Well our 'little' Westie Rocam did it again, not only impressed us, but impressed quite a few others at Kyalami in the dark !

    We were fortunate to get invited to compete in the SRA 1 hour Enduro at the Winter SCC races at Kyalami, with a scheduled start of 18:00, a compulsory pit stop and one hours racing in the dark, it was just too inviting to resist.

    After a few phone calls to various people just to confirm our little 1600 'bantam engined' Westie wouldn't get in the way of the SRA's impressive sports machines we happily entered knowing full well if we didn't finish last it would be an achievement.

    The SRA was formulated in 2003 to provide endurance racing for various sports cars, aimed mainly at the 'Prototype' style of cars, their grids comprise a variety of cars from Chevron's & Tiga's, through to ACD Nardini's, VSP's, Shelby CanAms and even the impressive Porsche 956 Le Mans Car of Franz & Ruan Prestorius. Cars are classified on a time basis, based on a Zwartkops lap time, SR1 are sub 1:05, SR2 sub 1:10 and SR3 above that time, with our best times being in the 1:15's we were well below the average and fell into SR3. Various other competitors joined the grid with a few Porches, a TVR and a couple of GT40's, so we were amongst some impressive machinery.

    Time prevented us getting the SEiGHT ready to compete, so we decided that Gavin and I would share the driving, the compulsory 3 minute pit stop giving us the chance to do a driver change. Friday practice saw us join in with the saloon car sessions, as Gavin hadn't driven Kyalami in 'anger' before we decided to go out in the first session with me driving and Gavin in the passenger seat, with only one Kyalami race under my belt I was deemed to be the most 'qualified'. A good 30 minute session and a relatively clear track gave us both some good experience of the Kyalami track, during the morning we both got a good session each driving 'solo', and were pleased with our best times around 2:11.4, Gavin beating my best by 5/100ths of a second, the afternoon sessions were getting quite full and the heavy traffic prevented either of us bettering our times.

    The sessions were all quite interesting, the Porsche guys in the GT3s and Supercup cars were impressive with their straight line speeds showing us just were the little 1600 was lacking, although on cornering speed we also impressed ourselves at how close we appeared to most of the field. Keeping up and passing a few of the slower 924's gave us both pleasure, being passed by Franz in his 956 gave me the fight of my life, he seemed to come from nowhere and went past me like a jet fighter catching me totally by surprise and leaving me in his 'jet wake' like I wasn't moving. The practice sessions gave us both some good experience, and we were both impressed with the courtesy and standard of driving of the SRA guys.

    It was agreed I would take the car for the 17:00 qualifying, and luckily we went out at the correct time to complete this in the daylight, I managed a 2:11.8 to qualify 23rd, or second last, one better than we had imagined. The planned 17:30 Night time practice for the Enduro guys was cancelled so that some car company could do their official launch of an RS4 or something, Yawn !, this left us both a little apprehensive with the prospect of our first night time experience being the actual race.

    We spent Saturday watching the racing from various points on the track, whilst all the events were good to watch the Porsche and VW challenge guys providing some excellent entertainment, the total lack of spectators highlighting one of the major problems with SA motor sport,' Joe Public' doesn't know what he's missing out on, a full days entertainment for a minimal cost. I think both of us got more nervous as the day went on, the phrase 'Hurry up and wait' which we often hear in the pits being really appropriate for the whole day, finally we made our way to the pits to get ready.

   We decided as I had done the qualifying, Gavin would go out first, the general reasoning being that if the car, or driver, didn't make it at least Gavin would have had some laps under his belt. Some confusion about whether it was a rolling or grid start added to the butterflies in the stomach for both of us, but as we were at the back of the grid Gavin seemed quite happy to deal with that issue when it arose. It must have been quite an experience for Gavin, his first 'Race Start', in the dark, on Kyalami !. Standing on the pit wall was probably just as nerve racking for me as it was for Gavin sitting in the car. Anyhow the rolling start went off perfectly well and Gavin tucked in nicely behind one of the Sports 2000's for the first lap or so, as we counted the laps through he steadily made his way up to about 16th position, fortunately, for us, quite a few cars seemed to drop out on the first few laps, and with the faster cars lapping the back markers quite early on it was difficult to keep track of actual positions. An oil spillage on lap eight saw the safety car come out, and in traditional F1 style everyone dived into the pits for their compulsory pit stop, this threw our plans of a calm 13 lap pit stop into total disarray, and saw me running across the pits to grab my helmet and gloves whilst our 'pit crew' desperately tried to clean the oil (not ours fortunately) off the screen with my socks and a flask of water !.

    I got ready and was strapped in the car just in time to get out after the 3 minute mark, now for my first night time experience, as I reached the end of pit lane there wasn't a car in sight, now normally I suppose this would be ideal, but the problem was as I left the glare of pit lane it was pitch black !, I could just make out my turn-in point for turn one and as I turned I could see the kerb on the right, but from their the track was nowhere in sight, what followed was the scariest lap I have ever completed,  without a car in sight either in front or behind I 'tiptoed' round in an abysmal 2:44, the next lap was done from a combination of memory and guesswork, I adopted a method of turning in were I thought was right and desperately looking for the apex of the corner appearing out of the dark. After a couple of laps one of the faster cars caught and passed me, this helped considerably having a set of lights ahead to help see the track, at this point I wished I'd gone first I'm sure being able to follow other cars would have helped for the first few laps.

    Kyalami can be a daunting track during the day, I can tell you at night it's terrifying, yet thrilling at the same time, after the pit straight turning into one was OK, enough light from the pits area to judge the turn in, but turn two was completely black, my method consisted of following the right hand kerb until it 'looked about right' and then turn left and look for the apex appearing, after the apex let the car drift right till the opposite kerb came into view and look for the small reflective board which indicated were the marshals post was on 3, aiming to the right of this generally found the apex and 3 and 4 became one turn onto the old pit straight, the straight, the turn into the right hand sweep and the run up to clubhouse weren't too bad as there was some light, however from clubhouse it was darkness, the marshals post gave an indication on were to enter the Esses but the right hander of this had one line through between the kerb and a load of gravel on the track, up the hill wasn't bad as the headlights seemed to show more as the track rose, however my daytime 'targets' of the trees on the horizon were nowhere to be seen so the entry into Westbank was 90% guesswork, simply praying that the Wesbank boards appeared out of the darkness at the right place, the mineshaft wasn't too bad and the bridge was visible giving a good indication for braking into the bowl, which was in total darkness, however an extra light did get turned on halfway through my session which made things much better, it helps to see an apex before you hit it !. This now led to the worst part of the track, the chicane was pitch black and the headlights showed absolutely nothing until you'd started to turn in, I was fortunate in only making one trip across the grass by turning in too early, the last turn into the pit straight was lit by the pit lights so that was OK, the run along the pit straight reminded me of the many times I've watched Le Mans on TV..

    I eventually settled into a rhythm and the lap times came down, I could see from the timer that Gavin had done a 2:18, so I was feeling a little disappointed my first five laps were in the 20's, these started to come down, I started to catch and pass a few cars which gave me more confidence and I eventually made a 2:14.4, which must have been the hardest work I've done on a lap yet, on the next lap a car in front of me went slightly off on turn 4 and left a cloud of dust most of the way down the old pit straight, the dust reflecting in my headlights was worse than any fog I've ever experienced and I had no forward vision for most of the straight, after this I settled into steady 15/16s which seemed a sensible pace,  as the laps ticked over I saw the starter preparing the chequered flag, and was quite relieved we were almost done, another couple of laps and the flag dropped.

    The atmosphere in the pits at the end was electric, I think everyone had had a fantastic experience, we certainly had, we couldn't find any results anywhere and decided to stay for the prize giving which the SRA guys thoughtfully arranged to do in the pits, I think the Marshals Boma would have been long gone empty by then. I think both Gavin and I enjoyed soaking up the atmosphere and discussing our experience over and over. When the results were announced we could hardly believe it, out of 9 SR3 cars, mainly Sports 2000's and the like we were placed 2nd, and to cap it all on the overall Index of Performance we were also placed 2nd, so not only had we had a fantastic experience we cam away with a trophy each, and one shared trophy to take pride of place in the Locost Pits at Zwartkops.

    I must say a big thanks to the SCC as event organisers, and in particular to the guys from the SRA for arranging the enduro, inviting us and for their warm and friendly reception, and especially to our 'pit crew' Ann and Scott, Andre and Tanya, Warren.and Ken, and to the other Locost guys who came along to support us, and of course to 'Mr Bean' who, as always, came along with us, he wasn't too keen on the noisy sports cars though :-)

    Racing at night is a totally different, and often nerve-racking experience.

    Would I do it again..... YOU BET I WOULD !. When's the next one Grant ?