18 October: Red Star Raceway – Race Report

Hello Race fans! Sjoe wee hard to believe we had our penultimate round at RedStar raceway the 18th October. We had a fun weekend mixed with some rain and cold to add to the excitement. Here is how the competitors weekend went.

Gerhard and Sonja swopped cars and his ex-PW Louw Capella was dusted off for some action He bought the car in 2020 and restored the beauty to its former glory after a few run-a-rounds he made contact with Arthur Joubert, whom sorted out the Engen management and Dyno tuned the car. Franco Di Matteo and Anton Brits helped with set-up and Cyryl Jacobs sponsored the fuel injection and installed it with a bit of his magic touch. The old gearbox was swopped for a 6-speed Getrag one- and 2-days effort was put into making it fit like a glove. Bear in mind that they worked till 2am on Saturday morning to get the gears fitted and qualifying was his shakedown run. Even though he entered in Class F he was still scored as G – he broke out of G – but they set the record straight and was scored in F – only to be 4 tenths from the breakout time and received news to enter class E for the future.

It has been a tedious process of getting the car back on pace after being locked away for many years, with a good few seconds still under the hood and we will be waiting for that black beauty to show us her true colours. A little bit of history on the car: “Built by PW Louw in Cape town and raced with success. Won most races in the Historics class and held the lap record in Cape town historics for 10 years.

Sold to Namibia where she won most races. Then bought by one of the oppositions and locked away for 5 years so she could not compete and beat them. I bought and imported the car back to SA and started a 5-year restoration project. We should see 1:10 s or even 1:08 s at Zwartkops and 2:10 s at Redstar. The journey continues.

Sonja race weekend was a bit trickier she got no practice sessions on Friday because they were still working on the cars.

Qualifying went smoothly, with no incidents or problems with the #22 car. Overall, it was a solid qualifying session with a lap time was 2.42. During
Race 1, she had a couple of good laps before the rain started. Unfortunately, her car doesn’t have wipers, which made driving a bit tricky, but the lap times improved to a 2.39. For race 2, they adjusted the tire pressure and found the handling a bit challenging, but she still had a great race. “I truly enjoyed every moment on the track.”

Garren Jacobs in his Honda Ballade #G33 had a fairly routine Friday practice sessions. The gearbox repair done the previous week worked very well and car felt good. Very early qualifying session on Saturday and the car felt like something broke on the front suspension. Fortunately, it was a very easy fix. Race 1 started in the dry, but the rain came down after 2 laps which made the track very slippery for me. Fortunately kept it together and managed to take a class win after some faster cars spun out. Race 2 was a great one, very light drizzle that didn’t affect grip too much, and he secured 1st in class for the day.

Kobus Brits qualified on Saturday morning with a time of 2:09.4; 2nd on the grid, just behind Gerald Wright in the NSCC Sport 2000.
“Race 1 The start went well, and I managed to hold 2nd position with a hard-charging Dirk Lawrence (Honda) and Wayne Robb (Focus ST) close behind. At the end of lap 2, the safety car was deployed, and while circulating behind it, the rain began to fall. I went sideways through Turn 9, which allowed Dirk to close in and overtake me at Turn 13. Two laps later, I lost traction through Turn 8, giving Wayne the chance to pull alongside. We had a drag race to Turn 9, where Wayne had the inside line and took the position. We maintained those positions for the remainder of the race. I finished 4th overall, 3rd in Clubmans, and 3rd in Class C.

Race 2 Starting in 4th position, I gained one spot on lap 2, just as the rain returned. Feeling more confident in the wet, I held the position comfortably until lap 5. Unfortunately, I came into Turn 1 way too fast and spun 270 degrees under braking between Turns 1 and 2, allowing Wayne in the ST and Adriaan in the turbo Lotus to pass. I tried to catch up, but with the race shortened to 7 laps, there wasn’t enough time. I finished 5th overall, 3d in Clubmans, and 3rd in Class C.

The car ran exceptionally well, and although I didn’t achieve the podium finishes, I hoped for—thanks to running out of talent in Races 1 and 2—I had an absolute blast behind the wheel.

A big thank you to Ernst Vermeulen of Verlen Racing for the meticulous car preparation, Pragma for the continued sponsorship, and Marie Brits for enduring the madness!”

Marlene van der Merwe entertained us this is her view of the weekend: “This was not the race weekend that I wanted but it is the race weekend I got so it is what it is, and I just had to deal with it. The first race started out with perfect track conditions for the first 2 laps and then it started raining – this is where the fun started. The sudden change in track conditions had me spinning out at least 5 times during the remainder of the race. The same 2 corners kept on catching Esme and myself out. They say learn from your mistakes – I made the same mistake a few times just to be sure.

But despite losing all the positions that I had gained on the first lap, and some, I had so much fun in the chaos of the spins – my reflexes, drifting skills, quick hands and my pit crews’ nerves were tested – but I was smiling from ear to ear.

Race 2 started with a dry track but colder conditions, so my pit crew were giving instructions from all angles on how to warm the tires and the brakes to make sure that I had a good race and could floor it from the first lap as I had a lot of work to do after my first race antics. I followed all my instructions precisely on the out lap and glued myself to JJ’s rear bumper to make sure that when the green flag came out, I could catapult myself past a few of drivers in front of me down the back straight. Everything was going to plan, and I gained 3 positions before turn 3. I was so excited to see what I could manage to do in the rest of the race until I pushed my brake pedal at the end of turn 3 and suddenly there were no brakes – THE HORROR!

Quick thinking and even quicker down gears got me safely through turn 3 but I lost 5 positions. I hoped that it was just a fluke and that I hadn’t gotten enough heat into my brakes during the warm-up lap as I thought. So, I kept sending it through turn 4 to my next braking point aaaanndddd still no brakes. By this point I had lost 5 positions, but I realized that there was no way that I could try claw back. I made the executive decision to drop my pace and just slowly keep circulating to at least finish the race.

Obviously, my pit crew didn’t know there was something wrong and there was no way of letting them know so they were growing very frustrated on the sidelines with my snail pace and random turn in points. I swear I could hear them screaming at me. I got to watch some incredible racing and good dices between the other drivers from my front row seat – a silver lining, I guess. At the end of the day, the car is in one piece, and I went home with no major incidents so a very successful unsuccessful race weekend.

Lerine took the Proton Bakkie to RedStar for some seat time and quickly established that it is not doing well on times anti clockwise. They decided 8 days before the race to do a car change which in hindsight was not a smart choice…. But turned out great!

“We finished the Subaru on the Thursday afternoon and man oh man what an incredible experience it was driving Loki.. my Subuwu that did great on practice and in the race. We were lucky to have no incidents with practice and the race; qualifying was just short. We had some rain in race one which were challenging but we finished the race safely.

We are still battling with tyre pressures, but it will be sorted shortly. I had a lot of fun as with this race I was not at the back but started 16th on the grid. To be able to pass cars was a new experience and challenge but I pulled it off in some cases. Then Garren and I had some fun in the last race on the straight, but I over committed a bit on the turn and landed up doing some rally as well. I kept good control of the car… got back on the track and finished just behind him so that was fun. It was a spectacle to watch for Johan Swart behind me as I think he must have thought Lerine what are you doing you should be racing on the track. Willem, Shaun Dodd and I also had some fun on some parts of the track. I also had Dirk behind me on the straight at one stage, I pulled him to the end but he has no sense of fear so it felt like he didn’t break in turn 4 and I slammed on breaks (Or it felt like it as the next moment he was gone). I achieved a personal best of 2:27.88 in race one before the rain started and think my voice still hoarse from screaming with excitement!

While achieving my PB I did rally again on turn 11, went low flying and hurt my diffuser lip which my team put a plaster on for Race two. The Subaru has its first real battle scar, and I am very proud of my plaster. It was a great experience racing at Red Star. The guys were great again on the track. Can’t wait for the last race!”

For the AZOIC panel beaters Honda Ballade of Dirk Lawrence did not miss a beat. Thank goodness the bonnet pins where secure and he took the track by storm. Friday practice was all good and come race day saw him 3rd on track and 2nd in class. Knowing exactly what he needed to do he put his head down and gun it – rain made it interesting and being the skill full driver he is managed to pass the cars and finished 2nd on track behind Wright’s NSCC and 1st for Clubmans and 1st in class.

Race 2 he did the same – focused, consistent, and fast! Won from Kobus with a 23.4 gap securing a good run on points to go into the last event.

Theo had some work to do after Zwartkops he had an incident – had some handling problems – oversteer and had to make the best of the challenge ahead. Saturday was a good one until the rain came down. But he had a few battles and a scare sliding off the track and correcting it just before hitting the wall in the changing conditions.

Race 2 was a very nice dice with Rodney just not being able to get in front for too long but all and all a great day out.

Rodney in his #1 car had a love hate relationship with the track. He enjoys the track because it is challenging anti-clockwise but he also hates it just a little and a 7 o’clock cold qualifying made for some interesting decisions before hitting the track! He secured a personal best 2.14.5 pole for class D. After Wayne Rob broke out of class D. Good start from him in Race 1 to hang on for a good lap and half to the front runners. Just before the Safety car came out Oupa Klippies passed Theo, and they kept each other busy for a bit and Rodney cleared some tarmac between them. Realising there was a few drops of rain after the safety car went in he could just about manage to stay in the slipstream of the backmarkers of class C. Adriaan had a good spin in front of Rodney and Oupa Klippies fell back too once the rain came, while Theo was catching up again. A slippery cold and wet circuit made them concentrate real hard not to make a mistake. A win in Class D was in the bag and race 2 was not as bad as the circuit was cold and a few spots of rain every now and again – but again a great start and a little sideways action from the Silver dream machine saw Theo pass Rodney and Rod had no choice but to fall back behind Theo and passed him in lap 3. Oupa Klippies on the slicks took sometimes to get heat in the slicks before passing Theo and Rodney. Rod had a few meters on Theo and secured another win for the day. Championship is getting tight, and Rodney will be happy with all the points he scored for the weekend.

Tjaart Visser was ready to race but unfortunately his car was not complete yet, but he will be ready for our last event at RedStar the 15th of November Please come and join us at the track. We would love to meet you.

Sprint and coverall championships are still up for grabs. Between Garren, Rodney and Dirk our last race will sure be one not to miss!