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Monday, 28 November 2016

Through darkened skies, rays of hope beam down........

“Challenges are what make life interesting and overcoming them is what makes life meaningful.” – Joshua J. Marine

As tough as what 2016 has been, having to make changes, having to adapt to circumstances and having to overcome medical difficulties including surgical operations, perseverance has been absolute key in coping with most of these as well as overcoming some of the many other challenges.  During December 2015 my Boet spent the festive season with me and during that time a clapped out yet still roadworthy Datsun J was acquired with the intention of building it to race car in 2016.  It was duly transported down to Cape Town where was slowly built all while the build up of the engine, transmission and suspension parts were also slowly collected and assembled.  Many curveballs were also thrown in during this time and the challenges were huge BUT the 'never say die' attitude is at last about to be triumphant.  What would have taken only a few months to build under normal circumstances has taken close on to a full year to achieve the same result.  At times I guess it would have probably been a lot easier to just throw in the towel and to simply walk away due to not being able to do what you once could do but as I have stated before, that is not how we were raised.  Within the next few days or so, the final product of perseverance through pain and discomfort will finally be revealed.

My creation of this photograph somewhat depicts the dark days of difficulty during these times against the backdrop of Killarney race track with the race car nearing its final completion and shining from above are the light rays of hope indicating that all is not yet lost no matter how difficult it may be at times.


As my Boet is unable to physically do the testing driving of the car himself, he has asked me to be his test guide and for which I am truly honoured in having been asked to assist him with.  We do tend to take our racing rather personal and the edge of competitiveness that has existed between us is still there, so do try and understand his frustrations during this difficult time.

The final touches must still be completed during this week but most of that is now in the capable hands of the bodywork fitters and trimmers and the sign writer.  During the course of this week (28 Nov - 01 Dec) these final touches will be made and I will only make the trip down to Cape Town on late Thursday afternoon to see it 'in the flesh' so to speak.  Friday (02 Dec) all going well I will get the opportunity to commence the test procedure, the bedding in process and the final setups in the hope that by the end of the Saturday (03 December) we will have reached our target lap time goal.  All going well it should then be ready for the commencement for the 2017 season and it will make its official race debut during the Passion For Speed event to be held in the first week of February 2017.

Thanks Boet
Hang in there!!