Phakisa 2 hour 9^th June 2007

What a Fantastic weekend, not only the racing, but a great social event.

LOCOST RACING RULES !

Having been fortunate to run Phakisa twice last year I had been telling everyone what a fantastic track it was, right at the start of the year when the calendar was released I was determined to make a weekend of the two hour, with Superhatch running the event as a points scoring race I was committed to running the Laser, this left the Westie and the locost ‘available’, with Gavin having run the Westie all year he was the obvious choice for that car, Estelle has had quite a few practice sessions in the Locost and was just about ready to start racing, two hours can be a daunting race so a co-driver was required, Andre managed to wangle some time off work, so the Locost team was selected.

A frantic couple of weeks getting the cars and the new ‘Locost Service’ van ready left Ann to make all the necessary arrangements and bookings, a shopping trip to get Estelle kitted out made a huge dent in Vernons credit card, but things were going to plan, a niggly problem with the Westies alternator meant a late night working for me and Gavin on the Wednesday night, commitments meant he couldn’t leave Joburg on Thursday left him some time to finish the car off as the rest of us headed off early Thursday Morning.

The Joburg traffic caused some delays even at 6:00am, but we met at the Grasmere Wimpy about half an hour late, a nice breakfast and much discussion revealed quite a few nervous ‘first timers’ and not just the drivers !. The trip down was uneventful apart from “Pimp Daddy” (Estelles new name for the Van) struggling up the hills with its heavy load, I’m not sure whether it’s a blonde thing or a female thing but Estelle managed to christen just about everything with a name over the weekend. We arrived at the track around 10:00 to find a couple of motorbikes having taken advantage of the open track practice, as always a warm welcome from the Phakisa guys and we were unloaded and settled into our pits, a quick recce session in the Laser with Andre following in the Locost reminded me just how awesome the Phakisa track is, the familiar bump before the boot section has got bigger, but with the right line doesn’t cause any major problems.

Estelle was insistent she wanted a passenger ride to see the track so we went out in the Locost, no real hardship for me as I was keen to see how the Locost handled Phakisa having only run the Westie here before, a couple of laps to warm up the tyres on a very cold track showed no vices so I pushed her a little, a couple of laps on 2 minutes dead with a passenger wasn’t bad so I was very happy with the Locost, going into the two right handers at the end of the back straight flat brought the same feelings as it had before, I must admit to feeling a little sad I wasn’t running the Locost for the 2 hour.

Splitting into separate sessions with the bikes reduced our possible track time but that can’t be helped, even so the Thursday open practice is very valuable for any first timers to Phakisa. Next session saw me out in the Laser with Andre following, the Laser ran well and clocking up a couple of 2:04’s made me confident of a good class B result in the race, Andre seemed to be handling the track better on his second session, obviously pushing a little harder, then to my horror as I approached the final corner I saw in my mirror the Locost heading across the grass looking perilously close to the Armco, the car was still moving when it went out of view so I was hoping there hadn’t been an impact, as I came round the back straight I was relieved to see the Locost continuing, obviously no contact had been made. I was very happy with the Laser so I decided that was enough petrol and rubber used for the day.

We were fortunate enough to be running the DigiDash logger in the Locost so after the session we spent some time comparing laps on the computer, what a fantastic tool, being able to compare my quick lap with Andres and Estelles laps provided some great information and I’m sure helped the guys to improve in quick time. A few minor problems and niggles with the Locost meant Estelle didn’t get too much track time, although she did find a couple of interesting parking spots around the track :-), I’ll leave that for her to explain.

After checking into the hotel and a trip back to the track collect the lap timer beacon which I’d again forgotten to recover !, we headed off for dinner, the atmosphere was electric, much discussion and talk about the track, the cars, the race, I was very pleased to see that there was more excitement than nerves from the two new racers.

An early start Friday saw us at the track not much after 6:00, Estelle and Vernon following a little later, this revealed that Estelle seems to have a problem with alarm clocks, and whilst Vernon is an excellent Pit mechanic/organiser, his navigation might not be the best. The facilities at Phakisa are great so with the kettle sorted we were settled in and ready to go, I did one session on my ‘race’ tyres clocking up a couple of 4’s so I was happy for the day, after some confusions with the pit lane marshal and a visit to the COC Estelle returned having seemingly made a new best friend with the COC and secured herself more track time than just about anyone, must be Girl Power !. Both Andre and Estelle improved steadily during the day, Gavin arrived with the Westie close to Lunch time and immediately put in some good times, his reactions to the track made me realise he’d appreciated how enthusiastic I had been about Phakisa. Gavin had brought the rest of the ‘pit crew’ with him so Vernon took control and after much discussion the race strategy was decided, a couple of trips by Vernon organised the fuel and various bits and pieces and we were ready.

Friday evening we joined the SuperHatch ‘camp’ for an excellent evenings entertainment and braai, Mel and Gerhard had organised a ‘Zippy Nippy’ race around the pit areas for the pit bikes, mini motos etc, in fact just about anything with two wheels, and despite some hectic speeds there were no major injuries, a well organised prize giving and plenty of trophies and OBS made for a great evening, the Superhatch guys are a really great bunch they really know how to combine racing and social events and make everyone feel welcome. We left relatively early to get some sleep, a warm hotel bedroom being much more attractive then a tent.

Saturday qualifying at 11:35 meant a nice breakfast at the hotel, arriving at the track to find the power had been off since 1am and cold water in the showers convinced me we had definitely made the right decision on a hotel rather than camping. Vernon once again came into his own and had the pit crew organised, got all the cars ready, picked up a couple of issues on the cars which could have spoilt the race and generally had everything sorted in plenty of time. Tony, Brett and the gang arrived and as always jumped in to lend a hand, it will actually be a bit of a loss for us when these guys get racing we’ll loose the most fantastic crew. Qualifying went pretty well, I struggled with the Laser and only got a 2:06.1, happily pole for Class B Superhatch though, Estelle put in a creditable 2:05.4, and Gavin clocked an impressive 1:59.9 putting him in a good position on the grid. Fueling and preparing the cars, and the drivers briefing left little time between qualy and racing so there was no time for any nerves just a general buzz of excitement.

With everyone ready, strategies settled we headed out of pit lane for the warm up lap, some confusion over grid positions by a couple of guys in front of us was quickly sorted by the start marshals and we were all ready, the grid saw me directly behind Estelle in the Locost, alongside Mike Andreka in the Superhatch Class A Golf and a few rows behind Gavin. The safety car controlled the rolling start perfectly and it was one of the best rolling starts I’ve experienced, everyone in position nicely, a good run out of the last turn saw me pull alongside Estelle with Mike having pulled quite a gap, around turn one seemed to go well with Estelle slotting in behind me and Mike only a few cars ahead, and then mayhem, as we exited the corner a sports 2000 and a yellow Mazda were performing synchronised 360s directly in front of us, Mike managed to get through on the inside but I had to take serious avoiding action narrowly missing a Nissan going inside, I’m still not sure sure how I got through without any contact but I did, and was disappointed to see another Nissan, Ishmael in the Class A Golf and the yellow Audi TT/Toyota  get a better route through and shoot off after Mike.

Having got over the turn one nerves I settled down to try and chase down the two Golfs, Mike had got away but Ishmael  was having quite a battle with the two Nissans and I could see Mike was pulling away from us, turn one in lap two saw both me and Ishmael  get through on the first Nissan and soon we were chasing down the second one, I could see Mike ahead and we seemed to be keeping pace with him, a few laps later Ishmael  got past the second Nissan going into the boot, as we approached the back straight I saw waved yellows and we passed Ryans stricken Golf and quite a bit of debris on the track, having to go off line to avoid what looked like a hatchback rubber seal on the track let the two of them get away from me, but on the next lap Ishmael  took to the grass going into the boot and I started to catch back up. Another couple of laps saw me get through past the Nissan into turn two.

The laser hadn’t really felt to steady for the first part of the race, not sure whether it was the full tank, me or what but we were some 10 laps or so into the race before I got into the 5’s, and got on Ishmael s tail, finally he took to the grass again exiting the boot and I got through, I could still see Mike ahead and I set about chasing him down, around 20 laps into the race I finally got close to Mike and after quite a few laps of following him, loosing out on the straights, I got close enough to slipstream him on the back straight and show my nose on the inside at the end, Mike, the perfect gentleman that he is, left me enough room but didn’t at all give way, I didn’t have enough speed so I had to tuck in behind him round the two rights, fortunately I stayed close enough to be right on his tail on the pit straight and managed to get inside him into turn one and through in front. I managed to pull a couple of car lengths over the next couple of laps.

Our pit strategies had been set that Estelle would come in at around 50 minutes, Gavin around the hour and me around 70 minutes, as we approached what I estimated to be the hour I realised my fuel calculations were totally wrong, I’d arranged to pit at around 70 minutes, and left a can with 15 litres of fuel for the stop, checking my petrol gauge I knew that wasn’t going to be enough, and the petrol warning light flickering on the hour made me worried I might not even make 70 minutes. Each time I went on the pit straight I was desperately looking for our crew to try and let them know I’d need to come in early, I couldn’t see anyone, I later found out they were all busy working on Gavins car, I started to short shift to try and make what fuel I had last as long as possible which let Mike catch right up to me, eventually on lap 30 I saw the pink scarf, our signal, being waved from the pit wall, not a moment too soon, as I exited turn one the car spluttered, obviously fuel surge and I immediately moved over slightly and waved Mike through, by now he was right on my bumper and I didn’t fancy him running in the back of me should the car splutter again, I was a little disappointed having to let him through after leading for some 9 laps or so but I knew I was about to pit and hoped we’d need similar fuel so I should get another chance.

The pit stop went well, although I was frantic to try and let my guys know I needed more fuel than planned, this was sorted and we were back out, a slower stop than I’d hoped but I was confident I’d enough fuel.

Coming out of the pits showed a clear track ahead of me, so I settled down to try and get some fast laps in, not knowing where Mike or any of the other superhatch cars were, two or three laps out I saw Robyns Fiesta and quite quickly caught up, managing to use the extra power of the Laser to get past on the back straight,  another few laps and I finally saw Mikes car in the distance, hoping they’d had similar stop to mine I started chasing it down, I assumed that from the rate I was catching it was Terry driving, he seemed a little slower than Mike so I caught up within a few laps,  the M3 came past me going onto the back straight and at the end got inside Terry, this put him off line and I closed right up, managing to out brake him and get inside on the hairpin at the end, unfortunately he had the inside line for the last turn so I had to fall in behind him for the pit straight, I managed to slip inside him and we went through turn one side by side, we stayed this way all the way down to the turn before the straight into the boot, were again he had the inside line and got in front, side by side on the straight I had now got the inside line for the first section of the boot and got through, he tucked in right behind me and stuck to my bumper until we went through the two rights leading onto the back straight, I was watching in my mirror as he went a little wide between the two apexes and got a wheel on the grass, he then proceeded to kick up a huge dust cloud as he went along the grass, I was pleased to see he kept control and got back onto the tarmac quite safely, this had given me quite a lead and with no traffic in front and no worries over petrol I continued to pull away.

The race continued with me once again catching and passing the two Nissans, through the whole race I had only seen the Westie once or twice early on and not seen the Locost at all so I was wondering how they were doing, eventually I saw Gavin appeared in my mirror and caught me up quite quickly, I let him through on the pit straight and was happy to see him go on his way. We’d been told we’d get a 20 minute warning, board and I was sure were past that mark but no board, eventually I saw a 15 minute board, and then not long after a 10 and 5, after the 5 I noticed the Locost appearing behind in my mirror, and gradually he caught up, he was within a few car lengths by the time the one minute board came out so I knew this was the last lap, not knowing how the pitstops had gone and that I hadn’t been passed on track by the Locost I thought I was in front so I really tried hard on the last lap putting in my best time of the day with a 2:04.3, as we reached the end of the back straight Andre was right on my bumper, but I held my line not giving him any room to pass at all, we stayed like that through to the hairpin, as we came out of the hairpin I knew he could make a move into the last turn so I took a very defensive line through the turn and onto the straight, constantly checking my mirrors I moved left as we approached the line making Andre go the ‘longer’ way round and as we crossed the line he was almost along side, with me just taking it by 0.2 of a second, I was only to find out later that the Locost had had a quicker pit stop and I was only defending a lapping move rather than the race move, the Locost beating me by one lap.

The end results was great for me, only one lap behind Andre and Estelle, taking 10^th overall, As far as Superhatch was concerned I’d taken 3^rd overall, 1^st in Class B, beating two class A cars in the process, when the Index results came out I was over the moon to see I’d taken 2^nd place overall. The organisers decided not to do a prize giving which was a little disappointing and issued the trophies out to the separate classes, however Roy did the SRA prize giving were Andre and Estelle received their SR3 second place Trophy with Gavin taking Third, we then rushed across to the Superhatch guys to collect my trophy for a Class B win.

An absolutely fantastic weekend for the Locost Team, despite Gavin having mechanical problems he still finished the race, three cars out, three cars home a great weekend was had by all.

All you guys building and even considering racing must definitely set the Phakisa 2 hour as one of your targets, lets make it a huge Locost event next year, for those who want something sooner there’s a three hour down at East London Nov/Dec, we’re already making plans for that one :-)