Wesbank racing is the BIG league in racing and to be chosen to be a part of the huge event which also includes Production cars, VW Polo Cup, Formula VW is always a privilege to be a part of. Saturday 26th September 2009 was no exception and the Mighty Datsuns were there as always. Due to the large number of championship events it was impossible to afford everyone equal track time and to a degree is understandable. The classic car brigade were afforded 90 minutes practice on the Thursday only with no other time to be afforded. Having only arrived on Thursday evening that put paid to any practice time for the Datti. It was also predicted well within the week that a 60% chance of rain was expected on race day and lo and behold it was on schedule as predicted.
Friday was pretty busy most of the day with minor checks and changes being made on the 140Z but more so in the lube department. It somehow felt it was taking forever but ever so frequently a head would pop in to say hello (pardon the pun), make some chit chat with even the odd youngster asking 'hallo unkle, can I take a pitsser of you ka', jusus is nice neh. You just have to love them!! (If Martin could have charged a rand for every photo taken this weekend it would have paid all the costs for his 2010 race season!!)
Among the visitors were none other than Sarel 'Supervan' vd Merwe who was mighty impressed with the 140Z but chose to rather donate the FWD sticker given to him to Terry Moss to put on his Citi Golf. Equally impressed and also somewhat taken aback at the effort to detail was Colin Clay who himself raced a Wesbank space frame version of the 140Z as well as the person who actually subsequently bought Colin's wesbank car (his name escapes me now). A mighty eventful day none the less. As for the 1400 Datti, well not much was required to be done other than a good wipe down (or so I thought). We were to officially qualify last of the day at 17h40 but due to some minor delays were only off at about 18h00. The light held up (just) enough to put in a quick lap or two. Not expecting too much given that no practice was afforded the 140Z got down to a 1:24.1 while the little Datti could only post a 1:34.0. Not exactly the greatest times by both cars but most certainly nothing to be ashamed about. It all comes down to delivering on race day. The subtle SMS's received during the week as to expect surprises from certain race quarters to trounce the 140Z was anxiously awaited.
Saturday, race day and the classic car guys were first up on the program and scheduled for 09h35. The 140Z managed to start from 3rd on the grid with the Rotary in 2nd spot and the Can-Am on pole. (Incidentally the Can-Am is officially the first classic car to break the 23:5 cut-off by more than 0.3 sec and therefore now falls into class X. His qualifying time was a blistering 1:22.8). A rolling start got the field off to a good start in somewhat cool weather conditions but the pace up front was everything BUT cool. Rolino was as usual all over the place with the power from the 'bucking bronco' Can-Am but hold on he did. The 140Z did manage to eventually squeeze into 2nd place but Carolin in the Rotary held on for dear life. The dual upfront was hot on every conceivable lap. Further down field the Datti was in a brilliant dice again with the class D guys (Jaco & Jonathan) and the pace was brisk. The Datti was unfortunately sliding all over the show which was somewhat unusual. This time the track could not be blamed for dirt, or lack of rubber and I had to take all the blame myself. As the weather continued to cool I guess I simply miscalculated for the cooler track conditions than usual and over inflated the tyres explaining the lack of heat & grip. In a tussle with Jaco (Anglia) I did manage to get down to a 1:33.6 but only on the 6th lap. The brakes were also playing up which we corrected for the 2nd heat. By then it was too late, Jaco had got passed me going through T3 and managed to hold on for the win. Me now being in class C and out of the points contention made it fruitless to try and over drive the car and settled for 2nd in class C with only Dave being ahead who beat me by 4.3 seconds to the finish. Meanwhile the battle up front continued unabated and finally resulted in Rolino taking the win from Carolin then Martin and then Rose and posting times of 1:23.7, 1:23.5, 1:23.93 and 1:23.96 respectively. It was later heard to be rated as one of the best (if not the best) races of the day.
Race 2 was then last of the day again and was off at 17h45. This time however the weather had changed and rain was the rule of the race resulting in full wet weather tyres being required. Unfortunately not everyone had a set available and the field was reduced to 16. This time as a result of Rolino (Can-Am) not starting along with Carolin (Mazda Rotary) and Momberg (Capri) it was the 140Z who found himself on pole with Rose (Porsche 911 RS) second and the likes of the 2 FWD Sirocco's in 3 & 4 spots on the grid. The Datti found himself in 6th spot on the grid alongside Alhadeff (Alfa GT) in 5th place. Again it was a rolling start after initially having formed up on the start finish line grid with the 140Z blistering off as if it was a dry & glorious sunshine day. The rest of the field tried as best to keep on the wet black stuff. The Datti managed to pass Dave coming out of T2 and through the kink albeit somewhat hair raising moments but the Datti performed above expectation. This time around I learned from the first race, when cooler, go lower. And by midway through the race I was out on my own, however not until the unexpected Meisner Y151 tried to out do the 1400 Datti. I allowed him through with full knowledge that this was a class A car after all and stuck behind him. 
It was soon evident going through T2 that the car was in control and not actually the driver and then later on the main straight again almost collecting the wall. I decided this was not the best place to be and managed to out drag the Class A Escort from T2 as my wets were now at there best and I never saw him again. With all due respect to Louis, 'marie biscuit' intermediates just didn't cut it in those weather conditions and he finally managed finishing in 9th place. It was during the 6th lap when believe it or not mister 140Z actually LAPPED me coming out of T5 and I was then in lonely 5th place. What can I say!! When you're good, you're brilliant. The supposed onslaught from the German FWD brigade never even materialized and they were finally trounced to a 56 second hiding in the WET!!
Having beaten Dave (who finished a most respectable 8th) by 15.5 seconds during the 2nd heat it thereby afforded me in my very first outing, an overall class C win. They say that in racing you need luck. I just had GOOD luck. (In Yiddish its called 'glick')
Well done to all the drivers who took part as I don't either recall any unfortunate offs or oopses. We now have a long wait again until the last and final race of the season only in November. Till then, stay well!!
Thanks 'boet'.
Friday was pretty busy most of the day with minor checks and changes being made on the 140Z but more so in the lube department. It somehow felt it was taking forever but ever so frequently a head would pop in to say hello (pardon the pun), make some chit chat with even the odd youngster asking 'hallo unkle, can I take a pitsser of you ka', jusus is nice neh. You just have to love them!! (If Martin could have charged a rand for every photo taken this weekend it would have paid all the costs for his 2010 race season!!)
Among the visitors were none other than Sarel 'Supervan' vd Merwe who was mighty impressed with the 140Z but chose to rather donate the FWD sticker given to him to Terry Moss to put on his Citi Golf. Equally impressed and also somewhat taken aback at the effort to detail was Colin Clay who himself raced a Wesbank space frame version of the 140Z as well as the person who actually subsequently bought Colin's wesbank car (his name escapes me now). A mighty eventful day none the less. As for the 1400 Datti, well not much was required to be done other than a good wipe down (or so I thought). We were to officially qualify last of the day at 17h40 but due to some minor delays were only off at about 18h00. The light held up (just) enough to put in a quick lap or two. Not expecting too much given that no practice was afforded the 140Z got down to a 1:24.1 while the little Datti could only post a 1:34.0. Not exactly the greatest times by both cars but most certainly nothing to be ashamed about. It all comes down to delivering on race day. The subtle SMS's received during the week as to expect surprises from certain race quarters to trounce the 140Z was anxiously awaited.
Saturday, race day and the classic car guys were first up on the program and scheduled for 09h35. The 140Z managed to start from 3rd on the grid with the Rotary in 2nd spot and the Can-Am on pole. (Incidentally the Can-Am is officially the first classic car to break the 23:5 cut-off by more than 0.3 sec and therefore now falls into class X. His qualifying time was a blistering 1:22.8). A rolling start got the field off to a good start in somewhat cool weather conditions but the pace up front was everything BUT cool. Rolino was as usual all over the place with the power from the 'bucking bronco' Can-Am but hold on he did. The 140Z did manage to eventually squeeze into 2nd place but Carolin in the Rotary held on for dear life. The dual upfront was hot on every conceivable lap. Further down field the Datti was in a brilliant dice again with the class D guys (Jaco & Jonathan) and the pace was brisk. The Datti was unfortunately sliding all over the show which was somewhat unusual. This time the track could not be blamed for dirt, or lack of rubber and I had to take all the blame myself. As the weather continued to cool I guess I simply miscalculated for the cooler track conditions than usual and over inflated the tyres explaining the lack of heat & grip. In a tussle with Jaco (Anglia) I did manage to get down to a 1:33.6 but only on the 6th lap. The brakes were also playing up which we corrected for the 2nd heat. By then it was too late, Jaco had got passed me going through T3 and managed to hold on for the win. Me now being in class C and out of the points contention made it fruitless to try and over drive the car and settled for 2nd in class C with only Dave being ahead who beat me by 4.3 seconds to the finish. Meanwhile the battle up front continued unabated and finally resulted in Rolino taking the win from Carolin then Martin and then Rose and posting times of 1:23.7, 1:23.5, 1:23.93 and 1:23.96 respectively. It was later heard to be rated as one of the best (if not the best) races of the day.
Race 2 was then last of the day again and was off at 17h45. This time however the weather had changed and rain was the rule of the race resulting in full wet weather tyres being required. Unfortunately not everyone had a set available and the field was reduced to 16. This time as a result of Rolino (Can-Am) not starting along with Carolin (Mazda Rotary) and Momberg (Capri) it was the 140Z who found himself on pole with Rose (Porsche 911 RS) second and the likes of the 2 FWD Sirocco's in 3 & 4 spots on the grid. The Datti found himself in 6th spot on the grid alongside Alhadeff (Alfa GT) in 5th place. Again it was a rolling start after initially having formed up on the start finish line grid with the 140Z blistering off as if it was a dry & glorious sunshine day. The rest of the field tried as best to keep on the wet black stuff. The Datti managed to pass Dave coming out of T2 and through the kink albeit somewhat hair raising moments but the Datti performed above expectation. This time around I learned from the first race, when cooler, go lower. And by midway through the race I was out on my own, however not until the unexpected Meisner Y151 tried to out do the 1400 Datti. I allowed him through with full knowledge that this was a class A car after all and stuck behind him. 
It was soon evident going through T2 that the car was in control and not actually the driver and then later on the main straight again almost collecting the wall. I decided this was not the best place to be and managed to out drag the Class A Escort from T2 as my wets were now at there best and I never saw him again. With all due respect to Louis, 'marie biscuit' intermediates just didn't cut it in those weather conditions and he finally managed finishing in 9th place. It was during the 6th lap when believe it or not mister 140Z actually LAPPED me coming out of T5 and I was then in lonely 5th place. What can I say!! When you're good, you're brilliant. The supposed onslaught from the German FWD brigade never even materialized and they were finally trounced to a 56 second hiding in the WET!!
THADULPHUKEM or like someone else said, 'DATTILPHUKEM'.
Having beaten Dave (who finished a most respectable 8th) by 15.5 seconds during the 2nd heat it thereby afforded me in my very first outing, an overall class C win. They say that in racing you need luck. I just had GOOD luck. (In Yiddish its called 'glick')
Well done to all the drivers who took part as I don't either recall any unfortunate offs or oopses. We now have a long wait again until the last and final race of the season only in November. Till then, stay well!!
Thanks 'boet'.
No denying datsun of a b!tching car is now TOO quick!!
ReplyDeleteCongrats to you and boet on jobs well done.