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Wednesday, 21 March 2012

To be, or Not to be.

Well the 2012 championship season finally got underway for us albeit on a slightly wrong footing.  By that I mean that we suffered quite extensive engine failure on the Datti on the Cape South Easter weekend (2 in fact) while the 140Z was of a slightly lesser nature, it too required attention, besides minor body work repairs.  We thus resigned ourselves to the fact that both time and money were not in our favour and we would have to make do with what we had.  As such, it was decided to rather park the 140Z and rather race the SSS as it would save some time in getting it more or less race ready as well as provisionally accept that class S was no longer which suited the omission of the 140Z.  That's another story for another day.  As for the Datti, well we only had our last A14 block left and had to best prepare it to be as competitive as was possible.  'Mr Datsun' best applied his mind and truly produced another gem of an engine.  All that was left to do was some suspension adjustments and ride height settings on the SSS and we were ready to go.

We gave each car a test run on the Friday midday session and I was satisfied with both the setup and lap times even although I was unable to break a 1:30.  The SSS on the other hand showed signs of brake inefficiency and clutch problems.  Not wanting to spend hours looking for the fault it was decided to rather replace the clutch slave cylinder as it was still the original from the car while the brakes were bled all round.  Thereafter both the clutch and the brake pedal felt fine and we would now have to wait for Saturdays qualifying to see the results.  Was it to be?  We at last settled down to our traditional braai along with some stalwarts and die-hards eventually finishing up around pumpkin time.

Saturday saw us classic car guys having to sweep the track as we were first up in qualifying.  We did our usual prep work and just got on with it.  The weather was perfect for racing and on my 4th lap I peddled the Datti down to 1:29.8 which I was satisfied with given what we had and thereby placing me 2nd in class B and 7th on the grid.  It afforded me a realistic fighting chance, but was to be?  Meanwhile the SSS showed an improved pace and managed a 1:26.05 placing him 3rd on the grid.  'Mr Datsun' was not overly joyed with the brakes and clutch but felt that it should last for the day.

Race 1 was first up at 10h00 and our usual rolling start was done.  Having tucked up to the Scirroco of Biccari I kept the Datti in with chance going through both T1 and T2 but soon fell prey to the Zakspeed of Jeptha.  Not giving up I watched as the Scirroco ran wide in T5 and again in T1 on lap 1 and thought I had an outside chance of catching him should he slip again.  In the interim I had the Datti now well in the low 29's  eventually posting a 1:29.0 on lap four but coming out of T3 I could hear a bearing knock.  I slowed on the back straight and pulled off before it had any chance of destroying my last engine. Meanwhile the SSS was up there but slowly falling back as the 2 front leader headed off into the distant.  By lap 4 the brakes had faded and had to be left foot pumped to ensure just enough brake at the end of the straights all while the clutch required double clutching to engage gears.  Mr Datsun held on for another lap and in turn allowed the MkI Escort of Hawkins through going into T5.  In reaching turn 1 on lap 6 there were no more brakes and the double clutching was no longer effective but somehow managed to allow 3rd gear to be hooked.  The revs climbed, the rear locked under compression and the rear stepped out with a very capable Nismo unable to catch it and spun coming out of T1 where upon it stalled in the middle of the track.  A frightening few seconds past by as the rest of the field charged by eventually allowing him to exit the car and miraculously push it himself off the track and in so doing preventing a red flag situation.

On his arrival to parce ferme he confirmed that the Datti had indeed run a bearing which put paid to the rest of the day.  He too felt that the brakes and clutch on the SSS was not repairable and we thus both called it a day spending the rest of it in T3. It was NOT to be!

We have now both sat down and worked through what needs to be done going forward on both the SSS and the Datti but again time is the determining factor. As such the Datti may not be ready in time for the next race in April.  The SSS will also need a different approach but of even greater concern is the 140Z.  Will it race again and if so, where and by whom?

A brilliant little motor was prepared which really impressed me for the first 4 laps but ultimately, it was also NOT to be!!

Thanks 'Boet'