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Monday, 26 December 2011

Ho Ho Ho

Tis that time of the season and some much needed time we can now dedicate to our families and loved ones.  Unfortunately those loved ones also include our race cars for they shall not be neglected, ever.  As December slowly comes to an end and businesses and people start their holiday journeys, some still prefer to keep the nose to the grinding wheel until the very last minute in preparation for the 2012 season soon to dawn upon us.

I was down recently for the annual prize giving and while there I spent some time doing work on my Datti which is awkward and impractical to do during the season, or so I believe anyway.  As such I stripped some cracking interior floor paint work, cleaned up the floor surfaces, primed them, resprayed them, and made it all look pretty again for the new season.  While there I also redid the under carriage, the rear axle, the leaf springs, the brake backing plates etc.   I also removed the grill, patched it up as best as possible, masked it up and resprayed that making it look all new again.  The boot area was stripped as best as I could without removing the fuel tank and the entire interior of the boot was resprayed and neatened up.  Finally a new set of slicks and rims were fitted to don the new season with.  Admittedly its all mostly cosmetic stuff but all adds up at the end of the day and after all that is what part of the whole historic scene is about - the devotion to our cars.

Of course while that was being done, elsewhere more serious attempts were in progress on the much loved old BRE Datsun SSS a once time class A contender in 4-door trim.  Well after much  research having been done during the season and the eventual acquiring of decent photographs of the original 1970 BRE Datsun the decision was made to build a replica.  Yip, a replica which meant that the 4-door would have to be converted to a proper 2-door of which they were only ever originally found in the USA during the early 1970's.  (The 2-door body is completely different to the 2-door Coupe body.)  An entire rusted coupe body was eventually found of which only the center door posts and doors themselves were removed and kept. (The 2-door doors are longer than the 4-door front doors.)

The original BRE John Morton Datsun (Click on picture for full resolution.)

Almost a month of solid day and late night work eventually saw the transformation of the old 4-door now standing in 2-door rivalry.  A full exterior respray was done in the original BRE colours and the entire interior was also later taken from previously being all white to complete black.  As per the original 72 BRE Datsun so too does this one now sport widened front and rear fenders.  Not to neglect the under bonnet area the motor was removed whereupon the full area was resprayed to match the interior of the car.  While out, the motor received some TLC after the last damages incurred after its last outing being the All Tar rally we did in September.  That now completed the engine was once again fitted into its new freshly resprayed compartment tucked away all neat and tidy.  Although the original BRE set of rims was not obtainable, it now sports a set of 13" Minilites instead of the 15" it previously sported when in 4-door livery which further meant a change in diff and gearbox ratios just out of interest.  The replica BRE was soon afterward fully sign written with new decals and is now virtually ready to race.

In the last remaining working days of December the 140Z was also recovered from the pit garage at the track and brought back to the workshop as it too needed some work done.  A dry sump gasket was replaced among one or two other serviceable items to ensure safety and compliance.  It will now probably have the engine removed and opened up and where necessary refreshed for the February event.  Unfortunately time is catching up and soon the workshop will be closed until the new year whereupon the final race prep will be done.   In the meantime we also still patiently wait for some specialized parts to be made and finished up in JHB for the Datti and hopefully we will receive such in early January in anticipation for the new 2012 championship season ahead.

This is in dedication to a man hell bent on racing and always ensuring that tomorrow can't wait.  There's never any time like now and just when the opposition thought they knew your game plan he was yet again one step ahead. Thanks as always 'boet' for the hard work and dedication made throughout this season and the much already completed work for the new season.  It's now time we open our presents from our selves to our selves and hopefully get a little ho ho ho on the side as well.

Merry Xmas 'Boet'

Thursday, 17 November 2011

One, two is good enough.....for now!!

What a season, what a year, what can I say.

Well for a start, I thoroughly enjoyed ever bit of this past seasons racing never once having any regrets or maybe we should have done something differently or maybe we could have tried something differently.  Nope, none of that.  What we set out to do we did and what we wanted to achieve we achieved.  Better than that in this day and age is asking a bit too much.

The 140Z has now been around since June 2009 and has made many sit up and take note but more importantly I believe it has provided excitement, pit banter, amazement and has given something to the spectators to keep asking wanting to come back and see more.  The amount of spectators, visitors and past racing drivers that still think it sports a 16V turbo  inter-cooled power plant are absolutely gob smacked when upon opening the bonnet it reveals a 8V normally aspirated L series Datsun motor.  Not much has changed since then and still at the end of the racing season in November of 2011, they still pop their heads in and ask, 'what motors' it got?'  Towards middle of 2011 along came competition, serious competition in the form of a big 6.8 litre V8 in the disguise of a Chevrolet De Ville.  Behind the wheel was a very competent ex drifting champion and once oval tracker who had one ambition and that was to beat the 4 cylinder Datsun.  It was no competition initially and admittedly such due to it simply destroying a set of tyres on every race.  Eventually a set of slightly worn slicks were donated and that made a difference.  In October of this year it got it's first win over the 140Z while in the last and final race meeting of 2011 it won both heats but not without a fight to the last meter.  Yes the gearbox has had enough with damaged synchro's and badly worn selector gates, a motor that has up till now never been opened or refreshed so a narrow loss to a behemoth is acceptable given the circumstances.  The engine, gearbox and axillary bits of the drive-train will all in due course receive a refreshing but for now it needs some rest before a new and fresh attempt will be made.  For the 2012 season another Datsun is in the 'extreme make-over' department and all willing should strut its stuff by February 2012.  Watch this space.

The other little Datsun GX also delivered above expectation all things considered.  This season was in many ways an experimental season which afforded us to to try different things, combinations and engine modifications.  The results sometimes were mind boggling while at other times it gave us just what we wanted along with a great dose of further encouragement.  For the 2011 season the Datti spent its entire season in class B sneaking in a few wins here and there just to keep things interesting.  Admittedly it's competing with far bigger engined race cars but that's not the point, we managed to keep up with them and in particular the last two race meeting were absolutely brilliant, so close and I could not ask for better.  We will now take this much needed and afforded time and package together many of the things were learned and experimented with and will come back even more determined to improve our performances.

What is so often ignored and forgotten about are our immediate families who often make big sacrifices so that we can do what we love doing best, race.  A lot of time is spent away from the office and at home and when we do finally get home after racing we're bushed, tired and need let the adrenalin settle down.  To them we say a huge thank you for being a part of us even although they are not always there in person.

Finally and as always I cannot thank my 'boet' enough for the dedication. the long hours of work, effort and time that he puts into my race car throughout the entire season, for every race meeting and for each and every race itself.  If it was not for him, we would probably have a class F car filling up at the back. 

Thanks 'Boet'

Wednesday, 26 October 2011

A 'Titanic' battle.

After nearly 2 month since our last race the classic boys were rearing to go.  A healthy field of entries were received and made it one of the biggest for the season.  Meanwhile behind the scenes changes were in place since the East London away trip.  Due to the length of the St Georges circuit, we had to use a five speed gearbox for the long straight of almost 1.8Km.  This was something I had never tried before in the Datti.  It seemed to work well and above all it allowed  us to experiment with the rev range.  The decision was made to implement the use thereof for Killarney which meant that we had to also change our diff ratio.  In addition to all these changes, the motor used in East London was taken out and the spare motor with near standard head was replaced for the remainder of this season, all going well.  The 140Z seemed to take a bit of a back seat during most if this time but it was soon evident that the camshaft was being chewed up and on its way out.  There was no time to import new and so the basics of repair and damage control had to be implemented for the October race.

The Friday afforded me some testing with the new gearbox and ratio which was near perfect except for the exit of turn 1 (Hoals) which was a little short.  A change of MSD chip sorted that out and our best time achieved for the day was a 1:29.56 on old tyres.  As the season was nearing its end, I was not going to splash out on new 'boots' and had to make do with what we had to our disposal.  The 140Z after some fine tuning took to the track and although the valve train was a tad noisy it too posted a respectable 1:22.9 during its test session as was deemed fighting fit.

Saturday we had a late qualifying time slot but we still got to the track around 07h45 and performed our usual pre-qualifying ritual.  The weather conditions were cool and overcast and were good for racing.  We took to the track at 09h30 for our qualifying stint in which come hell or high water the little Datti could not post better than 1:30.1 but was good enough for 2nd place in class B next to Dave Alhadeff who took pole for class B.  The 140Z was heard to be under severe pressure from fellow competitor Zack Groenewald who was adamant to beat the Red Devil.   The 140Z managed to post 1:22.8 while 'Titanic' posted a PB of 1:22.6 and thereby taking pole for the race and class S.  A change or 2 was made to the 140Z in compensation for the race ahead but the heavy weight Chev was always going to play a role in the outcome.

Race 1 was off at 12h30 and at lights out the Datti held onto the back bumper of the Opel Kadette of Williams going into turn 1.  Alhadeff was to my outside and I managed to catch and hold him still on the outside of turn 2 but had to back out for tar territory through the kink.  Some of the faster cars that qualified from behind had started coming through from further back and eventually it was just myself and Dave left to do battle.  It took me about 3 laps to reel him in and from there on it was a close encounter for the remainder of the race.  The Datti managed to slip through on the inside of turn 3 on lap 6 and I held the GT Junior off until turn 1 again when the GT Junior once again got through the inside of T1.  The 140Z on the other hand was wide awake and all to cognisant of the fact that the Chev meant to do business but by the exist of turn 1 from the start the 140Z took the lead with the 'Titanic' filling up the review mirror for most of the race.  The constant hard driving soon showed in the tyres going off on the big V8 but Groenewald was determined as ever.  No matter how hard he tried he could not catch that Red Devil and finished 3.89 seconds behind the 140Z at the finish.  It was no easy task and both were drenched after reaching parce ferme.

Race 2 was almost a scare in that we were already strapped in and suited up when 'Mr Weatherman' decided to release a few drops of rain which had some including myself wondering if this was worth going out on slick tyres.  Thank heavens the delay in getting underway soon resulted in the rain holding up and by the time we were waved out onto the track had hardly been wetted, thankfully.  I had psyched myself up for this one as who ever lead at the finish was bound to take overall for the day as the 0.14 split in race 1 was too close to defend.  Again at lights out I gave the Datti some serious 'welly' and tried out gunning the GT Junior from the start.  We were once again side by side, into turn 2 but by the exit I had found my way past and was hell bent on not relinquishing my slender lead this time. Through turn 3 and 4 I peddled as fast as I could knowing full well that if the bigger engine GT Junior got a whiff of my tail it would be game over.  Almost out-braking myself at times going into turn 5 I held the Alfa at bay and pulled a good gap before hitting turn 1 again where the GT Junior made up considerable ground.  This went on relentlessly with the Datti slowly opening up a gap which was 2 seconds dead at the finish.  Revenge was sweet and we live to fight another day.  The 140Z had nothing more to offer on the day in the tune-up department and at lights out the behemoth nailed it into turn 1 and lead the 140Z.  This was now serious 'game on'.  The Chev was at times at very acute angles to the road ahead but a determined Groenewald was not going to give this one away for all the tea in China.  The 140Z was at times pushing the Titanic through turn 4 and at one stage had 2 wheel on the dirt.  Some that were watching from the clubhouse swore it was all over as the 2 could not have made it safely through.  But they did just that.  Down the long back straight the V8 showed a clean pair of heel to the 140Z but at anchor time it was 'no you won't' time yet again.  This went on for the entire full 8 laps and at the final flag the 140Z trailed the 'Titanic' by a mere 1.77 seconds giving the race win to Titanic and handing the 140Z an overall win for the day.  Prize giving showed what a classic gentleman was made of when my 'boet' went up to collect his 1st prize trophy and said a few words.  Then he called up Zack Groenewald and said that that was a brilliant race and he deserved the 1st place trophy as well as his 2nd place accolade he was bestowed on the day.  Fantastic and a brilliant show of true sportsmanship.

We were both over the moon with our Datsuns performances and can't wait for the final show down which takes place on the 12th November.

Thanks once as always boet for putting in such late and extra hard work on gettting the Datsuns to perform well on the day.

Thanks 'Boet'

Sunday, 02 October 2011

Potter Balls

Rather late than never but I forgot entirely about this blog due to all the excitement we had at East London.

This trip was planned close on to 9 or 10 months ago and it all finally came to a head on 27th August  2011 at the Prince Georges Circuit in East London, better know as East London GP track. Both our cars required that our ratios be changed as all calculations showed that we would both run out of revs half way between Potters and Rifle bend.  The little Datti had a no options available in the differential department and our quick fix was to simply replace the 4-speed box with a 5-speed box while the already 5-speed 140Z needed diff ratios.  After much looking around I managed to source a rather scarce 37:1 crown-wheel and pinion in JHB which I sent down to Cape Town and which was subsequently fitted.  Everything else had been thoroughly checked and both Datsuns were finally ready for EL.  The Datti was sent up by transporter along with 9 other cars while the 140Z was towed up on trailer in convoy with fellow racers and petrol heads. 

Everyone including the cars arrived on the Thursday and the off loading of cars and the unpacking of race equipment, tyres, fuel and spares began. In between we managed to force down a few hydraulic sandwiches all while the sun had started to set.  The smell of fresh sea air coupled with the smells of race cars just does that something to every race junkie.  We finally locked up at the track and went to our 'rondavels' approximately 3km away from the track.  Before long the fire was going, the jungle juice was flowing and the stories started coming out with plenty of laughter added.  In between we managed to tan some meat and at least filled a gap.  By 22h00 quite a few heads and eyelids were already getting heavy as most had traveled from around 03h00 to get to East London by 15h00 in order to still off load.  By 11h00 we were horizontal and couldn't wait for the next morning as neither of us had ever been to or driven the EL once famous grand prix circuit.

Friday morning arrived with a cold and chilly wind with even rain predicted by late afternoon.  We received our race schedule, completed the necessary documentation and had our cars scrutineered.  Soon afterward we were told that the first practice session scheduled for 09h00 was canceled due to track repairs that needed to be completed.  So we stood around, found some coffee and a toasted sarmie and paced around ever so eager to get onto the track.

At around 10h20 we finally got our chance and the 2 Datsuns set off heading for Potters at crawling pace as we warmed our tyres and brakes.  It first seemed to carry on forever finally straightening out on a slight downhill towards Rifle bend which was not as long as envisaged but then got slightly steeper doiwnhill towards the sharp right hand Cocabana corner.  By now we took the revs up a bit higher on a very slight uphill ans heading for the Esses,then Cox corner leading onto the up hill Back straight until we approached the very sharp and off camber Beacon corner which brought us back onto the main straight.  Peddle to the metal and balls to the wall, this is what we waited for.  Approximately 300m before Potters I hooked 5th gear for the very first time in the Datti and what a sweet sound it makes dropping just on 500RPM but by 100 meters the left foot said its time to break, you're going far to fast. So I dabbed the peddle and slowly floored it once again.  Who ever said you can take Potters flat out.  They're mad.  Coming out of Potters man I felt like I was flying, the 140Z already off my radar detector and I was now heading for Rifle.  Again a slight lift but no brakes ere necessary although it's still a little uncomfortable.  Now we're downhill with Cocabana approaching at a rapid rate of knots.  Out of Cocabana and now we're off at 8000Rpm up towards the Esses again braking hard just 50m before a sudden right, then a sweeping left and then a gentle right, short shift to 4th gear pulling 6500RPM up now towards the dreaded Beacon.  At around the 70m mark it was hard onto the brakes only to find I braked too early but at least Beacon was now safely out of the way.  Man this was an absolute blast.  Another lap and it was getting faster on every lap, or so it felt.  The 140Z was completely outta sight blitzing the East London tarmac.  On my 5th lap coming out of the Back straight and heading up towards Beacon I was bumped and put onto the outside muddied field, holding it in a long slide and praying that the wheels don't dig in else it would be a certain roll over.  I came to a halt only meters away from the marshals post and slowly crawled my way back to the pit.  On arrival I was the only one back while the 140Z was still out there showing Potters who's boss.  With only a totally destroyed left rear rim and some minor body damage I was happy to replace the set of tyres with a full spare set and was ready to go out again. By this time the 140Z had pulled into pit and we exchanged our experiences, race lines and brake markers.  I had in the interim manged to get down to a 1:46 and off target while the 140Z was already down to a 1:37 and well within target range.

We refueled our cars, re-inflated the tyres and allowed the cars to cool down before we again took to the track.  I had noticed the Datti breathing rather excessively during my first outing and was only concerned that the engine might not last for the entire weekend.  We decided to just add some Wynns Charge as a safety precaution and that was that for now.  On our next session was after lunch and with slightly warmer conditions we again took to the track.  This time I was given some advice as to how I should approach Potters.  The only concern was that the advice was coming from someone who was on 10" rubber while I was on old 7" rubber and the footprint was a completely different ball game.  But I heeded the advice a was adamant to put it to the test.  This time I was however more concerned with getting Cocabana, the Esses  and Beacon spot on as this is the only place where the smaller car could make up any lost ground.  The straights were simply too long, but oh so much fun.  Upon our second return to the pits we were both relatively happy with our sessions although the Datti's engine was breathing like a well stoked steam train but we would now have to wait for qualifying which was to be done from 15h00 onwards.  Again we filled our fuel tanks, re-inflated our tyres and did the all round check.

We got our eventually got our chance at around 15h20 to do our qualifying times and we both took to the track almost at the same time.  The 140Z did not hold back and was gone in seconds.  The Datti on the other hand likes to be warmed up a tad before stomping the loud peddle however the biggest concern was the breathing which I was trying to nurture.  The 140Z was attacking every corner with aggression and took every bit of advantage of the long 1.8Km straight before bellowing down upon Cocabana corner.  It was smooth yet almost at its limits through the Esses, through Cox's corner, short changing up towards Beacon before hard on the brakes to once again head down on the straight.  The 140Z finally posted a 1:35.782 and was placed 2nd on the grid just 3 hundredths short of pole man in the Mazda Rotary.  Meanwhile the Datti managed to post a 1:47.686 placing me 24th on the grid.  I duly pulled in and called it a day.  We made the decision to change the MSD settings and chose to play it safe rather than sorry.  Some further adjustment were made with timing in this regard as well.

Saturday morning up bright and early we prepped both cars as per usual and awaited our final moment of truth.  At around 11h00 we got our chance.  My stomach was full of butterflies in anticipation of dicing through Potters.  Who would lift or back out?  The rolling start was done at a rather slow pace but due to the size of the field probably the better choice.  The 140Z being on the outside of the track probably had the better line going into Potters while the Mazda had to make the best of keeping it tight or possibly even backing out.  The 140Z was not going to surrender and held out through Rifle and getting in and out of Cocabana first.  Not long afterward the V8 Capri was also in the chase and soon evolved into a battle between the Mazda as to who would take second place.  The Datti meanwhile was heavily involved with a dice between the Ford Anglia's of both Jaco Lambert and later even Claude Justice often loosing out on the legs down the main straight, but come the corners and the Datti was again all over them like a rash. The pressure was hot and relentless and Jaco eventually went wide and out braked himself into Cocabana.  Claude manged to get past me down the main straight and drove well to hold me off till the flag.  In the interim I had managed to post an improved time of 1:45.0 and finishing in 13th place overall.  The 140Z went on to win the race as well and also posted an improved time of 1:34.635 with the Capri finishing 2nd and the Rotary 3rd having also posted a better than qualifying best of 1:34.4

For race 2 we made no other adjustments on the heavily breathing Datti except some mind changes and an attempt to try things slightly differently.  The 140Z meanwhile now had to contend with a V8 Capri in second place on the grid and a rasping Rotary behind him.  I again had both Jaco and Claude to chase.  Race 2 was off at 15h15 again with a rather slow pace but hey, I was here for a fun time.  At lights out the V8 Capri had the legs on the 140Z but was little match in the corners (when they eventually came).  Ferdi jnr drove the wheels off that V8 to keep the 140Z at bay and no matter where the 140Z put it's nose, the V8 Capri held on only to pull a slight gap once back onto the straights.  This pursued relentlessly for the entire race which had the crowd rooting big time for there favorites.  A brilliant race was won by Ferdi with the 140Z crossing the line 0.860 seconds later. Further back in the pack the Datti was dueling once again with the Fords with Claude eventually pulling off after 3 laps.  I pushed as hard as I could but used a different stratergy this time as planned in the pits with 'Mr Datsun'.  It pulled off with me again running out ahead of Jaco who finished 6 seconds behind me while in the interim I manged to knock off another 2 seconds of my race 1 time posting a final 1:43.006 and finishing 11th overall out of 33 starters for race 2.

To say I was over the moon is an understatement.  To say we didn't enjoy this trip is a blatant lie.  We thoroughly enjoyed every moment of it and the Datsuns ran brilliantly.

Thanks 'Boet'

Tuesday, 09 August 2011

Look Ma, no legs!!

Murphy's law, if you plan something it probably won't happen, if you don't it probably will.  As many would already know by now, this month sees the Ford & Friends tour taking place at the East London Grand Prix circuit this year and one I definitely don't want to miss this opportunity as it may not happen again.  As such, I sacrificed the club races of the 23rd July as well as the 06th August in order to ease costs for this planned away trip. To cut a very long story short, by last Monday (01 August) there were simply not enough entries to ensure that the event for classic cars could go ahead and in addition it was unlikely to count towards the championship as the rules state that a minimum of 12 cars have to start in order for such to happen.  Now it is simply a fact that many (myself included) wanted to save our cars for the East London event and not have to endure any unforeseeable damages incurred by chancing a race beforehand.  On the other hand, I couldn't allow a championship to potentially go out of the window due to it being short of one race car for one race, so I gave in and offered to come down to Cape Town and race the Datti.

Due to the late arrangements I only managed to jet in at around lunch time on the Friday which was still wet from overnight rain.  As such I would only have a chance at the late afternoon and final session for classic cars of the day to do any testing.  Just as well, as my session did throw a curve ball in that on my 3rd lap heading towards T4, the Datti simply died as in cut engine, 'mors dood, vrek' ignition lights still all ablaze.  Not knowing what it was but for certain knowing it wasn't terminal nor that any noticeable smoke was ever observed in the rearview mirror I coasted to within 100m from parc ferme where I eventually ground to a halt and had to pull onto the right hand side of the track.  A quick peek under the bonnet revealed absolutely nothing and I duly closed it again and waited in anticipation.  After the session 'Mr Datsun' came over to assist.  I explained the scenario and he popped open the bonnet, asked me to try and start it and 1, 2, 3 found the problem, accelerator linkage and come loose.  A quick work around at least saw that I could start the car again and drive back to the pit where it was fixed properly.  I made some quick arrangements with the marshals and I managed to squeeze in a quick 3 laps with the clubman session.  At last I was satisfied that everything was now making the right noises, pops and squeaks and retired the car for the night.  Of course without fail we lit a fire, tanned a few chops and sausage, washed it all down with a few hydraulic sandwiches where after we headed for home some 30 minutes just before pumpkin time.

Saturday morning was probably one of the colder days in the mother city and by my guess, perhaps too cold for any decent lap times.  Although this sounds contrary to popular belief, the cold temperature ensured that any decent tyre temps were almost null and void.  I tried to compensate for this by using different pressures from my usual tyre settings.  On leaving the pit area I already spun the tyres rather unusually just leaving the pit lane, then started weaving to generate some heat into the tyres until just before reaching T1 where upon I gave it a blip on the loud peddle.  Rudely and abruptly the Datti spat me out like a piece of used toilet paper in the middle of turn 1 leaving me rather red faced.  I rejoined and tried again, this time being a tad more cautious.  My final qualifying result produced a 1:30.6 just 0.2 seconds behind Ferdi jnr in the Alfa GTA and putting me 5th on starting grid.

Race 1 and we were afforded 2 out laps to warm up even although by now the temperature had warmed considerably compared to 07h30.  I had made allowances in the tyre pressures but in hind sight, probably not enough in the end.  Ahead of me was the Scirroco of Johan Swart, Ferdi van Niekerk to his right with the 7.0 litre V8 Chev Deville on pole ahead of Swart with Sandro Biccari in second place to the pole-man.  The start lights were extinguished at the last second and I caught both Swart and van Niekerk off guard and managed to stick the Datti between the two of them, outrunning both into turn 1.  I now found myself in 3rd place which I fought tooth and nail for going into turn 2, Swart now on my outside.  I held on but by the Kink Swart had already managed to regain his third place.  I managed to hold onto forth place with Ferdi close behind me as we headed towards turn 4 where the GTA had a lot more cornering speed that the Datti.  Coming out of 4, he slip streamed me and then dived out making his way past me towards turn 5 where I maanged to break VERY late and in so doing once again caught up with him going side by side through turn 5.  Onto the main straight and the GTA showed it legs once again but I was not going to give up that easily and once again managed to outbrake to regain forth position.  This trading of places carried on until lap 5 when the Datti could no more as by now the tyres had got too hot and were sliding and thereby loosing time.  Ferdi got one over me and there was little I could do.

Race 2 was the last race of the day and I again started from 5th position on grid.  This time both Ferdi and Johan were well aware of the looming 1471cc Datsun ready to take any slightest advantage on offer, but it was not to be.  Instead we found the 3 A class and 3 B class cars bumper to bumper going into turn one, no touching by any one and by turn 2 we were all still jockeying for position and a little too close for comfort.  The V8 and nimble 2 litre plus Scirroco's took to the front and I once again managed to pip the 2 litre GTA going into turn 3 and held him off until reaching the back straight once again.  This time Ferdi again had a good run onto me and passed me comfortably heading towards turn 5.  This time the V8 up ahead was like a waltzing Matilda snaking its way into T5 and we all caught up to it.  By now the Scirroco's had passed and it was obvious that something was wrong with the 'Titanic'.  By T2 I had also managed to squeeze passed and there after it was a somewhat lonely race other than for a mistake made by Swart in his Scirroco which saw him run off at turn 5 and in so doing I now found myself in 3rd place overall.   We ended like that with Ferdi taking the double for the day and me having to graciously admit that there is simply no replacement for displacement and that I simply didn't have the legs to keep up with the much bigger engine cars.  But don't write me off just yet as I am determined with the help and the race ingenuity of 'Mr Datsun' to still come back later this year stronger and even more determined.

To say that I had a brilliantly prepared car that ran like absolute clockwork is an insult, it was far better than that.  My only asking is that it stays together and that she runs as brilliantly in East London on the 27th August.

Thanks 'Boet"

Tuesday, 05 July 2011

Wet, Wet, Wet

Another month has passed since the last race and again the Datsun's threw everything they could to torment us, but give up we didn't.  Probably the easiest part was the overhauling and replacement of the gearbox on the 140Z, simple and straight forward.  Then Mr Datsun decided that as I had done a good job on destroying the cylinder head on the SSS it would be far easier to fix the Datti.  That too suffered a gearbox failure (3rd & 4th gear) and that too was replaced with a spare.  For some or other reason the motor was also breathing ever so slightly which in Datsun speak is not right but at least was still raceable.  Given the amount of  abuse the poor engine has to endure at 8000 RPM, the safest bet was to replace the rings.  The rings were replaced with a brand new set and the bearings were checked while at it.  The car was taken to the track to be checked and tested and to our dissatisfaction was still breathing.  Back to the workshop she went and was again stripped down.  A different thought of approach was adopted and the rings were manually made to fit along with some other adjustments.  A subsequent test was again done on Saturday 25th and the all clear was given.  The 140Z was also put through its paces and having obtained 2 readings in performance it provided some interesting direction as well.

I arrived on the Thursday and that evening we went down to the track as the 140Z still needed last minute fine tuning.  Among such tuning was the checking of tappet clearances.  To our horror we discovered that the crankshaft pulley bolt had disappeared.  Upon finer analysis we ascertained that the bolt had actually broken off inside the crank and we were starring disaster in the face.  Given the likely weather for race day it was far simpler to withdraw but that is not the spirit of classics and through persuasion and some motivation we decided to attempt a repair.  Such repair was not quite as simple and involved that 'Mr Datsun' had to get to work at 4AM on the Friday morning, remove the engine and had specialists on standby by 06h30 to attempt removing the remaining piece of the bolt inside the crankshaft.  The first 2 attempts yielded no success and at the last and final attempt with hardly any metal left of the bolt it was finally removed.  A new HT bolt was sourced and replaced and the 140Z was back at the track by 12h00 on the Friday.

I went down to the track on the Friday and as per usual expected to do at least one practice session providing all was well.  Lo and behold on the warm up lap I could already sense that the brakes on the Datti were not performing as they should.  I carried on and took a flying second lap.  Approaching turn 5 I hit the brakes with the car violently swerving to the left making it impossible to race.  I pulled in.  The 140Z had already completed his test session to the satisfaction of 'Mr Datsun's ' high standards and was put to rest until race day.  Quickly I explained the problem for which he had a quick fix.  Having then cleaned the brake calipers I wanted to still get out still in the 1st session but was just too late and it meant that I would have to wait until the next session scheduled for 16h30.  I duly sat and waited and finally took to the track, the brakes much better but not yet perfect.  I put in as many laps as I could in order to shake off the cob webs and tried hard to build a good rhythm.  My best time I managed was a 1:30.1.  I was comfortable and new with such a time I could still put up a reasonable race with others in class B.

Saturday morning was cold and wet as predicted with a rather very declined field for the race.  Our qualifying session was for 09h00 and although it had stopped raining the track was still wet.  Being the 4th qualifiers for the day we both took the chance of going out on slicks.  At first it seemed not as bad as initially thought but on lap 2 I was spat out on turn 2 right in front of the Scirroco of Sandro Biccari.  I once again took to the track and tried again.  I had not yet cracked a sub 2:00.  Approaching turn 5 I saw the Scirroco recovering from and off moment and merely went by.  The tyres somehow seemed a little more grippier and I managed my way around for another lap. Lo and behold on the exist of turn 5, I gave it just a bit too much 'welly' and around she went again.  Once again I tried and eventually manged to post a 1:53.99 as a qualifying time.  For whatever reason the 140Z only managed a 1:54.09

Race 1 we decided to go out on wet tyres even although the rain had yet again stopped.  Conditions were a lot easier to deal with this time and made controlling the car just that little bit easier and I managed to force the Datti ahead of Bernstein's Alfa and sat right up close behind the other 2 Alfas of Andrews and Alhadeff.  I followed and watched their race lines but decided there were better ones to follow.  The brakes were still not 100% and the feeling was made worse in the wet conditions but I was able to cope and tried my best not to lock up my front wheels  I eventually passed Andrews and then Alhadeff and although we remained reasonably close I held both off until the finish line.  Of course the 140Z was a different ball game in the wet and although he initially allowed the Escort of Powell through in turn 1, by turn 3 he caught him running wide and the 140Z went off into the distance.

Race 2 was a let down in the sense that only 10 cars took to the track while others had either broken down or simply withdrew due to the conditions which had worsened. Wet tyres were undoubtedly the right call and we again made the best of the situation.  This time I was ahead of the Alfa of Alhadeff on the start and right behind the Escort of Jaco Lambert.  A wet rolling start made sure that visibility was poor especially from the spray from the car up front and met we all had to be extra cautious.  At lights out I personally felt that the pace was too slow and that it was too cautious as I had an easy opportunity to stick it in the middle between Lambert in the Escort and the Scirroco of Biccari.  By reaching turn 1 I realised I had made the correct decision not to chance it as my right front brake caliper had once again failed to operate causing the left to lock up and loose traction.  This meant I would have drive extra cautious which made me loose a lot of time and allowed the Escort to disappear up ahead.  I still managed to hold off Alhadeff for most of the race but a slight lock up entering turn 4 on the final lap made me loose time and allowed Alhadeff to close up and catch my slipstream down the back straight.  He was just too close and pulled next to me under braking into T5.  We went through T5 together and came out side by side.  The 2 litre Alfa simply had better drive to the line and beat me by 2 tenths of a second.  Excellent all said and done.
The 140Z simply dominated in the wet and won comfortably.

All said and done the weather put up a challenge for everyone and we all had to endure the same track conditions and simply make the best of it.  Some did, others simply didn't even bother.

Thanks 'Boet'

Wednesday, 08 June 2011

Snap, Crackle, Pop

Another month had now past and the 4th June was now upon us.  The Datti has until now been parked awaiting re parts and I simply did not have the funds to repair the engine, only to then strip have to strip it again and to then put the new race parts in and instead decide to give it a miss.  My boet was not having any of this and more or less sort of forced me to drive the SSS while we wait for the parts to arrive.  He found some second hand tyres which were in better condition than the wooden slicks that were on the car, replaced the aging brake pads, changed the number and class stickers and that was that.  Quietly in the back ground meanwhile over some 2 or more months he also went on about replacing the worn suspension parts on the 140Z, securing some aero-quip hose connections and fittings on the dry sump and also went over some of the more finicky engine settings with a fine-tooth comb.  At last both cars were now ready.

We arrived at the track at around 11h00 having forfeited the first practice session along with my printout of the afforded practice times for the day.  We both went about setting tyre pressures, fuel levels etc. for our practice session which was apparent;y next scheduled for 14h05 with one last session at 17h35.  Having finished prepping both cars we then went to for a quick lunch at the clubhouse.  Midway through chewing a hamburger someone threw down a piece of paper with the revised practice times.  Half choking on a french fry we found that we had now already missed 2 sessions as the new revised practice times were sent out (without changing the revision number) as the formula Libra's had subsequently withdrawn.  Just brilliant!!! Here I suddenly found myself with a car that I've never ever driven, a set of race pads still to bed in as well as to get used to racing with a 5-speed box instead of my accustomed 4 speed.  It may all sound easy but getting used to double change downs and double heal and toeing takes more than a few laps to perfect, at least in my case that is.  Anyway we suddenly realise that 14h45 was our one and only chance to do what we had to do.  The 140Z took all of 3 laps to get down to a low 1:23 after which he pulled her in and parked it.  Some adjustments were later made.  I in the meanwhile was out on a learning curve and waiting ever so patiently for the backend to step out under acceleration as I was duly warned about.  I took it easy for the first few laps while the brakes were getting better and better but step out she wouldn't.  I at times floored the bitch hard out of the corners but tail happy she wasn't.  In all honestly I was battling to break 1:32's where I should be doing 1:27's with reasonable ease. I stuck it out and eventually on lap 8 and some three quarter way down the back straight in 5th gear she let go with a plume of smoke bellowing out of the exhaust which exits from the passenger side.  I merely coasted into parc ferme.  That was the end with a damaged cylinder head and a probable hole in piston as well.

Not to loose heart, I settled down to the fact that I was still among great camaraderie and friends and that I would now concentrate my efforts on helping my boet to perform at his best.  For now we had a braai that needed to be made and a traditional ritual to perform.

Saturday morning we got to the track at just on 07h00 and prepped the car for qualifying, streamlined what we could and gave the red baron a good clean. Clouds threatened with rain, something we believed wouldn't happen but the air temp was perfect for doing times.  At 08h45 and some 4 laps later the 140Z set a time of 1:22.51 enough to take pole position for the first race and just enough to keep the others at bay.  We refueled the car, set tyre pressures again and went off for a bacon & egg with coffee at the clubhouse.  Having just sat down to eat, the most unexpected and dreaded call came through that our pit garage was on fire.  We rushed as quickly as we could only too glad to find the 140Z unscathed and standing out in the dizzle.  As for the garage well we salvaged what we could and threw the rest away.  It could have been a lot, lot worse.  We tried hard not to pay to much attention to the damages and tried to stay focused on the race that lay ahead.  A big thanks once again to Dirkie Kruger and Baby Jakes for saving the car.

Race 1 was off at 11h15 but by now the track was still wet as it had rained at around just before 10h00.  With only a trace of a dry line they set off well aware that copious amount of oil had been discharged onto the circuit earlier at about 10h25.  The rolling start was at a good pace and at lights off the 140Z opened a gap leaving the 2nd & 3rd place Rotary engined qualifiers well behind all while the 2 litre pinto engine Escort was making good ground.  On lap 3 there was carnage on the back straight when Andre Mouton in the Studabaker slammed into the arm-co barrier badly damaging the entire right hand side of the car which resulted in the race being red flagged.  At the restart all driver re-assumed their original starting positions and the race was reduced to a 6 lapper.  This time the 140Z acted as the pace car and again blasted off into the distance while the Rotary and Escort dueled for 2nd place.  On the second lap the Escort had taken 2nd place and had a clear run ahead in chase of the 140Z.  There were some signs of a sticky 3rd gear and he  backed off slightly to prevent any unnecessary damage.  The Escort was closing and on lap 5 managed to pass the 140Z going into turn 1 much to the delight of the Blue Oval fans.  It was however short lived as the 140Z regained the lead and took the chequered flag for the win.

Race 2 was only again off at 15h30 and one or two changes were made since race 1 in the hope of some improvement.  The 140Z was again on pole with the Escort 2 liter Pinto now beside and strong opposition was expected from not only the Escort but also from the Rotary in 3rd place just behind the 140Z.  Again the pace was good and at lights out the 140Z was again out in front this time with the Escort and Rotary dicing for 2nd position.  This time the Rotary had the upper hand in the dry track conditions albeit it in very misty conditions.  The 140Z had a constant 4 -5 car length gap on the Rotary throughout the race with the 3rd gear still playing up again but at least still there lasting until lap 7.  This time halfway down and approaching turn 5 the 5th gear cried enough. That now allowed the Rotary to close in eventually taking the lead going into turn 1.  Coming out of turn 1 the 3rd gear now also finally cried enough (both 5th and 3rd gear being on the same elector hub) slowing the 140Z drastically down.  He managed to find 4th gear and kept it going to take 2nd place some 12 seconds behind the black Rotary. A well fort hard race which saw gremlin number 3 take revenge on this weekend.  None the less a brilliant drive by Chris in the Rotary who fought all the way never once letting up.  Sadly the blue Oval faded to grey finishing some 43 odd seconds behind the leaders.

To sum up then, we lost an engine, half a garage and some expensive race parts and a gearbox but we never once lost heart.  We finally locked up and left and headed for a nice hot shower and discussed our next approach for the next upcoming race.  We will now rebuild the Datti in the meantime while we now rest the SSS all while we still await race parts still being manufactured.  We also pulled out some race literature and a calculator, performed some wacky calcs and found more answers that put a smile on our faces.  For those who thought the 1:22.51 and the 1:22.79 was good, watch this space.

We may well have come out of this weekend a little poorer rough the losses, but a lot more determined.

Thanks and well done 'Boet'.

Monday, 02 May 2011

Revenge of the GREMLINS

Well since the last update I can confirm that the camshaft was indeed stripped and that having eventually stripped the motor it was soon discovered the reason why the motor would not turn.  Overnight the engine had obviously cooled and at some time the valve seat had dislodged itself and fell out preventing the valve from closing and as a result prevented the engine from turning.  So, we replaced the camshaft albeit with a different specification to what we normally use, re did the cylinder head and fitted new valve seats and put it all back together.  Admittedly the motor sounded crisp and as fresh as ever and at last we ready for our April race.

I arrived in Cape Town on the Thursday afternoon and we headed straight to the track for a testing session,  something I've never before done but with all the public holidays around, this time was somewhat different.  We set the tyre pressures and headed out.  This time we also connected up an AFR meter to take the guess work out of jetting the carbs.  By all counts the car pulled very strongly out of the corners but simply had no top end and would not rev cleanly to 8000RPM.  We made a few adjustments and re-jetted the carbs as per AFR indication.  Our second and last session at about 17h15 again proved unsuccessful and again we re-jetted as well as made some further setting changes.  We then left it as such and would again try on the Friday.

Friday morning we arrived early, setup and fueled up and did the first test session at 10h45.  After only a few laps it was clear that this motor was not on song and would now no longer rev past 7000RPM.   My 'boet' had in the interim also decided to rest the 140Z and had dusted down the old 'boxy' SSS and decided to give it a go on set of 2 year old hardened tyres.  Everything sounded OK and hey the ol' 'boxy' was as crsip as a fresh lettuce leaf.  Soon after his session, Mr 'Datsun' made a call and we finally agreed the camshaft was wrong on my Datti and we headed for the workshop and pulled the motor (again) where upon we replaced the cam with our preferred tried and tested own specification.  By 14h45 we were back at the track ready for one last session of the day which was only at 17h15.  By then the temperature had also cooled down and offered us a fair chance.  This time I could clearly hear the difference as well as feel the difference in performance as she once again hit the 8000RPM with ease.  Although she pulled well the times were on the wrong side of 1:30 but I was happy and felt I was still in with a chance.  However, the gremlins were still out to hamper our efforts when I soon discovered that it kept jumping out of 4th gear along the back as well the main straights at about 6800RPM.  In addition our jetting was again way out since changing the camshaft.  We again made jetting changes for qualifying and packed up for the night which ended with our traditional 'pit braai' and liquid refreshments along with some regular mates.

Saturday was up at sparrows as per usual and our day began by making final adjustments to the Datti.   Both Datsuns were fueled and ready to do our thing.  The SSS managed a somewhat slower time of 1:27.4 securing second place on the grid while the Datti only managed a 1:30.4 still some 2 seconds of pace.  What the heck, I was here for a fun time and settled to the fact that we had done everything we could and we had to use whatever we had to our best advantage.  Race 1 saw the SSS slowly slip down the race order and was out done by the V8 Capri Perana, the BMW MLE 530 and worst still by 2 Scirocco's who were both blindingly quick.  The Datti on the other hand landed up with a brilliant dice with Dave Alhadeff in the 2 litre Alfa GT Junior which I lead for 3 laps and in the interim managed my best lap time of 1:29.9 for the day but on lap 4 I now had 3rd gear jumping out as well which eventually allowed him through .  I was now having to drive with only one hand having to hold it in gear in both 3rd and 4th through the fastest corners on the circuit and cost me some time.  Dave drove well and held on to beat me by 0.7seconds at the chequered flag.

Race 2 was not as good as the first race as the tyres on the SSS had eventually cried enough and there was simply no grip left at all which eventually spat him out on turn 1 on the second lap leaving him stuck in the thick loose sand.  He eventually go out of the loose sand and finished the race but in an unusual 10th place.  I have a feeling this 'boxie' SSS will have to be taught a lesson as to who is the BOSS.  Maybe next time.   As for the Datti it was also not our best outing as I was again head of Dave off the start and lead him until reaching the back straight were here came past me and that was the last I saw of him.  The Datti had started breathing quite a bit signaling the start of ring failure.  The Mustang of Ferdi Snr was soon catching me and in lap 6 managed to overtake me on the main straight.  I managed to catch him in turn 1 him pulling a slight gap up towards turn 2  but I managed to hold him on the outside of turn 2 and passed him through the kink.  This lead I again held through turn 3 and turn 4 when once again on the back straight he passed me pulling at least 2 car lengths on me.  The heavy weight V8 hit the brakes at about the 75 meter mark but hey the Datti only throws out the anchor after the 50 meter mark and again I caught him going into turn 5 coming out side by side with the Datti on the outside.  On the main straight he again pulled a gap and crossed the line ahead once again but lo and behold I was not going to give up this chase.  By turn 1 I had again caught the Mustang and held on to him with me on the outside of turn 1 this time with him now on the outside heading up to turn 2.  I managed to again out brake him going into turn 2 and I got through and ahead of the Mustang and opened a reasonable gap through turns 3 an 4.  The Mustang fell further and further behind apparently due to a slipping clutch but at the end of the race the Datti had managed to be the victor of the dice and a brilliant clean scrap it was indeed. 

I was most satisfied with the days racing even although I knew we can do a lot better.  On this day it was not to be (not for a lack of trying) but it was great to once again be involved with some close racing.  All this would not have been possible if was not for the sheer effort and determination of Mr 'Datsun' who insisted we try harder and opened up his workshop to remove the engine and make the required changes to at least compete with some saving grace.  As to what we do from here is now unknown but I do still have plans for the rest of the season as does 'Mr Datsun' still have some unfinished intentions with this little Datti and I therefore await with abated breath the next move. 

Thanks 'Boet'

Sunday, 20 March 2011

Ghost Alley

It seems such a long time since we both raced with the 2011 season finally getting underway, yet it was only the beginning February that we had a taste of things to come.  I think we both had high expectations and anticipations but for illogical reasons it all came to naught at the start of it all.  The 140Z was not entered and did not race for a number of reasons.  Upon closer inspection it was soon evident that too many minor things needed attention and replacement and as such required a lot of time and effort to get it race ready.  This also being a difficult 1st quarter of the year was not the most opportune time and the 140Z may still race at a later date this year all things going well.  The Datti on the other hand was left as it was since the February race with only the branch being replaced as the previous one was beyond repair.  As such it was race ready and we had little expectations of any surprises.  Little did we know at the time.

The Datti was taken down to the track on the Thursday night and parked in the track garage over night.  All that needed to be done was a polish, tyre pressures, fuel and some practice time could be undertaken on the Friday.  Little did I still know.  I only went down to the track at about 10H00 on the Friday and duly polished the car, put fuel in and indeed checked the tyre pressures.  Our session was scheduled for 11h50 and I was ready at last to get some saddle time.  On the out lap I noticed a slight vibration and not being certain of its location I proceeded with caution around turn 2.  The kink seemed fine as did turn 3.  On turn 4 I again heard this vibration and decided I was not comfortable with it and headed down the back straight.  About half way down it happened, the left front wheel picked a fine time to leave me.  Thank heavens I was not going fast and slowly brought the car to a halt 100m from parce ferme.  Expecting the worst I was puzzled (and still am as to how it was possible) that all four wheel nuts had miraculously come off and disappeared.  The wheel came to a halt about 20m behind me.  The session was red flagged and I was duly towed back to the pits on a flat bed truck.   While still on the truck I jacked the car up on the left and put the wheel back and secured it with four other wheel nuts.  Damage seemed minimal if anything at this stage and I now awaited the next session scheduled for 14h55.  The temperature was high and well into the high 20's maybe even 30's and times were never going to be of importance but more importantly I need track time.  Everything was again checked and by lap 4 I had reached the decision that 1:32's was not satisfactory and pulled into the pits. Mr 'Datsun' duly requested that the car be jacked  up upon which he immediately saw that the exhaust had been flattened to less than half its size (due to the weight of the car on it when the wheel came off) and was likely a contributing factor to posting slow times.  He placed an order for exhaust tubing to be made up and for it to be delivered to the workshop where after we decided to replace the damaged section of  pipe.  So started my weekend.

The exhaust was removed at the workshop and the new piece was duly measured and cut.  The exhaust was welded up and ready for fitment.  The inevitable had suddenly crossed Mr "Datsuns' mind and he decided to change the Datti's motor with our old one.  He felt that we should rather start the season off well where after we could still experiment with further changes later in the season.  It all made sense as we knew what we had with the A14 but were still in the dark as to what was in the A15.  Now was as good a time as ever.  To cut a very long story short, we finally finished putting the A14 in at about 08h30 that Friday night after making many modifications (different accelerator linkages, clutch forks etc.). A few test runs were done at the 'Montanague Oval' after which it was decided we had now obtained the sweet spot.  Tired and frustrated we drove the Datti to the track headlights, flickers and tail lights all working and proceeded cautiously behind the bakkie.  Mr 'Datsun' opened the garage and I pulled in and parked the Datti for the night.  The only things we needed to do early next morning was to get our transponder, safely secure the accelerator cable on the peddle, fuel her up and again set the tyre pressures for the 08h00 qualifying.  I was chuffed and eagerly awaited the morning.  With no one around it was now too late for our ritual braai and we both popped up for a quick bite at the clubhouse and were home by 22h00.

Saturday morning we were again up at sparrows as per norm and were at the track by 06h30.  We opened up garage 26 to get ready and I duly went down to fetch the Datti in my garage.  I neatly nestled my self in the tight fitting seat, turned on the kill switch, activated the ignition switch, flicked the petrol pump switch and hit the start button.  KLUK.   Try again, KLUK.  Check the kill switch.  Try again. KLUK.  Just by the sound of the KLUK I could tell this was not a battery problem and duly called Mr 'Datsun' to the rescue.  "It can only be something stupid, a loose earth wire or something like that he stated".  After a few more KLUK's he's attitude suddenly changed.  Get me a 13 spanner.  Hastily it was off with the oil pump.  It might be jamming he said.  The oil pump looked OK.  We then turned the motor manually.  It turned 359 degrees and no further where after it was solid.  Turning it the other way and again 359 degrees and it was solid.  Star screwdriver please came the next request.  Off with the tappet cover expecting a rocker or even valve failure of some sort.  Nothing.  Mr 'Datsun' then put his finger into the oil pump hole and said turn the engine VERY SLOWLY.  I proceeded to turn it only a few degrees at a time until the inevitable words were uttered.  The camshaft is stripped.  Two inexplicable occurrences over night.

Dejected we closed up and I withdrew my entry.  By 07h30 we were sitting like 2 lonely haunted farts in turn 3 not saying a word to each other.  I just wasn't meant to race this day and I'll take it as an omen yet to be understood.

This little set back has just made both of us super motivated and as such we'll (sorry, that should be, Mr 'Datsun') repair this motor for the April race.  The Datti has just got on the wrong side of Mr 'Datsun' and will unfortunately have to be taught a lesson.  Do keep an eye out for sudden behavioral changes.

Thanks 'Boet' for all the efforts made.

Tuesday, 08 February 2011

50th Anniversary Historic Race Meeting - Killarney

No sooner had the Zwartkops event finished and the next one was again upon us in Cape Town, home of the Killarney raceway which celebrated it's 50th anniversary. This weekend turned out to be a good one after all for both Datsuns yet once again. The 140Z was as ready as ever with only a need to change worn brake pads. As for the power-plant, not much attention was required there at all. The little Datti was finally sign written which I think turned out quite OK. Everything else we left just as it was raced in JHB last with only the jetting corrected for the altitude change. On the Friday's second practice session indication was that the clutch was slipping and most definitely had an effect on the initial times being posted which were around 1:34. This was merely adjusted and we again tested it on the last practice session only to still suffer from a slipping clutch syndrome. We decided not to take any further chances and subsequently replaced the clutch and pressure plate which did the trick. The 140Z merely went out to bed brakes and was thereafter parked ready for the Saturday.

Qualifying on the Saturday morning saw the 140Z posting a 1:22.69 putting him 4th on the grid but 1st of the classics behind the Trans-Am cars. The Datti on the other hand chose to do qualifying with the class DEF and pre-66 guys as were not sure of the times we would post. It turned out to be above expectation and we settled for a 1:31.55 which effectively put it 6th on the grid behind the behemoths up front. Having posted such time I opted to move to the ABC & Trans-Am class in fairness to the others.

Race 1 on Saturday was off at 14h00 and was done in hot and dry conditions with the 140Z holding on throughout the entire race and finished in the same order as they started. It was evident from the start that the V8 cars enjoyed the longer straights which afforded them to display their superior power not to mention the turbo charged IMSA Alfa which was indecently quick once that turbo had spooled up. Further back the Datti landed up doing battle with the Scirrocos, Alfas and while it lasted also the Opel Super Boss which soon ended in tears. Having initially got ahead of the Superboss the Datti held up reasonably well with the bigger engined cars but was soon again passed on the back straight by the bigger engined Alfa of Pierre de Waal. I held the outside line while he overtook to the inside. No sooner was he next to me then the Superboss tried a suicide move by trying to overtake the Alfa on his right side resulting in the Superboss putting 2 wheels on the dirt. This resulted in him loosing control and narrowly missing both of us on his way to the barrier on the back straight. 6 love, game, set and match no tie breakers!! Shortly thereafter the race was red flagged due to oil on various sections making it too dangerous to continue. In the interim, the Datti had posted a 1:31.2.

Race 2 on the Sunday was again a carbon copy for the 140Z which again finished in 4th place behind the 3 Trans-Am cars and posted an identical time of 1:22.8. The Datti this time found itself now behind the V12 Jaguar of Clive Spolander on the grid with the Scirrocco of Paul Amman alongside. The start was a good one going into turn 1 right up close with the V12 but the Scirrocco was the chicane going into turn 2. Both crept ahead initially and I was left to duel with the BMW CSL of Derek Hulse. It turned out to be a great dice between the two of us, him having the legs on the Datti down the straight whilst I made his life hell going into the corners. On about lap 4 I managed to catch the BMW going into turn 2 and held him to the outside and through the kink but found myslef soon running out of road and put 2 wheels into the dirt. I managed to hold it straight lining it back onto the track for turn 3 but had lost vital ground again and had to do it all over. A lap later my exhaust broke clean off on the flange on the branch which then held me back due to huge power loss. The Datti had managed to post a 1:30.1.

Race 3 was off at 14h00 and again the 140Z was not going to give up trying even although the chances we now all but gone. On lap 2 the V8 Sierra cried enough and pulled off with some unknown damage leaving the IMSA turbo Alfa out in front, followed by Robbie Smith in the V8 Capri with the 140Z in hot pursuit. The Capri probably having been over driven all weekend was obviously running out of grip and now sliding all over the show with the 'Red Devil' in chase like a whippet after a hare. On lap 5 heading for turn 4 with the 140Z tucked right behind the V8 Capri with no intention of braking the Capri lost grip and headed for the tyre barriers coming out of T4 putting paid to his race. That left the IMSA Alfa out in front and the 140Z settling for a second place. As it would be, an in car TV camera caught all the up front action which should add some added excitement if ever broadcast.

The Datti meanwhile had to continue with a patched up broken exhaust with the remaining length of the exhaust all tied up underneath. This time the Datti was alongside the BMW CSL on the grid with the Scirrocco of Paul Amman again ahead of me. The rolling start was once again of a decent standard but this time the Scirrocco was a moving road block in front of me. I remained closely tucked up and almost into the boot of the Scirroco finally diving to his left under brakes going into turn 2 and driving around him on the outside to get ahead and now once again in chase of the CSL. The dice was even better than the last one with some very close racing between the 2 of us, never once getting too close for comfort though. No matter how hard I tried at every corner, I would either catch him going into a corner or hold him going through one but ultimately there is no replacement for displacement and Derek finished ahead of me in a well deserved race. In the interim the Datti had finally posted a brillaint 1:29.8 thereby again putting me into a class B time slot for the start of the 2011 season.

The Datti must now under go an engine transplant for the start of the new 2011 season as the engine we raced is deemed ineligible in Cape Town all while it is perfectly legal and allowable in Johanessburg under the HMC national regulations for 2011. Crying therefore about spilled milk is not going to help us so we will move on and do what has to be done and control what we can control. The HMC has given its full undertaking into resolving the engine block rule in the interim but for now we must prepare and concentrate on the season that now lies ahead. I am reasonably confident that our engine plant that we will use will be more than adequate to compete and if my judgment is correct it should hold its head well above water in class B.

So, with some outstanding issues regarding the time slots for the big boys out in front we will have to see whether the 140Z will continue in the 2011 season as defending either the 140Z's ability and or its eligibility is no longer an option that will be dwelled upon and will as such not be further entertained. By all counts we now have ample proof of what the spectators (country wide) want and appreciate but we still remain in the dark as to what the powers that be want or will ultimately decide upon.

Thanks 'Boet' for once again providing and preparing 2 ultra competitive Datsuns all weekend long.

Sunday, 30 January 2011

10th David Piper International - Zwartkops

The 140Z has made inroads at almost every event it has taken part in and has made many sit up and take note so much so that 3 official letters from motoring authorities were eventually requested and obtained to confirm the 140Z's legality and conformance to the pre-77 rulings. That done it was now time to take the 140Z up to Zwartkops, a track it has to date never competed on. The trip up from CT was long and inconvenienced by trailer tyre problems all along the way to JHB. Eventually they arrived at around 18h30 at Zwartkops and we off loaded the car and stored it overnight in a locked up shed along with other fellow Captonian racers.

Friday morning we were up at sparrows as per usual and did nothing more than fuel the car and do the normal routine checks. The early morning session was an open practice which afforded us some saddle time as well as to get a heat cycle into a new set of NA Carreras. All early indications were that the 140Z was slowly coming to terms with the technically challenging track and times were around a 1:12. A second session proved to be as good and times dropped to 1:11.7 even though ambient temperatures were a lot hotter by then. The afternoon session was all reserved for qualifying and ours was scheduled for 14h00. Some tyre pressure changes were made to compensate for the heat and took to the track where the 140Z put in a qualifying best lap of 1:11.58 putting us 4th on the grid with the 745i BMW on 3rd, the V8 Sierra in 2nd and yet another Datsun 2.8 Skyline GTX on pole having posted a blistering 1:08.8. That left us pretty chuffed even although all 3 cars ahead of the 140Z were 10 years younger then the pre-77 complaint Datsun 140Z. As such another carrot was being dangled and we had to find a way of gaining another second or so to put us in with a chance of a top 3 finish. The amount of people that gathered around the 140Z after each outing was unbelievable, many totally gob smacked by the qualifying achievements. We tidied up and later headed for the cafeteria area to catch up on some late lunch and discussed the positives and negatives of the qualifying. We managed to single out 2 corners which 'Mr Datsun' felt could be improved on but we had to also take into consideration the local conditions and altitude. While everyone else was probably satisfied with their qualifying times, 'Mr Datsun' was never going to be. Eventually a phone call was made to a knowledgeable local race ace who analysed the feedback provided and eventually offered a solution. We went back to the car and implemented the 2 settings as advised and also to check if by chance new brake pads were yet a requirement. I then went to the COC and asked if we could have a few laps after the official qualifying was over for all the categories to which he was most accommodating. We only manged to get a test session at around 17h30 but it was good enough for us. The 140Z took to the track with only 2 other tin tops and on lap 3 the 140Z managed to clock a 1:10.49 putting us right up there with a far better chance. That was just what the doctor ordered and we settled in for an early nights rest.

Saturday morning we were again up at sparrows and performed our usual race ritual preparations for the race scheduled for 09h50 . The pace lap was fast which lead to a field being very wide spread but hey, pole man sets the pace and either you keep up to his pace or you loose. We found ourselves is 4th place as per the grid and on lap 2 overtook the 745i BMW going onto turn 5 on the table top under brakes. That gave us a chance to now chase the V8 Sierra in earnest. As the saying goes, 'there's no replacement for displacement' but the 140Z was not going to just lye down without putting up a fight. We had a strategy in place and intended to stick to it for the race. By lap 5 our strategy started coming into play and we slowly caught up to the V8 Sierra who was being pushed hard into every corner. It was only a matter of time before tyres and brakes would come into play on the bigger and heavier cars. On lap 7 going up towards turn 5 the 140Z had closed right up to the Sierra and knew his brakes were now fading fast as the 140Z was able to make up much ground under braking. Just one more lap and we were in with a possible upset. Lo and behold on lap 7 Ashley Lobb in a Fiat 131 spun and was unable to move the car from being in the middle of turn 8 which lead onto the main straight and due to safety conditions the race was red flagged. They finished Skyline, Sierra, 140Z with the 140Z putting in the fastest race time of 1:10.53, the V8 Sierra 1:10.99 and the Skyline 1:10.63.
The 140Z was swarmed with people who converged around the little 'Giant Killer' and everyone said, if only you had 1 more lap you would have caught the V8 Sierra. TV crews with their cameras appeared and 'Mr Datsun' had to give an on camera interview of his race achievement conducted by Greg Malony. Unbelievable was the saying of the day.

Race 2 was to be much later in the day and the conditions throughout the whole day were sweltering hot. We managed to catch one or two of the more popular races but otherwise settled in and around the 140Z to be there for the interested onlookers. Our race was scheduled for 16h30 and rain clouds had built up by now and were looking threatening. It started raining but did not damper the racing spirit. By 15h45 we were still considering whether it would be a dry race or if we needed to pull out the dreaded wet tyres. Either way we were prepared but from a racers point of view, dry is what we wanted. By 16h10 the rain had stopped and by the start of the race we again had a bone dry track with a lot cooler conditions.
This time the Skyline took it a lot slower and the entire field bunched up nicely on the pace lap, the 140Z tucked right behind the Skyline in 3rd place with the Sierra to his outside in 2nd. Everyone was now very aware of the 'point and squirt' 140Z on this track with many having predicted that if the 140Z did ever manage to beat the V8 Sierra it would probably be the talk of the year never mind the race. This may well have been in the back of the mind of the Sierra driver and at the end of the pace lap the V8 Sierra pulled off (tail between its legs) into the pits and never returned. There was no sign of any mechanical failures after race 1 and it remains strange to have pulled off on a pace lap with no sign of any real problem. This offered another opportunity for a Datsun 1, 2 finish and would have had the crowds going mad if this was ever accomplished. The first few laps saw both the Skyline and the 140Z swapping places frequently upfront with the 140Z holding the Skyline on the outside of turn 4 on more than 1 lap going up towards turn 5. From where I was standing it had the spectators clapping and shouting for the 140Z and almost choked me up a little at times. The dice continued until 5 lap where due to the much cooler temperature conditions had now allowed the Dutch entry turbo charged Alfa the chance to close in on the 2 front Datsuns. The Alfa eventually caught up to the 140Z and split the 2 Datsuns for the remaining 2 laps and so ended race 2 in that order. A most entertaining race. This achievement brought out the likes of Colin Clay (former 140Y Wesbank racer) who congratulated Martin on both his races and even sat in the car in awe of this 'Giant Killer'. So too did Willie Hepburn turn up, so too did Roelf Du Plessis of Wesbank racing, Larry Wilford, Dick Sorrensen, Richard Sorrensen who were all offering congratulations for a brilliant race effort.
















And so ended the weekend having won class B and unofficially taking 2nd overall for the day only to have been beaten by much bigger and more modern day cars but equally which were raced to their limits. We were all tired and a little sun burnt from the weekends glorious weather and we left soon after prize giving where 'Mr Datsun' headed for Bloemfontein for a good nights rest. Let's wait and see what the 3rd leg of the Springbok series brings to the Cape where hopefully yet another battle may just resume, then again most probably not.

Thanks 'Boet' for me being a part of your racing.

Sunday, 02 January 2011

Hello 2011

Well it's not quite time for racing just yet but hey, it's as good a time to start getting ready and preparing for the season that lies ahead. A lot of work still lies ahead and many mechanical decisions still need to be made for the championship ahead but the one decision that has been made so far was to send the 1200 'boxie' down to Cape Town for the historic weekend in February. For obvious reasons I have had to remove all the previous stickers, numbers and sponsors (used in JHB) and who are also no longer involved with the series which means new ones have to be made anyway. For those not yet aware, I also voluntarily gave up my race number (#22) in CT for a good cause and will have to await a new number to still be allocated to me. (Hopefully reverse psychology will still come into play.)

Depending on how things pan out I may just decide to keep the 'boxie' in Cape Town and give the GX Coupe a rest and a little TLC, after all it's served me well over the years. One thing is for sure, I've got the best Datsun mechanic in the country (in my personal opinion) and either way I hope to again be right up there where I am lead to believe that a lot of plans are in process to challenge the Datti. (At least try with a 1600cc and not something with 600cc and more!!)

I would still love to have a race car with me in JHB for the up coming Piper weekend at Zwartkops later this month but with only an empty wallet and a bent credit card (school fees, uniforms and books have no respect not to mention Club membership and MSA license renewal) common sense will therefore prevail. In the interim I am holding thumbs for all those still in the process of building new cars for the season and I can't wait to see you all again soon.


The 140Z should also be getting a thorough check through during the up coming weeks as well and should be ready to 'rock 'n roll' by as soon as the next race. I think I must also however sit my tutor down and do some convincing for him to be the 'Tried Piper'.

Thanks in advance 'Boet'!!