Dats (un) how you do it.

This weekend was like the break of a long drought for me in particular having last completed a full race since the beginning of June. Once again a lot of hard work was done by my boet to get the Datti back up to competition level. The 140Z had a full spanner check since the PE race and a general check in all critical departments as per usual. Not having the chance to do a previous run of the engine since the rebuild I arrived early the Friday morning to do as many tests as possible and ensure nothing was left to chance. My first stint was a very satisfactory test but tyres we of concern. For the later stint I replaced the rear tyres with previously used tyres which by appearance seemed a little better than the ones I currently had on. Again the test run was positive but the front was still under steering especially in turns 2 & 5. I called for the new set to be brought down to the track which required that I do a third test stint to at least get a heat cycle in before the Saturday qualifying session. Everything was to my satisfaction and the Datti was finally parked for the day. By late afternoon the 140Z had also had a shake down and was ready to do battle with the class S fellow competitors.

Saturday morning was yet again up early as I wanted to bleed the brakes as a final adjustment before qualifying. Final prep on both cars was done as per our ritual and we were out at 08h20. The early morning air was cool and should have its advantages as per usual. On my flying lap I was unexpectedly caught up behind the Capri of Trevor Momebrg who had experienced engine problems resulting that I had to change my race line going into turn 1. With a determined effort to break 29's I only managed to post a qualifying 29.6 with which I was satisfied with given the slight change on race line. The 140Z had a cracker run with no traffic and posted a very impressive 22.2 putting the 'Red Devil' on pole ahead of the flying Can-Am of Anton Rolino was posted a blistering 22.5 during qualifying.

Race 1 was off at 10h50 and the rolling start was of a medium pace. At lights out I was perfectly on the cam and managed to get ahead of the Scirocco of Sandro Bicarri by turn 1 while the 140Z got the better of the Can-Am up front. I soon found myself in for some serious competition as I had both the 'Twinspark' Gotech Alfa and the 2.0L Scirroco right on my tail for the first 2 laps. On lap 3 I allowed the Alfa GTAm of Ferdi v Niekerk Jnr through into turn 1 for technical reasons but by turn 2 the Alfa slowed and pulled off with throttle linkage failure. I now still had the Scirrocco to contend with but luck was finally going my way and not long after the Scirocco pulled off with terminal gearbox failure. With the pressure now off it was a lonely race to the flag. In the interim the 140z was comfortably in the lead up front but lady luck was not to be in his favour. On reaching the final lap a miscalculation of liquid propellant resulted in that the 140Z was prevented from taking victory and was accordingly relegated to eighth position with the Can-Am after a long lay off taking the chequered flag.

A proper check of fuel levels was done on the 140Z while the Datti only required a recheck of tyre pressures and also a fuel fill up. Race 2 was off at 14h50 and this time the 'Red Devil' had to start from 8th on the grid while the little Datti had a first time ever 3rd place start and found myself this time behind the monster Can-Am of Anton Rolino who was this time to dictate the rolling starts pace. This time behind me I had the Alfa Giulia of Jonathan Bernstein to contend with while Ferdi Jnr who hounded me in race 1 had to start from the back of the grid. At lights out I hung on for dear life to the back of the Can-Am but as the saying goes, there's no replacement for displacement.

With only 20 meters to go to turn 1 already the bright lights of the 'Red Devil' were bearing down on me and without argument I kept out of his way. By halfway through the exit of turn 1 the 140Z was a car length ahead of me with the rasping rotary of Chris Carolin on the full outside and the Can-Am of Rolino just ahead of him. In the blink of an eye, the Rotary and the Can-Am touched resulting in the Can-Am being turned sideways to the infield and Carolin now in full avoidance mode in the meanwhile collecting the flying 140Z who was already in the passing. Both the Can-Am and the Rotary came to a halt in the midfield and the 140Z was once again out in front with (what he thought) no further competition. (hehe!!!) I now found myself in second place and before long found myself clear of the rest of the field who were taking the necessary avoidance's further behind me. Going down the back straight for the first time I soon caught up to the 140Z who had suffered steering damaged as a result of the turn 1 incident and for the first time since I've started racing I now found myself out in front. Although the 'Red Devil' was slightly injured he managed to come to terms with the now very skew steering wheel and thought what the hell, let's make something of this and pursued to give chase to the Datti. Boy was I now loving this. I was still pushing as hard as I could and the 140Z pushed me as if he was determined to give me a driving lesson. Nobody ever has been that close to my 'ass' going through turn 4 with not any place for a newspaper to fit between us. Down the back straight I would pull a slight gap (now in full knowledge) and by turn 5 he was back all over me like a rash. It was brilliant as I felt I was still in a serious dice and I was determined to give it my all still driving my lines and not letting the pressure get go me. At the end of the race it was Datsuns 1st & 2nd across the line while the 3rd placed car some 9 odd seconds further behind.

Now I do believe it was still possible for the 'Red Devil' to have simply disappeared into the distance but sanity prevailed and we made a spectacle of it, proof yet again that it takes a gentleman driver to sacrifice a most certain overall win and rather have the spectator at heart than his own personal interests. I will treasure this overall win for many years to come as it's unlikely to repeat itself. But hey, I'll take it which ever way it comes.

A brilliant prepared car and all thanks go to you boet.

Thanks 'boet'

Gone with the Wind.

The long and much awaited 'Ford & Friends Festival' eventually arrived and many made the journey up to to the 'friendly city' by car and in convoy. We departed in the early hours of Thursday morning and duly arrived just after lunchtime. By late that afternoon we had off-loaded both our cars and unpacked the cars finally covering them for the night where after we settled into a festive mood at the track. We had both set our personal goals and targets for the weekend and finally hit the sack by around pumpkin time.

Friday morning we were up early and headed for the track by 7.30am and duly preformed our ritual in preparation. Sadly and very disappointingly, history repeated itself again and once again prevented me from racing the Datti as it so also did in 2007. On my out and warm up lap with oil pressure at a good 4.5 - 5 bar on leaving the pit, by the time I had got to Chevy Sweep it was down to 1.5 bar and by Goodyear, 150m further ahead, it was down to less than 1 bar. I simply pulled back into the pit and there it remained for the weekend under cover. This meant I would now concentrate my efforts in helping where I possibly could in reaching the personal goals set by my 'boet' for the weekend. It was no doubt a tall order (no pain no gain I guess), but through careful calculations taken from previous visits to the track with similar machinery, we had a good idea of what we felt as doable. New tyres for a start were not available and he started off with a used set of 8 x 13" slicks. The morning session eventually produced times of around 1:12. With nothing having to be adjusted on the engine, it was down to getting saddle time and finding the limits of the tyres given the track and surface conditions. He again attempted a session after lunch with a few new ideas in mind as to where time could likely be made up. We re-corrected tyre pressures and took to the track once again. Although a further improvement was achieved that with posting 1:11's it was eventually accepted that the maximum had now been extracted from 8" rubber. Wanting to call it a day, I made the suggestion to put on the 10" rubber and get another heat cycle before Saturday mornings qualifying. He agreed and we made the change. Again we made the due tyre pressure corrections taking current track and air temps in consideration. Out he went again and after 3 laps he achieved his first personal goal, that of breaking the 1:10 barrier. In fact, unofficially the clock stood on 1:09.7 and whatever happened here after suddenly all became irrelevant. We called it a day with everyone congratulating the maestro in his achievement.

Saturday morning was again up early as qualifying was now to be done and we had prep to do beforehand. We duly went about making all the necessary checks and adjustments and made compensation for the early morning track and air temp conditions. Knowing how close the opposition was to our times, it was going to take a concerted effort to repeat the times we set our goals to. Lo and behold the 'magician' put his head down and on lap 4 put in a blistering official 1:09.956 and claimed pole position for race 1. I don't ever recall a 4-cylinder engine single overhead cam posting such official times around Aldo and a new benchmark had in all probability been set.

Race one saw the 140Z on pole with the 700HP 'Wesbank' late Owen Ashley built Capri Perana in 2nd position. By all counts the V8 should have had the legs on the straight to out run the 140Z going into turn 1, but at lights out for the start the 'giant killer' lead the Capri into T1 and opened up a gap through the tight back section of Aldo. By turn 8 (Goodyear) the 140Z had opened up a 200m lead only to have it closed to within a few meters at the end of the main straight going into T1 again. So the race went on with the 140Z consistently opening a gap sufficient enough to breath safely, or so we thought. By lap 5 they started catching the back markers and traffic was heavy, not everyone watching their mirrors closely enough as the express train approached with blazing headlights. This allowed the gap to be narrowed and on the last lap both the 140Z and the Capri Perana were side by side coming out of Toyota corner with the Capri on the inside race line and the 140Z on the outside. With neither driver prepared to relinquish their track space, the Capri touched the left back-end of the 140Z resulting that both went off in Chevy Sweep. It was now a case of who kept a cool head and got going again. The 'maestro' hooked second gear and rooster tailed it out towards Goodyear and came out sideways into the main straight. By now Robbie Smith (SMURF) had also got the Capri back on track and the express train was once again at full bore chasing the 140Z to the finish line. The 140Z took the finish by a mere 0.767 seconds ahead of the Capri and making it a very closely contested and well deserved race.

Minor suspension damage was endured in the coming together between the two and we duly borrowed the calibration tools and made the necessary wheel alignment adjustments as required. In the interim we had acquired 2 brand new 10 x 13" tyres from a local Ford supporter and decided now was the best time to put such weaponry to use. So we had them fitted at the track and duly sported a new set of front boots, ready for race 2.

Race 2 was to be very much of the same as race 1 or so we anticipated. At lights out though, things changed very quickly with the Capri getting ahead of the 140Z and Rose in the Porsche RSR now also alongside the 140Z heading into turn 1. No way would a 'hammer' out corner the 140Z and the Porsche duly slotted into 3rd place with the 140Z tucked right up on the Capri's back bumper. Turn 1 is a long right hander and the moment that Robbie looked up into his rear view mirror he had made the fatal mistake and locked up the front going into the esses and ran very wide. This allowed the 140Z through and this time there was to be no second chance. 'Mr Datsun' put his head down and peddled that 140Z as if there was no tomorrow and again opened up a substantial gap that put paid to anyone catching him unless through some mechanical failure or mistake. Such was not to be either and try as he may the 'Wesbank' V8 Capri Perana was given a thourough driving lesson on the tight 2.48Km track of Aldo Scribante.

Veni vidi vici.

Due to my unfortunate DNS my 'boet' offered me the chance to drive the 140Z in the 1 hour race. Not being one to want to race another mans race car (not even my own brothers) I humbly accepted with the provision that I would NOT attempt to finish the full 60 minutes nor attempt any heroics at lap times. This is one car I cannot afford to pay and have fixed. Well, all that is left to say is that it was absolutely and utmostly enjoyed even although by now the back tyres were finished and the tail was quite happy to hang out at any given opportunity. In total I managed to finish 16 laps on a 18 liter fuel tank and my best time posted was 1:15.7 during the race. After 16 laps I pulled in satisfied that it takes a better driver than me to make that red rocket fly in the 1:09 bracket.

Thanks again 'Boet' for all the efforts made in getting us to PE.

Hit & Miss and then I was OUT.

The bad day at the office continued but it did get better before it got worse. As I mentioned in my previous blog I eventually narrowed my mis-fire down to being the rev counter and as such from there on it should have been a walk in the park to fix. (Ha Ha). A new rev counter (bigger and better and more expensive) was ordered and duly fitted in the week after the last race of 6 June. All other minor and trivial checks were diligently performed where after on Saturday the 19th 'Mr Datsun' took it to the track to test and only to discover that the misfire was still prevalent above 7000RPM and in addition he was notified that the Datti was smoking unusually. So back to the workshop it went and on the Sunday it was stripped down entirely. The crank was attended to, new bearings, rings and even valve guides replaced. Urrrr.....what has that got to do with a misfire??? Dunno. The carburettors were stripped.....again.....cleaned.....again, serviced and finally put together again. By Wednesday late afternoon all the parts had been returned and assembly could now at last begin. In the interim I had arranged to have a complete new electronic distributor done complete with electronic module and coil, all pre-wired and ready to simply put in. I arrived that Wednesday evening (due to heavy soccer world cup flights already pre booked closer to the weekend) and by 22h00 that evening she was fired up. This time we had now put back half of the mods that were originally put on and then taken off in search for the misfire we had encountered on the 6th June. All satisfied with the assembly we let the engine run hot where after we switch off and went home. Thursday morning at 06hoo the under carriage was washed clean, re-torqued the head and the new electronic dizzy was fitted WITH new plug wires, new distributor cap and a new rotor. New ignition wiring was also done, an additional earth strap was made and attached to the engine casing. Again everything was tested and all sounded OK. What more could we still do. OH yes....fit the new SQP rev counter. Such was done with great attention to detail and great care to the wiring thereof. Once done a further test was again done and you will not believe it, the rev counter after all of this was still jumping erratically as it did before we started this whole effort that we had now gone to. F$%^^&*ck me what a waste of time.

Ok, calming down, we scratched our heads and started a process of elimination. First we also then noticed the alternator charging light not coming on when switching on the ignition. We disconnected the alternator and still the same resulting erratic jumping of the rev counter. Eventually frustration got the better of us and we called upon an auto electrician to provide further assistance. The charging module was subsequently also found to be faulty and was duly replaced. Now the charging light at least worked correctly. We demonstrated the erratic rev counter issue we were still faced with and even he (the sparky) was eventually puzzled by it all after all we'd done. Even the digital Alfano timer which incorporates a built rev counter was now also erratic as was the analogue rev counter. To cut a long story 'square', the 'sparky' then requested that we remove all external attached devices and only connect the timing light which had its own rev counter. We obliged as requested and again fired up. Smooth as can be. We then attached the new rev counter just bought and there it was back again. Final proof that 2 rev counters later, one used and one new, both had the same fault condition. We scrounged an old Mallory rev counter last used in 'Mr Datsuns' oval track days, wired it up and 'wha la'......we're back in business. It was now 16h00 on the Thursday afternoon. I attached the A-frame and hastily took it to the track to do the final test. By lap 3 I finally confirmed that all the gremlins had now been resolved and parked the car at last satisfied, washed it and put it back into the garage. As my tyres were of substandard rubber by now, I did NOT practice on the Friday so as to try and save what I could of the now defunct slick tyres and of which there is simply NONE in the entire country to buy.

Saturday Morning it was up early as per usual and down to the track. The car was fueled (minimally) and the tyre pressures adjusted accordingly. At o8h30 we had our qualifying session and the gremlins of a different nature were still upon me. On lap 1 going into turn 5 the car simply died (mors dood, vrek) and I was not able to restart it. I coasted into the pit and was further pushed to the pit garage. Eventually after a while it fired again and for some unknown reason which I cannot explain it was OK thereafter. I somehow hoped and prayed it was a shortage of fuel although I have doubt upon such theory. Race 1 was off at 10h30 but somewhat delayed due to a huge oil spillage which then first had to be cleaned up. We were then again afforded 2 warm up laps after the oil had been cleaned up and not having officially qualified or having posted a time I was rightfully placed at the back of class B and as such found myself right behind the HUGE back bumper of the V8 Studabaker, that of Andre Mouton, next to him Dave Alhadeff in the 2.0l Alfa GT with both 2.0l Scirocco's ahead of the 2 of them. I was tucked right up to Moutons back bumper and at lights out I nailed the 'loud peddle' and dived in between the Studabaker and the Alfa going into turn 1 and managed to take the V8 Stud before turn 1. Alhadeff in the Alfa held the inside line goinmg into T2 and I took to his outside holding him right through and I managed to take him going through the 'kink' and lead him into T3. At every conceivable corner I was tail sliding into the corner loosing time and feeling somewhat uncomfortable. I simply put it down to the worn tyres. What do I know afterall? On lap 5 I must have over done it going into T3 and the back simply got away having no grip (or so I thought) and resulted that I clipped the new T3 inside 'shark teeth' sidelining me with a damaged left front lower control arm. Although we had spares, the state of the tyres simply didn't warrant that we make all the effort and possibly have a bigger disaster through negligence or poor decision making. (I have also just been informed while still typing this blog that the likely result of my spin in T3 was as a result of either the lock diff or a side shaft breaking with drive now only to 1 wheel as confirmed by 'Mr Datsun.)

That allowed us to then spectate the rest of the day in T3 in the icy cold wind along with some die hard classic car supporters.

The moral of the story is, The Datsun GX and NOT the driver is still BOSS at this stage!!

A huge thank you again to my boet for making all the effort during the week and at night to get my car back on track for which I am forever grateful. Our next race will be the PE Ford & Friends Festival after which we will only be back at Killarney (by forceful persuasion) on 4th September.

Thanks ' Boet'

A bad day at the Office

It was bound to happen at some point in time. By all counts literally everything has always gone without any major hassle on almost every race day that I've competed in. Well, this one was different. Quite a bit of trick work was done on the Datti between the last race and this one done on 5 June. Nothing out of the ordinary was done either and merely included implementation of a multi spark distributor with rev limiting capabilities and a device to better control carburetor air flow efficiency. At least that was the planned and desired outcome of the modifications done. Fridays weather was overcast with cool air in circulation. We arrived at the track just before noon in order to do final prep for the afternoon practice sessions. The 140Z required a change in tyre from the 10" variety to a more subdued 8" variety. Some minor fastening was required but otherwise was ready to be tested. The Datti was as ready as ever with only tyre pressures and fuel requirements before taking to the track.

Our first session was out 13h40 but was somewhat delayed due to an earlier oil spill on track. We eventually took to the track eventually at 14h30. From almost word go, there appeared a hesitancy at around 7000RPM which has previously proved to have been dirt in the fuel system. After 3 laps it was apparent it was not going to clear and I duly proceeded to the pit complex. Again a strip down of the carbs was done and lo and behold dirt was again encountered in the float bowls but this time none in the needle and seat or banjos. The carbs were drained, cleaned and put together again. The air jets were changed for a slightly richer setting.

The 140Z on the other hand showed it was still well in contention albeit with a smaller foot print. No further testing would be required and the 140Z was put to rest for the day. I again took to the track at 16h00 for our last session only to find the same (misfire) problem still present. Again I returned to pit. This time the plugs were changed, just in case. The timing was again duly checked and the distributor was checked for any excessive wear/play on the rotor. The implemented air flow device was now removed as well. Everything else appeared normal and within acceptable allowances. All checks done seemed fine and she cleanly revved to 7000RPM. We would now have to wait for the morning during qualifying. A traditional 'braai' was had along with a few well deserved beverages.

Saturday morning and we got to the track at sparrows (06h15) and again prepped the cars for qualifying. By sunrise it was blatantly clear that early morning mist was present and resulted that qualifying was eventually abandoned for safety reasons. That left us in no better position for the race. Our first race was at 10h40 and the grid was now determined from our finishing results from our last race on May 8. As such I found I was now the meat in the Scirroco sandwich in class B with Sandro Biccari ahead and Johan Swart behind of me. I was now on new batting turf. A normal rolling start was done in which I got away cleanly and ahead of the class B cars but coming out of turn 2 the misfire was now again there at around 7000Rpm and getting worse by all accounts. It seemed to last longer and was more noticeable. I returned to the pits after the very first lap somewhat dejected by it all. The 140Z on the other hand was not in the same league as the Porsche of Keith Rose this time around due to being on the 8" tyres but none the less still put up another class X time of 1:22.8 thus ensuring his further participation therein. I in the meantime started stripping the carbs again in hope of finding more dirt. The 'Guru' eventually returned to take over from my endeavor and it was clear that ideas as to the problem were now becoming perplexing. We drained the very last drop of fuel, cleaned the tank, checked the fuel filter, removed the fuel header tank, cleaned it thoroughly, and again cleaned carbs which turned out to be perfectly clean anyway. We put that all together again and decided to go back to basics by further removing the newly installed multi spark distributor. We put the standard coil back and now hoped for the best. All our new imposed modification now came to naught after all of that. We now hoped that race 2 would be back to normal in which we would now start from the back of the field in position 23 by my own choice.

Our last race was at 15h15 and all and any pressure was now off me due to our mishaps. Everything seemed OK until I again hit just above 7000RPM when the misfire was again present. Damn, damn, damn I screamed inside my helmet. I tried to now do a final process of elimination and noticed firstly that if I backed off slightly the miss cleared. If I further accelerated it would again appear once reaching just over 7000RPM. Could it be carburation after all of this? I continued until I eventually noticed that as soon as the rev counter went over 7000RPM it suddenly shot to 10000, then back to 7000, again back to 11000. I suspected the shift control and turned this off with no change, then completely on also with no difference. All during this time I still managed to catch the class E and most of the class D guys but was unable to do so getting beyond 7000RPM. In a final and desperate attempt I tried to physically break the wiring going to the rev counter but was unable to reach the wiring sufficiently due to being strapped in and I eventually abandoned the attempt. The positive was that I finished the race and made up 11 places after all of that and still with a misfire. I can now only put it down to being a faulty rev counter which we will replace for the next race. A very frustrating weekend indeed.

The 140Z was having no such problems on the other hand and made a thoroughly enjoyable race with the other class X and class A guys, which from reports received, had the spectators most excited. The 140Z will now undergo engine maintenance for it's next encounter which will be in Port Elizabeth on the 14th August.

We'll show that Datti who's boss next time out Boet, you better believe it!!

Thanks 'Boet'

Guess who turned 21

Perhaps this is a good time to pay homage to someone who not only puts his money where his mouth is but actually delivers the goods and undoubtedly deserves more credit than is actually given. Not only did he choose to drop the compression ratio of his race car by a substantial margin so as to improve the reliability of his 4-cylinder engine, as well as to duly comply with breakout rule requirements, but he was equally determined to prove a further point by actually starting from the back of the grid instead of just the back of the class. In order to ensure optimum performance though you have to have a good handling race car and he therefore paid extra carefully attention this time to the handling department in every aspect. Having chosen to start from the back of the grid, it was therefore futile to qualify as it would serve no purpose in this instance.

Race 1 was off at 09h45 or thereabout with no warm-up formation lap. It was an out lap and a formation lap all in one and when the pace car pulled off, it was go. The 140Z carved its way through the field like a hot knife through butter and by lap 4 he was already in second place with only the Porsche of Keith Rose still in the distance. By the end of the race the Porsche managed to stay ahead and win by exactly 1 second. In the interim, the Datsun 140Z had posted a personal best time of 1:21.6. (That didn't help getting out of class X though.) Never ever has a 4-cylinder normally aspirated 8 valve engined saloon car been recorded doing such times at Killarney. You can say what you want to, but at the end of the day you simply have to admire the mans masterful race engine and race car preparation ability which is slowly proving unsurpassed at club racing level. What makes it even more amazing, is that it fully complies in every aspect of the rules with period part rule requirements having been met and having been duly verified as such by the technical committee.

Race 2 now saw the Datsun 140Z standing second on the grid next to the Porsche RSR. The start was again the same as the first. The German engineered flat six rudely stormed off and was soon hounded by the Japanese Datsun 140Z. At every opportunity that the Datsun had tried at to make a pass, the Porsche blocked the attempt. On lap 4 he tried it once too often and upon entering T3 the Datsun stuck his nose in as the Porsche does not have the cornering ability nor the corner speed to stay with the Datsun going through there. They approached T4 side by side, the Porsche on the outside the Datsun on the inside. Keith tried to cut across the Datsun but this time found the left front bumper in mid corner and came off second best. (As I recall, that was the second coming together with the Porsche RSR). The long and the short of it was that the Datsun walked the race by 5 seconds with the Porsche RSR knowing full well he'd been beaten fair and square by a superior car and driver.

On a similar path was the little Datsun GX Coupe now still in class C. Mr 'Datsun Guru' still having a book full of tricks up his sleeve had other ideas of me remaining there. Again changes were made between the last race meeting and this one but this time nothing further was done in the power plant department. Upon my arrival on the Friday I was greeted with a complete set of new brakes front and back and a complete different seating position. The steering had also been adjusted to match the new seated position. I tested for 2 sessions on the Friday and was most impressed with the new (unofficial) time and the changes that were made. Saturdays qualifying was the official proof thereof with a slower time of 1:28.7 while in race 1 an improved time of 1:28.2 (still 0.3 sec slower than the unofficial time done on Friday) was further done. Race 2 was done at a slower pace and I only managed a best 1:29.23. The damage however was already done in qualifying. Class B here we come. I now have to ask the inevitable question, has a 1400 normally aspirated engined car ever in the history of Killarney race tracks existence reached class B? I most certainly don't recall it.

Yes I was the driver and obviously played some role, but I stand up and salute you 'Boet' for constantly and confidently chipping away at the pinnacle of the ridiculous to prove to all and sundry that it CAN and HAS now been accomplished with may I say OEM parts which include the drive train (gearbox and diff) and brakes. I will also go on record as saying that even one of the HMC technical consultants thought this was now just a step too much to believe and that something must be going on under that bonnet. Well, we welcomed the opportunity to open up and allow his full unhindered inspection (purely out of his own curiosity) which to his utmost amazement could not believe that the achievements were actually done with an perfectly legal A14 engine on OEM front discs and standard road (NOT race) disc pads and with OEM drum brakes still fitted to the rear. He shook both our hands and said he now had sufficient evidence to prove beyond any reasonable doubt to whomever that you do not always need the best in racing parts alone as many always proclaim, but that given the proper setup with a good dose of race engine and race car preparation knowledge, he now had living proof right in front of his own eyes. Needless to say the Datsun GX Coupe won both its races done in class C for the last time.

My 'Boet', you not only amaze the racing world at Killarney, and elsewhere around the country I may add, but you still boggle my mind with your never ending attempt at going faster each and every race, with success, and all still within the allowable rules.

I truly salute your efforts.

Thanks 'Boet'.