POOR BOYS GET PAID

Within minutes of arriving at Midvaal for round four we knew we were in trouble. We hadn’t even really checked tyre pressures yet, but our trackside cell phone stop watches were indicating lap times beyond the threshold of Class E.

Lucky for us Friday practice sessions aren’t officially timed so we were able to strategise overnight before a timing transponder was put in our Merc for Saturday’s early morning (and freezing cold) qualifying session.

Historic touring car classes are based on specific lap times per circuit, and at Midvaal, Class E cars aren’t allowed to go faster than 1 minute 20.1 seconds. Just one thousandth quicker than that, and you’re immediately bumped up into Class D, with a whole new set of lap time margins and a whole new set of quicker cars to compete with.

Our strategy was this: Since sandbagging was completely out of the question, I’d be signalled from the pit wall if I was edging closer to the lap limit. Pole position was the goal, so if I could dip into the 1 minute 20 second region I would be called in and no unnecessary laps would be done.

Total failure. One lap later and I had done a 1 minute 19.9 seconds. Not only were our chances of a podium for the day dashed, but our entire championship prospects are also now over. We’ve left Class E and its respective points lead behind, and entered unfamiliar territory in Class D where it will be very difficult to compete.

We started race one gung ho, from the very back of the Class D grid, and proceeded to finish third from last ahead of one car that spun, and another that ran out of fuel. Disaster!

So we opted not to contest heat two in an attempt at saving some petrol and Bridgestone racing rubber tread for the special invitational 25-lap race that would wrap up the day’s schedule. It’s not every day that South African motorsport offers prize money but thanks to C Track, Execuline and Nashua Mobile R21 000 was up for grabs.

Podium spots were off limits for us considering the firepower we were up against, but luckily money purses were also offered for index of performance stakes. Basically, we needed to be consistent for 25 laps lap time-wise. Fortunately consistency is an old forte for us, and we left with R4000 – second in index! Now that’s what I call consolation!

The good news is we left richer than we arrived, and the Mercedes is in one piece. Not a scratch. The bad news is Class D is a bad place for us and without serious investment we’ll just be circulating at the back of the pack. The plan is to adjust the plan. We’ll probably sit out the expensive trip to Phakisa next month and take up the challenge at Kyalami in September. There are also big plans for endurance races late in the year and we’ll make some appearances there too.

Until next time...

Thanks Bridgestone, Castrol, Carcol Executive Auto, Bilstein, Major 2, Auto Rosen and Emgee Workshop for the help. Grazie!