Phakisa 2 Hour 9th June 2007

Gavin’s Race report:

We arrived at Phakisa Friday Morning and the temperature was colder than JHB. The Westfield was unloaded and made ready for a few practice sessions.

This is another track I have not raced on and to me it was a great experience and in my opinion better than Kyalami. Estelle and Andre were also here for their first ever official race and were just as excited. They were both driving well .

I tried for almost the whole day to get below the 2 minute mark and eventually got down to a 1.59.72. This was with an old set of tyres..

Qualifying on Saturday I fitted my race tyres but could only managed  a 1.59.99, the car would not steer around a left hand corner. I waited for cold tyres and lowered pressures all round hoping this would work in the race. I was in 10^th position on the grid behind one of the Cobra’s.

The warm up lap started and I was ready for the rolling start sticking very close to the Cobra. As we came onto the start finish line I planted the throttle and hope to at least stay behind the Cobra but 2  Golfs blasted past me on both sides, One was a VW challenge car and the other the class A Superhatch of Ryan. The first corner was mayhem as one of the Sports 2000 spun and with everybody trying to take evasive action I managed to slide past the Cobra and a few others without any mishap.

After 3 or 4 laps I caught the 2 Golfs and had a bit of a battle with Ryan in the class A golf and eventually got past on one of the corners before the back straight. On the following lap Ryan was trying to close the gap and I saw him go off behind me. I caught up to the VW Challenge Golf and had my best battle to date. The 2 of us had a major fight and swapped positions at least 3 times a lap, this went on for about 12 laps. I would pass him in corners and he would slipstream me just before the back straight and pass as he had the top speed advantage. The only thing I could do was to change my strategy and get him before the start finish line as this would let me pull away around the tight part of the circuit. I caught him in the corner just after the high speed corners after the back straight and as we came into the pit straight I managed to get next to him and out braked him for the left hander after the pits.

This was what I needed and I managed to then get away and start chasing the others. My decision to lower the tyre pressure a lot lower than normal paid off as The Westfield was performing perfectly .I was consistently in the low 1.59 and  high 1.58’s, my best lap was a 1.58.5.

Lap 18 or 19 as I approached the flat out right hander before the back straight My feet started burning and all of a sudden the car filled with hot coolant and steam. I backed of immediately as the temp started climbing. I made it to the pits to the surprise of the crew as Estelle was supposed to come I first.

I was upset as I had lapped the entire field up to 9^th place.

The problem turned out to be a T Piece fitting that broke on the pipe to the expansion bottle.2 other problems were the alternator bracket had lost a bolt and a vacuum pipe had come off. Warren refuelled the car and Vernon and Renier had the wheel change done in no time. Fortunately Tony was on hand and managed to fix the problems but unfortunately I lost 24 minutes in the pits. Big thanks to Tony.

I got back out onto the circuit and after a slowish lap to make sure the car was ok I was soon back down to business with the car running as before. I started lapping the back markers again and gained some laps back. I was really pushing and had just shot past the white Fiesta of Robin when one of the Cobra’s caught up, I saw him coming and moved left to let him pass, I should have kept my line as I went onto the slippery part at the side of the track and went into a spin and ended up close to the barrier. I got back onto the track and caught Robin at the high speed corners after the back straight. I got past her on the pit straight. After a few more laps I was just starting really enjoy myself when the chequered flag came out. I could easily have done another hour. I was 12 laps down by race end.

This has got to be my best experience to date and event though I did not finish where I had hoped it was a brilliant day. Bring on the next endurance. A big well done to Andre and Estelle, it was an excellent result for their first time out, and well done to Brad for showing Superhatch how its done.

Big thanks to Vernon, Warren & Renier for the pit work.