Lichtenburg 12th August 2007

    My race reports always tend to go on but this weekend seemed to be packed full, so I make no apologies for the novel below, if you don’t enjoy my loooong reports then don’t bother starting to read :-)

I had planned on leaving for Lichtenburg early Thursday morning but with the Womans Day / Trax Day happening at Zwartkops that wasn’t going to happen, It’s probably just as well as things tuned out. The Van was stuck in the garage awaiting the arrival of a new injector pump from the UK so I had to cut down on my ‘packing’ to fit everything in the Isuzu. We had been unable to sort out a house/dog sitter so this was to be a weekend on my own so at least I could fold down the seats to fit stuff in.

A visit on Wednesday to my local BP garage started off the pre-race panic, despite the fuel strike supposedly being sorted they had no petrol, the next two garages had no 95, we had to find petrol both for the Trax Day and the race weekend, luckily the Sasol garage on he way to Z had 95, so after a sorting some things out at Zwartkops we loaded the Isuzu with four 20l and three 25l drum to fill on the way home, 155l of fuel, over a grand jeez when you fill that much it hurts. However first problem solved and the fuel was organised. Wednesday night packing reminded me that the brake pads I’d ordered over a week ago hadn’t been delivered, a 5 o clock phone call and the Thursday holiday meant they weren’t coming till Monday. A hunt round my old pads found a set of well worn pads, that I thought might just last for Lichtenburg.

Thursday was an early start to get things ready at Z for the Trax Day, once all was sorted I headed for the pits to get the Laser ready, after the last race at Zwartkops I knew the tyres wouldn’t last for Lichtenburg so I’d had to get a new set sorted, it hurts to have to take new tyres to Lichtenburg as that track just eats them up, I fitted the new wheels and tyres and started checking pressures,  the left rear was way down, knowing it was brand new tyre that hadn’t even rolled made me do the normal ‘spit on the valve’ test, this revealed the problem, unfortunately not the actual valve but where the fitting is in the wheel. Now I was worried, being a holiday I didn’t know whether any tyre places would be open. I threw the wheel in the Isuzu and headed off, I went to Circle Tyres first being the only one I knew of  near Z, a heaved a huge sigh of relief when I saw they were open, the guys there were great, tyre off, new valve, nitrogen and balancing, and he only charged me for the nitrogen, will recommend them to anyone, and there just down the road from Z. While I was waiting I popped into the Autozone to see if they had brake pads, and was surprised to find out they carried the Ferodo pads in stock, so another problem solved, or so I thought.

Got back to Z, fitted the fixed wheel and decided to put the pads in before I left, much easier in the pits at Z than in the dust at Lichtenburg, only when I took the old ones out I realised I’d confused the Locost and Laser brakes and got the wrong pads !, rang Autozone with the right pad no this time, and they had stock of those as well, so another trip down the road, back to Z, pads fitted, everything looking good, so I loaded the trailer and spent the rest of the morning at Z watching the ‘goings on’ of the Trax Day. It’s not often I get chance to stand on the wall at a Trax Day, but I was pretty impressed with the Formula Renault going out doing consistent 1:01s round Z !.

This is my first season in SuperHatch, and not only have I thoroughly enjoyed it I’ve been fortunate to do pretty well, going to Lichtenburg I was comfortably in the lead in class B and had a three point advantage over Martin (Class A Golf) for the overall championship, being in different classes we don’t actually race against each other on track, but score points in our respective classes, this makes it much more complicated than just finishing in front of each other, so at Lichtenburg with the usual low entries it was very important I did well.

After a late lunch with the usual Locost team I decide to set off for Lichtenburg, pulling away from Z I left with the site of Mr Bean pulling at his lead to come with, he was obviously very upset at me leaving without him. The run to Lictenburg was OK, the roads not too bad as long as you don’t get stuck behind the big lorries, overtaking them with a trailer can be tricky. Arrived at the track just before 6 to see Mel and some of the SuperHatch crowd had already made up their ‘squatter camp’. With the car unloaded and a couple of drinks we all headed out to Dirk’s place, as always the whole family made everyone welcome and we were spoilt with one of Maddies excellent curries. An early night was in order and as the ‘squatters’ headed off for their camp I made my way to the guest house, Gerhard called me a moffie for not camping but I remembered the ice on the cars last year, and a warm guest house seemed a much better idea to me.

With a fine bacon and egg breakfast and a couple of pots of coffee inside me I got to the track at around 7:00, to see most of the squatters were already out of their tents. Dirk arrived soon after and they got the kettle out, so another coffee was found and I was ready for the day. Once the ice was cleared from the cars I was one of the first out, the track didn’t seem much different to last year apart from the bottom of the hill going into the last bend, there was an almost perfect line of pot holes right on the braking line, after a couple of laps I managed to find enough tarmac between these and the edge of the track to get a decent line into what is one of the most important corners on the track, 15 or so laps saw me clock a few high 54’s with a best of 54.6, knowing the Class B record was a 55.3 I was happy with that. A second session clocked regular 54’s and a best of 54.3, so being pleased I decided that was enough rubber used and settled down to be a spectator for the rest of the day. Sorted out documentation, scrutineering and a transponder, gave the car a quick once-over and all was set for the following day. I spent the day watching the other SuperHatch guys in practice, Nic (Class B Opel) , whose pretty new to racing, this being only his second SuperHatch race, showed a huge improvement over his last outing, and I could see he would give me serious competition, he was clocking regular low 55’s, and with Lichtenburg being a narrow track overtaking would be difficult, in SuperHatch we run a reverse grid based on the last race so I would be starting at the back of the class B grid. An enjoyable braai on the Friday night was finished off with one of Terry’s ‘special’ coffees J and off to the guest house for another good nights sleep.

 Saturday morning was much warmer than Friday, and with another excellent breakfast I was at the track early, no ice on the cars, so a quick wipe of the dust off the windows and we were ready. SuperHatch were last on the list so I watched some of the other qualifying before we were out at 9:30, I got on track second behind Martin with the plan of trying to stay with him for a few laps to try and get a tow up the hill, the plan failed when I made a total mess of turn 4 and saw him disappear down the hill without any chance of a tow, a couple of laps trying to avoid tripping up Mike (Class A Golf)  saw me only managing mid 55’s, I knew this wasn’t good so let Mike go through and tried to get my head ‘into gear’, a 54.8 finally came but I knew Nic was capable of that sort of time so I kept on pushing, as I came up the hill again I saw the chequered flag to end the session, but having made a similar mistake before I kept my foot flat and didn’t lift till I was well passed the line, my last lap showed a 54.3 on my lap timer so I prayed the timing carried on for the last lap.

Mark had been watching the times with the time keepers and came down to report that Nick had a best of 55.5 with me on 55.8, I was annoyed at myself for not having got a better time but then Mark revealed he had left the timekeepers before we’d crossed the line, so I waited for the official results. After what seemed like a very long time the results came and my 55.3 had been clocked I took class B pole with a 55.353 with Nic on a 55.510, that was one point ‘in the bag’, and checking the Class A times I saw that Mike had pipped Martin by less than 5 hundredths of a second to take pole, that meant my championship lead had increased by the point. I should have been more relaxed but I could see Nic was going to give me a hard battle in the race, and with the reverse grid I was very apprehensive of the start.

As always at Lichtenburg the day ran to schedule, our first race was at 12:40 and we were on time, the always present pre race tingle was worse than normal as we line up on the grid, class B being Nic on pole, Mel alongside, Claudette behind Nic and me at the back behind Mel, a delay sorting the grid out and my realisation that I couldn’t see the lights over Mels car made the nerves worse, I prayed Mel would get off the line quick as I would have to rely on watching others go rather than the lights. Mel got a good one and was almost straight away on Rinus (Class N Toyota) bumper, I was pretty quick with my reactions and was straight on Mels bumper, someone in front in a class A car bogged down on the start and the whole left hand side of the grid looked like a Joburg traffic jam, as me and Mel sailed down the inside passing Claudette and Nic as they battled with the Jam, I think I screamed for Joy as we went through turns one and two with only Mel in front, it was the dream start I’d prayed for. I relaxed quite a bit in the first lap seeing Nic and Claudette battling behind and falling away, I concentrated on Mel in front, as we approached turn two I thought of diving for the inside but saw waved yellows so I tucked in behind her, the cause of the yellows turned out to be Terry (Class A Golf) who had gone wide and was sat at the side of the track waiting to join back in. As we approached the last turn on the second lap Mel defended the inside line and gave me a much better line through the turn, coming out I had more exit speed and didn’t have any problem pulling past her on the long uphill Mel tucked in behind me into turn one and stuck to my bumper through the ‘twisty bits’ I had struggled with turn four all weekend and Mel was quicker through there so going down the hill she was pushing me, as we approached turn five she made a move to the inside but her brakes locked, looking in my wing mirror I saw the Opel heading straight for me with all four wheels locked, there was nothing I could do and just looked straight ahead and braced myself for the bang, Mel managed to get it slowed down just enough and we got away without touching, this left Mel with a terrible line through the corner and I was able to pull a safe distance on her up the start finish straight.
            I carried on concentrating on chasing down Andrew (Class A Golf) all the time checking my mirror to see Nic, Mel and Terry having quite a battle between themselves. This was slowing them down and allowing me to keep a good gap on them. I’ve battled with Andrew on quite a few occasions and despite the different classes I’ve managed to pass him a few times before on other tracks, however with Lichtenburg being so narrow there was no chance, a few half hearted attempts at getting inside him made me realise it was too risky, the last thing I wanted was contact and the inevitable off, so I sat behind him all the time watching my mirror.  I saw Terry had got through and was catching me quickly, Nic had finally got past Mel and wasn’t far behind. With 4 laps to go Terry was right on my bumper, normally being in different classes I might have let him through but he was a useful safety buffer between me and Nic, I was defending most of the corners but my problems with turn four and his extra power down the hill gave him a big advantage into the final turn, his first attempt saw us going through turn five side by side, the bumpy track surface made this very nerve racking but we both gave each other just enough room and no contact, a better exit and me defending the inside up the straight allowed me to keep him behind for another lap, a good lap from me saw me catch Andrew and not have to defend turn five, I could see all the time Nic was catching up behind Terry. I really wanted to get past Andrew for the extra car buffer but there just wasn’t the room and with a lot of my concentration on my mirror it didn’t happen, another lap with Terry right on my tail and side by side through turn five made it an enjoyable race, the next few laps were spent staying as close as I could to Andrew, every Lap Terry got so close at turn five, and we went through side by side another couple of times, we passed the line and I saw the last lap board, Nic was right behind Terry so I didn’t want any problems on the last lap, Andrew got a slow run through turn three so I tried to get inside him on four, I didn’t make it but we both came out slow and Terry got inside me down the hill, Andrew defended turn five so I ended up on a very wide line this let Terry through and he pulled ahead on the exit he continued to pull alongside Andrew and I tucked in behind him, at the flag Terry just got Andrew with me just behind, you could have covered the three of us with a blanket as we crossed the line with Nic just over a second behind. A class win made me happy, and a good race as well, Martin had gone through to win class A so the championship standings stayed the same. When the results came out I was pleased to see both Nic and myself had broken the class lap record, with Nic on a better time of  54.72 to my 54.92.

 Race two came at 16:00 with the sun getting lower, I’d run the track late in the day before so I knew what to expect, Mel and myself were in the same positions on the grid, Claudette and Nick having swapped positions from the first race, again I couldn’t see the lights so had to rely on watching the cars in front, Mel got away well again but Robyn (Class N Fiesta) in front of her bogged down, Mel took to the grass in an attempt to get past but Robyn finally got away, Mel came back onto the track, in the meantime Claudette had got in front of Robyn, Nic tucked in behind Robyn in front of Mel, leaving me right at the back of class B, Mel defended the inside of turn four but I stayed wide and got a better line out, I pulled enough on Mel to get her down the hill and came out of five right on Nics tail all the way down the straight and across across the line, into turn one Robyn got inside Claudette and Nic took a wide line through, seeing the opportunity I stayed tight and got my nose inside Nic into turn two, he’d obviously seen my move and held his line rather than squeezing me out, thanks Nic !.
            Now I felt better and set off after Claudette, on other tracks I haven’t had a problem catching Claudette, with the Laser having the edge on power, but at Lichtenburg the advantage didn’t help, it took me three laps to get on her bumper and as we crossed the line I pulled alongside and we went into turn one side by side, quite scary as the outside line I was on is full of ‘marbles’ and quite twitchy, Claudette, as always wasn’t making it easy and she held her line, going through the inside of two she got in front, she defended all the corners for the next lap but again coming out of the last turn I got a better run up the hill, this time a got enough in front to take the inside at turn one, and I was through, Claudette didn’t give up and pushed me hard through two and three, forcing me to defend the inside line at turn four, I still hadn’t got turn four right despite the track time, and as I went in on a very tight line I took a lot of kerb on the inside and found a pot hole right where the kerb starts, this threw the car completely off balance and I could do nothing to stop Claudette passing me on the outside and shoot off down the hill with me tucking in behind her.
            The next ten laps continued much the same, turn four had now become my Nemeses every lap I lost time to Claudette there and down the hill following but then on the straight I’d pull right alongside her,I just couldn’t get enough to get the inside line for turn one, every lap she’d pull inside on the straight forcing me to go outside and then hold her line for the turn, very frustrating for me but admirable on her part. I was really pushing Claudette getting very close on many occasions, we didn’t touch but the gap between us on many corners must have been extremely small, all of this happening with Nic right on my bumper, according to the guys watching the race it was quite a spectacle, the event was televised and I’m looking forward to seeing it on TV.
            Finally with two laps to go I forced Claudette into a very defensive move into Four and got a much better run through, tucking in behind her I got a good tow down the hill and moved out to force her to defend the inside of turn five, the last turn, this gave me a much better run and I was inches off her bumper as we came out, this gave me the little bit extra I needed, I pulled out of her slipstream got alongside earlier on the straight, as we approached turn one I watched my wing mirror and reckoned I had just got in front enough to pull in and take the inside line, it was very close and I hated closing the door so close but I knew it was the only way I was getting past, I’d noticed while this was going on we’d crossed the line showing the last lap board, all I had to do now was a clean lap and stay in front, this time no mistake even turn four was pretty good, and I think Claudette was now pre-occupied with Nic all over the back of her, I came out of the last turn with a comfortable lead over the two of them, I saw in my mirror Nic pulled a good move coming out of the turn and managed to pull past Claudette on the straight beating her by only 2 hundredths of a second, with me a couple of seconds ahead.

This has to be the hardest, but most enjoyable race I’ve had yet in SuperHatch, Claudette again earning a lot of respect from me for the way she drove,  both Nic and myself breaking the original class lap record, this time with me having the better time of 54.44. I was really elated, another class win which I really didn’t think I would have managed, meant this was the best I could have hoped for, when we finally came in I was pleased for myself, but actually disappointed for Martin to find he’d only managed third in class A, this meaning I’d increased my championship lead by three points on the whole event.

The day was rounded of with a 45 minute ‘allcomers’ endurance race, basically a 45 minute race with a compulsory 1 minute pit stop open to all,  a rather poor entry of 11 cars was disappointing, but any excuse for a long race is always welcomed by my, we had around 20 minutes between the last SuperHatch race and the allcomers, so a quick re-fuel and oil check, at the last minute I decided to remove my ballast weight, SuperHatch classes are worked out on power to weight, so if have more power than the class ratio allows you have to carry weight, plus at the moment I’m having to carry 40kg success ballast, some of this ballast is made up of a couple of flywheels bolted into the passenger side of the car, Gerhard duly obliged and in no time at all the flywheels were out, this probably lightened the car by some 30 kg or so, but with a full tank of fuel I was still running at around 1060 kg.

No qualifying for the race meant grid positions for the rolling start were first come first served for the rolling start, I ended up on the third row, right behind Mel as in the SuperHatch races, having had some experience of rolling starts with the SRA races I was hoping for a good one, Gerhard who had taken pole position was clever with the start and caught the guys alongside and behind him napping, the narrow track and Mels ‘wide’ Opel made it impossible to get through on the start  although with the traffic I managed to squeeze past on the first lap, and made another place on the second lap, some of the Silver Cup and the one Challenge car were much quicker on the straights so I settled into what I later found out was 6^th place,  some good dices with some of the fast Super Saloon cars kept me busy then on the 9^th lap I saw waved yellows and the safety car board, next time round I went into the pits for my compulsory pit stop.
            After the one minute wait I was out again, and to my dismay saw that Nic in the Opel was the cause of the safety car, he’d obviously gone off in turn one and from my view looked to be heavily buried into the tyres. On the next lap I caught the train behind the safety car and we went round for three or four laps behind the car and I was able to see Nic out of the car and looking OK, the Opel was towed away out of my sight so I didn’t know how much damage had been done. The safety car pulled in and we were off again, I had quite a quiet race with only a few short dices, although to my great pleasure I finally got my head round turn four, and was exiting some 15kph faster than I’d been doing all day, I knew my lap times were better but unfortunately my on-board lap timer wasn’t picking up, I found at the end of the race somebody had unplugged the battery on my beacon on the pit 'wall'!
            Later in the race I was happy to see Nic back out on track, apart from some serious tyre marks on the rear hatch the car looked OK. One scare I did get during the race happened towards the end, after Charlene in the Silver Cup Honda had passed my going down the hill we went into turn five with me stuck to her bumper hoping for a good tow up the hill when she just seemed to slow right down midway through the corner, I was just quick enough hitting the brakes not to run straight into the back of here, after the race we laughed about it, her Honda’s ECU had decided to go into ‘limp’ mode right in the middle of the corner !.
            At the end of the race I was extremely pleased to see I’d taken third place with only three of us on the same lap, I was also impressed with my lap times, with a best of 52.869 and a second best of 52.9, faster times than the SuperHatch A Class guys had done all day. I’d also scored third on index of performance, so it was a great way to round off a good days racing.

The day was finished off with the prize giving, two trophies and maximum SuperHatch points for me, the day couldn’t have been much better. After prize giving the Silver Cup guys were having a braai to celebrate their 15 year anniversary and all were invited so another great evening was had.

 A big thanks to Glenn and the guys and marshals at Lichtenburg, as always a well run and excellent event, just a shame about the deteriorating track surface, by the end of the day the approach to turn five was at the very least scary with all the surface breaking up, I know Glen is desperate to find sponsors to help with the huge cost of re-surfacing, I do hope he’s successful as Lichtenburg is always a friendly welcome and one of the better ‘away’ venues.

 As always the SuperHatch ‘camp’ was very jovial and welcoming so made for a great weekend, I almost regretted not having camped in the ‘squatter camp’ but on remembering the ice on the Friday morning it was just ‘almost’.

 Kyalami next on the 8th August, due to the 'problems' of the Pro Tour we've been squeezed into the event in a single 15 lap race combined with Super Saloons and Silver Cup, the grid should be close to the maximum 52 cars and with such a mixture of performances should be an interesting race.

Brad
 Ford Laser #36B