Reggies ramble...

After a disappointing result in East London due to two blown turbo's and tire problems in all three races I had no idea what to expect for our final round at Kyalami.

Returning from two hard cycle races, first van Gaalens MTB race and then 94.7 roadrace where my wife came up with the "great idea" to do two laps I had a very clear head and approached Kyalami with the a good mindset.
My plan was simple, have fun, drive the wheels of my Rough Rider BMW....and stay out of trouble-which I have been fairly good at lately...

Team ADF race Engineer Vic Maharaj asked me to come do a couple of shakedown laps at Zwartkops on the Friday before the race. My first frustration came after being stuck in traffic and arriving late.... I arrived to see Anthony out in my car setting some quick times. I don't mind him driving my car as he is a great teammate, honest and fair. I slid into the familiar cockpit and felt that the car has changed dramatically....for the better! Traction and power delivery was optimised and I knew it was up to me to make this weekend ...or break it.

As we shared the Kyalami event with the international "Superstar" category we were to race on Sunday for the first time with qualifying and practice on Saturday.
Leaving the pits behind Anthony I saw that I had a slight edge on him which meant one thing, I was on it for the weekend as he is never slow, despite running a 1mm smaller restrictor and more weight he has a crafty way to hustle his Afrox BMW to the top of the time sheets.

Despite being quickest I felt that we could improve slightly by eliminating some oversteer through the fast corners, this was a bad move as the understeer got worse and I lost some mid corner speed.

*Note:
Oversteer: when you go through a right hander and look through the left window (M3)
Understeer: when you go through a right hander and look through the right window (Golf)

We found the sweet spot for Qualifying and I managed to put it in 2nd position for the first heat and in pole for the feature (longer) race with Hennie's Subaru showing a great turn of speed. The Subaru team has been allowed more freedom on modifications which has clearly helped them. This has happened a couple of times to ALL teams in the championship and I cant help but feel that these "amendments" are costing everyone money over time as the the goalposts gets moved by different teams every race.....

Hennie had a brilliant start and I slotted in between him and Johan Fourie as I know there are two wild guys on the first lap with Johan being one of them....the other one was lying in second position.... ;)
It was soon clear that Hennie had brilliant pace and despite me applying as much pressure as possible he didn't put a wheel wrong and took a much deserved victory.

For the second heat the first six cars gets reversed on the grid which means I had to start in fifth. I had a great opening lap moving up to third before Anthony made my life easy by opening the door for me to hunt down Johan which had already built up a small lead. I put my head down and pushed  hard as I knew I could close the gap and that a titanic battle was about to unfold...keeping in mind Freddie telling me to look after the car for the last race. I got onto his rear bumper and I was starting to plan my attack when the V6 Audi engine exploded in a great plume of expensive Indy Oil smoke. As much as this handed the race win on my plate, my heart bled for him as he retired through no fault of his own and with Johan being one of the spirited drivers I knew how it would upset him.

I started the third race knowing that it would be a fine balance between getting away from a hungry pack while still looking after my precious Bridgestone Potenza's... I did a fairly fast warm up lap and went hard from the start with Hennie snapping at my heels. Despite the black rain clouds moving it was still very hot and I saw the Subaru dropping off slightly before he got passed by the Audi of a hard charging Tschops Sipuka. Despite setting the quickest lap in two of the heats it was the first time he challenged for victory on the day and I knew I had my work cut out for me as I saw him getting slightly bigger and bigger in the rear view mirror. While concentrating as hard as I could on hitting the apex at every corner and not sliding the 335 around too much I saw the team signalling that I must slow down with arms waving over the pit wall. A combination of both Anthony and Melvill suffering with tire problems and our cars being fuelled for 10 laps when the race was lengthened to 12 laps without our knowledge caused some serious concern.
On the second last lap entering the famous Sunset corner I felt the all too familiar vibration of a tire delaminating but thanks to a 2 second lead I could nurse the BMW to the finish of the final production car race in first position. It was the first time in many races that I shouted with jubilation as I crossed the line.... and said to myself "this is why we do this!"

I could not thank Team ADF enough for a perfect car and I was totally overwhelmed by the support and well wishes in the form of hugs, high five's and more from all over!

This was a very special weekend for me and I would be honoured to dedicate it to my very good friend Bevan who passed away recently. I would love to say that he was in the car helping me but we were just not sideways enough to believe that!
Bevan showed me that it doesn't matter how sideways things get, you keep fighting the wheel till you catch the slide.....in racing and in life.

The end of the season has come and gone and I am looking forward to an exciting 2011. If all falls int place I will be in a "fresh" 335, and my aim is to start off where we finished this season.

I know coach Russell is gonna keep us in shape over December with many miles to be cycled, stairs to run and blood to be lost to be stronger, fitter and faster for the production car and cycling season ahead... bring it on!

Thank you for all the support, and keep an eye on this page for the odd ramble, rant or laugh!

Reggie A111