As we've grown accustomed to there was again no qualifying for the 'classic car' guys and a draw was again done by drawing from a hat. Here I was less fortunate in that out of ten class D entrants I was drawn 10th putting me right at the back of my class. I took it on the chin determined as ever to fight my way honestly and defiantly to the front. Racing was off at 09h55 and was done as per usual by a rolling start. Already 2 places were not filled giving me a slight upper hand and as the lights went out the Datti was on full song. By the exit of turn 1 I had moved into third position taking Billy Matthee in second place going into turn 3. By now Jaco Lambert in his rejuvenated MK1 1760cc Escort was still in 1st place after starting in pole for class D. No matter how hard I tried there was simply no way I could close the gap posting a best time of only 1:34:3. Simply too good on the day. However Mike Napoli had other ideas with my Datti and hounded me for a solid two laps. I managed to sell a dummy on lap 5 going into turn 2 causing Mike to lock up and spin onto the outside of T2. The pressure was at least off for now allowing me to finish in second place 1.7 seconds ahead of Billy at the finish.
The second heat was no different even although I now had 2nd place on the grid next to Jaco which was a reduced race to being 6 laps only. At the start I was right up there but again Jaco was just too strong. This time Billy was determined not to let me go and run away ahead of him. I managed to hold him at bay for most of the race even although I seemed to be getting slower and slower as the
race progressed. Jaco knew he had the upper hand and actually ran almost 2 seconds slower in the second heat making it more spectator friendly. Eventually by lap 4, myself in the Datti, Billy Matthee, Dave Alhadeff, Johan Swart and Jaco Lambert were all grouped together running side by side through turn 4. Again the bigger boys in their 2.0 litres opened a gap down the back straight with Billy almost inside my boot. I managed to hold him off until the last and final lap when coming into T5 Billy chose the inside line and slightly out braked me allowing him to have the inside coming out of T5. A charge for the finish line saw Billy beat me by 0.07 seconds for a deserved and well earned 2nd place. I finished in 3rd place but due to the time difference over both heats I secured 2nd overall for the day. Great driving and close racing was thoroughly enjoyed and rates as one of my best races to date.No doubt the Datti will need a bit of TLC in the engine compartment before the next race to get just a few more ponies out and keep the vultures at bay.
The Datsun SSS was a little less lucky as she had huge competition to deal with in the likes of Granada Parana V8's, Chev Can Am V8's, Capri V6's not forgetting the very quick Mazda rotary and also the very quick VW Scirroco of Jannie Matthysen. All said and done he finished a respectable 6th. However all weekend from the Friday he battled with performance and no matter what, could not get below a 1:27. Although all the times appeared to be approximately 1 second off pace this is simply not good enough for Martin. He wilol no doubt be making changes to improve those times. An oil leak (drop) from the gearbox resulted in that he withdrew from the second race (highly peeved off) and spent the rest of the day as spectator in turn 3.
All in all it was a brilliant day at the races having also met some of the great forum members on the Thursday night, as well as on and during race day.
Once again I pay my loyal respects to my boet for preparing an 'as always no matter what' competitive little Datti 1400 GX Coupe.
Thanks 'Champ'
