SuperHatch - Midvaal 12th May 2007

    The cracked front disc at Wesbank forced me to do some work on the front suspension of the Laser, probably as well I hadn't looked closely before as I would probably not have raced it, new shocks, top shock mounts, ball joints, wheel bearings, discs and pads should put things right and I was looking forward to an improved 'front end'.

    Friday morning was very quite at Midvaal, probably due to them being the only track which charges for Friday practice !, three session had me putting down times in the low 1:21's, I was quite happy with that as they would put me at the front of class B, Midvaal is notorious for tyre wear and I can certainly vouch for that, the rubber taken off my tyres was so much that I knew if I ran any more on Friday they wouldn't last for the races, so we came home to collect the Westfield and get it to Midvaal for Gavin as he hadn't been able to get off work Friday.

    Saturday Qualifying was at 7:20, and with no scrutineering on Friday and only scheduled to 'open' at 7 we knew things would be hectic, so a very early morning leaving home at 5:30 meant some sleepy eyes on the drive there, made good time with virtually no traffic, luckily the timekeepers and scrutineers were early so no major headaches there. Got out for qualifying and with a very cold track spent a couple of laps warming things up, me included !, I settled in on the third lap to do a 'quick one' only to see the red flag come out, on pulling into the pit lane I was told the red flag was because of a dog on the track !, fortunately it wasn't Beanie as he was still fast asleep in the Isuzu !.

    We got back out again and first time round I saw waved yellows going on to the pit straight, I hadn't seen any dust anywhere so was puzzled as to who had come off, but then I noticed a second dog running across the infield !, I slowed down and cruised round, as I came to the turn before the main straight the marshals were franticly waving yellow and using some arm gestures which certainly aren't in the white book, I saw why as I noticed the dog pulling away from me down the straight !, he took a sharp left through the gap in the tyres and disappeared into the long grass, I was very pleased to see him disappear well away from the track, quite humorous looking back but I do not feel that an animal loose around the track should be dealt with by waved yellows, the session should be stopped, as a driver, seeing waved yellows has you looking out for cars on or close to the track, not animals.

    The rest of the session went off OK, with my lap timer showing 3 or 4 21's so I was happy with that, I noticed towards the end of the session I was getting a lot of understeer, even more than you expect at Midvaal, back in the pits I saw that my front tyres had hardly any tread left on them, with Scotts help we swapped front to rear and sorted the pressure out, no compressor meant a lot of hard pumping from Scott to get the tyres from 1.6 to 2.9 on the rear !. The timesheets from the qualifying showed some strange results, fortunately SuperHatch don't use the qualy session for the grid, rather run a reverse grid from the last rounds results.

    Arriving back from drivers briefing I was quite alarmed so see a total stranger leaning in through the rear door fiddling around in the back of my car, fortunately before I kicked his backside I realised he was fitting a camera for the TV coverage !, I was pleased, although it did turn to disappointment after the race when I found out he'd run out of time to come and switch it on before the race !, luckily the timing was better for race two and the camera was running.

    Race One saw me on the grid at 14, second row of class B, behind class A and N, I still can't get away as quick in the FWD as I can in the RWD's but I didn't do too badly, at least I didn't loose any places after we got through turn 1, at Midvaal there's almost no chance of passing through the first section to the back straight, once onto the straight I got my thoughts settled as I followed Mel and Claudette down the straight, with Linda close on my tail, quite a novelty in SuperHatch class B this weekend two guys and three girls, can't be often us guys are outnumbered on the track !. Anyhow I stayed with them till we got around to the straight again I managed to pull along side Claudette three quarters of the way down and tuck in between them as we went into the corner, then started work on Mel, even though I had more power she made the Opel extremely wide, all perfectly legal but very annoying !, I got my nose inside her a couple of times but she slammed the door shut with no sympathy at all !, all the time with Linda 'snapping' at my heels at every opportunity, after three laps or so I finally managed to get inside her braking into the turn at the end of the straight and got through, I then set off in pursuit of the A and N guys, checking my mirror to see that Linda was having just as hard a time getting past Mel and allowing me to pull a gap on them both, Andrew Muller was the A class car I could see ahead, I knew getting past Andrew was going to be difficult as class A have a higher power to weight ratio but I was feeling confident, swapping the tyres round had made the car much more balanced on the corners, I eventually caught him and spent a couple of laps following him, all the time seeing Linda getting closer and closer in my mirror but he was just pulling enough on the straight to keep in front, he went slightly wide on turn 2 so I could sit right on his bumper as we went through onto the straight I stayed tucked in with him and got a nice tow down the straight, I'd been checking his brake marks for the last couple of laps so I dived to the right at just the right time and hit the brakes late, the car was a little skittish but she pulled into the corner nicely and I was through, I'm not sure whether Andrew was expecting it but it seemed to upset him through the turn enough for me to pull a few cars gap by the time we crossed the line so I relaxed a little and by the time we got to the straight I'd plenty of gap not to worry about him coming back at me, chased down Rinus in the class N for the last few laps but ran out of time before I could attempt a move on him. 1st in class B and 7th overall was a good result.

    I'd heard lots of comments about the accuracy of the time keeping but when we got the results I had been credited with a best lap of 1:05 and a second best of 1:07 !!, these being some 14 seconds faster than anyone else were obviously totally wrong, my timer had showed me a couple of mid 21's so I was quite happy.

    The reverse grid put me on 15, with only Ryan in class C behind me. I lined up behind Claudettes Opel horrified to realise I couldn't see the lights over the top of her car !, I had to try and sit up as high as my belts would allow to see the very top light of the three, praying that that one was working, as I saw the 5 sec board I was relieved to see the light come on and then off, away we went, I'll claim me terrible wheel spin was down to my unbalanced seating position, that and the fact that Claudette was weaving from side to side desperately trying to get through on Matt left me and Linda going through turns one two and three side by side, her finally having the best line through four left me second last as we went through five onto the straight. Claudette and Linda got past Mel on the straight and I closed right up to her under braking as we came out of the corner I was surprised to see a her stay out wide and I got along side, I later found out her engine had gone and she deliberately left me room, thanks Mel !, so off I went chasing after Matt, Linda and Claudette, I managed to get a nose inside Claudette into turn one but she quite rightly closed the door on me, I stayed behind her through to the straight knowing I had the extra power to get alongside the Opel on the straight, which I did and got in front as we braked into the turn, Linda was all over the back of Matt and a slotted in behind, the three of us ran bumper to bumper right round till we were back on the straight, I was close enough to get a tow from them both down the straight and at the end got inside Linda under braking and slotted in right on Matts rear bumper, Matt went a little wide going into the horseshoe and I got inside him, with the car understeering I couldn't get enough power down to pull in front so we went into the last turn side by side, being on the outside I got a slower corner entry but managed to slingshot out of the corner with enough exit speed to get along side him on the pit straight, having the inside line for turn one put me in front and I could pull away, a good run onto the straight using a lot of kerb gave me enough to keep them behind and let me get on with chasing down the A & N guys. I took me 4 or 5 laps to catch up with Rinus who was at the back of the N class guys, after following him for a lap or so I managed to out brake him at the end of the straight and get in front, I could see Andrew (class A) and Robin (class N) having a good battle not too far ahead so I pushed hard to try and catch up, after an extremely scary moment in turn one I realised my tyres were well past their best and eased of slightly not wanting to throw away a class win, I spent the last lap and a half following Andrew and keeping an eye on my mirror. Another first in class B and 6th overall.

    At the end I was 'grabbed' and interviewed for the TV coverage, and we are pretty sure the in-car camera was working for the second race so keep an eye out for Rapid Motion, I'm looking forward to seeing the view from the 'outside'. As with any time on the track I thoroughly enjoyed the racing, the reverse grid adding very much to the sense of achievement on the two wins although it did prevent me from getting the chance to get higher up the overall standings, however that's what class racing is about, the Midvaal track totally destroyed my tyres which I'm sure would have managed two full events at Zwartkops, and I learnt a couple of lessons from the girls, any comments I may make on 'big behinds' relates to their cars !

    Zwartkops is next, on the 26th May, with a new set of tyres, and what promises to be a big SuperHatch field I'm really looking forward to my next outing in the 'Little Laser'.

Yet again Ann was so busy watching, or was it worrying, that we didn't get any pictures, any guys who did won't you please contact us then we can maybe get some for the website.

Brad
 Ford Laser #36B