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.