thanks again to Martin (Martin incidentally sat out of classics with the intention of competing in the 2Hr endurance race) who made sure that every nut and bolt was tight and ensured it never missed a beat once. I only ever recall genuine Swiss watches to be so reliable and accurate. Must be something the Japanese never told us about. Keep 'watching' (pardon the pun) this space as the season heads towards year end with about 3 race meetings (September, October & December) to go. This 1400 Datsun GX still has a thing to prove yet!!

Next race is only in September. Till then!

Thanks 'Boet'