[ BUNKER RACING ]: Forums / Race Reports / Zwartkops Race Report 24/07

Home Gallery Forum Calendar Advertisers Arcade Contact Us YouTube

[ BUNKER RACING ] :: Forums :: Bunker Racers :: Race Reports		<< Previous thread \| Next thread >>
Zwartkops Race Report 24/07


Moderators: bunker, rob_dbn, witblitz, BlouVis, Dante, rickyC

Author

Post

BlouVis

Wed Jul 28 2010, 11:31AM

VTec Kicked in YO!!

Registered Member #26

Joined: Wed Mar 19 2008, 08:49AM
Posts: 4218

Race Report – Zwartkops Raceway – 24/07/2010

With the Firequip Honda’s successful Debut at the Midvaal race approximately a month back I had in the interim concentrated on getting the cars appearance up to scratch and started with getting the dented exterior sorted and the Firequip decals on the car, I had also fitted a seat and Repositioned a few items on the interior to make driving the Honda a little more comfortable. I had found the cam belt was at less than suitable tension but with no m ore time decided it would have to do as i ' d run out of time with the car spending most of the interim either at the panel beaters and sign writers

Friday Practice

The Crisp Friday morning Prior to race day had finally dawned and I was headed for the Zwartkops arena circuit, With a few final checks and fuelled up I was out in the first session and the car felt well hooked up from the get go. After a few shake down laps I was happy and parked her,

Second session out and I was more than happy with the Honda and decided to get the car cover on and avoid unnecessary incident or breakages

Saturday Race day

5pm and I was awoken by a very monotonous blackberry alarm tone, but on realisation that it was race day I emulated a gazelle and leaped out of bed ,getting Stacey out of bed however was to be more of challenge,

By 6:45 we had arrived at the track and where greeted with beautiful weather, it seemed winter had taken leave for the day, our 7:45 qualifying was approaching and with a few final checks the Honda was ready to hit the track

Qualifying

I lined up near the front of the pack as to avoid traffic, but with the 22 car field this still proved difficult, the car was on rails but traffic still plagued me from getting a quick lap in, Crossing the line after 5 laps I noted 37 seconds left of the session, with clear track ahead of me this was to be final attempt, I put together a good lap until turn 5 where the brake Peddle hit the firewall and I barley came to a halt before the tyre wall, I put it down to the ABS not kicking in and Pulled into the pits on the same lap, I had qualified 5th , with a mere 0.002 Separating me and the fourth placed Juan Gerber . Adrian Dalton, Jannie Van Rooyen and Jose had qualified in the low 1.13 second bracket and had broken the previous lap record by more that 2.7 seconds

Race one

Starting from the outside line, which would become the inside line for turn two I had good prospects for the race ahead, I had Juan Gerber directly next to me and the much Quicker Class B’s ahead of me, Bunched up and with race about to start stayed Glued to the bumper of the car ahead, Turn one and all was well, Juan still adjacent to me and when approaching turn two I slammed the brakes hard and attempted to out brake him when…. Nothing, the brakes where non existent, with one of the major advantages of the Honda being the brakes this was to be a huge disadvantage to my race result,

Through turn Four George Economides and Jannie Van Rooyen had perhaps tagged each other and where pirouetting into the gravel track, luckily the field got through the mayhem with no incident

Through out the next few laps I had fallen prey to Juan and Andy Gossman, my old Rival, by Lap 2 I had a fast approaching JP Nortje in his Toyota and Rob Prece Just behind him, with the car being near impossible to Drive I considered Pulling the car in as it was not very safe driving with no brakes, with a quick slap to the head I stopped my homosexual tendencies and soldiered on, I found that if I braked 200 meters from the corner the Remaining brake pads that where working just slowed the car down enough, and with the two fast approaching cars behind me I had to go defensive into every corner and lost loads of corner speed , Luckily I had a straight line advantage over Rob and JP, , Rob did eventually get past but I soon caught up again and made a pass, Where evades my memory though, with close to Zero braking power and defending my position from the two vultures behind me the last lap board came out, with JP breathing down my neck he stayed to on the outside line through turn 5 and followed me through turn six and seven , into turn 8 he had the inside line and I had no choice but to relinquish the position, rob followed the line but luckily I pipped him by a ¼ car length and the race was done, Well Challenging but slightly nerve wracking

After the race I stripped the Pads out and Found there was no more Pad on the Left Front Disk, Problem found and I was off to beg borrow or steal some suitable Pads, Gary Gordon From Honda spares Came to my aid with a good second hand set of Ferrodo’s and I quickly changed the steel plates gripping my brake discs for some Race Pads. Rookie mistake which wont be made again

Race Two

With a Sorted race car for the second heat I found myself way down the field in 12 place , with the field tightly bunched up the race was ready to start, I had the inside line into turn one but the outside line in the nearby turn two ,I stayed glued to the car ahead of me and passed jp up the inside of turn one and with enough corner speed I drifted the car onto the inside line for turn two and dove up the inside of Juan Gerber and found myself right next to him with Jurgen just ahead of me

it was a drag race all the way from turn 2 into three and by turn four I attempted a move up the inside, Juan was quick enough into turn four to hold his position , into turn five I dove up the inside, side by side we went into the shoebox complex, I had made the pass but had Juan breathing down my neck, with Jurgen just ahead i chased as hard as I could, he was quicker into turn one but I had advantage over him into turn two, we stayed glued together with Juan Still hard chasing from behind, we where also catching Andy Gossmans Golf a little ahead, a lap later into turn 7 Andy and Jurgen touched sending Jurgen into a bucking slide, I saw a gap between the two cars and took it but unfortunately Jurgens uncontrolled car pounded me on the rear bumper unsettling the car, I kept composure and Jurgen and Andy continued ahead, I still had Juan Gerber tailing me throughout the ordeal , I again got close to Jurgen and with better drive out of turn two put myself on the inside of him approaching turn 4, Side by side we went through Turn 4 and I out braked Him into turn 5, with Andy a good 5 car lengths ahead I put my head down and attempted to catch him, two laps later and I found myself on his bumper out of turn two, the old rivalry was reborn and I knew the battle ahead was not to be an easy one, I attempted a move up the inside of turn four but had the door shut on me, again I gained position up the back straight and tried to get Andy up the inside, while on the power I drifted toward Andy and tapped him, and lost ground to him again ,

falling back to Jurgen and Juan, for the next lap I defended with all I was against the two chasing golf’s and finally found a bit of space , with three laps remaining and a slightly battered car I again set my sights on Andy ahead,

when crossing the line for the final lap I was a car length behind and we remained glued together through turn two and three, into turn four I tried to make a pass up the inside but was again cut off , ½ a car length between us into turn five and I out braked Andy, but he was still next to me out of turn 6 we where still joined at the hip , Andy flat on the power drifted into my side Returning my earlier nudge I had inflicted on him, but there was enough in it and I crossed the line just ahead of him ! 4th in class but what felt like a F1 win at Monaco!

The second Race certainly reminded me why we race, although not at the sharp end of the field the best race I have ever taken part in

With a Decent gap to the Two Hour Endurance at Phakisa at the end of august we hope to extract some more horsepower from the little Honda as well as ensure reliability for the Race, with a now good understanding of the Honda Hopefully we can challenge the boys at the front next time out

As Always Huge thanks must go to the Firequip Family, Dave, Alison, Wade and Daleen, and a special thanks to Dave and Elms for making there way to the track for the first Race

Link

959 Panelbeaters,Uncle Charles, Aunty Coleen and Shaun for the ongoing support

Stace, my number one supporter who is behind me all the way

The bunker Racing/Volksie Spares Boys, Rob and Pete, Even though I’m in a Honda, the boys are always there lending a hand and providing support