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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'