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24th VW Algoa Rally - A LOOK FROM THE N2 SIDE

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Author: Patrick Vermaak

Publishing date: 25.07.2007 05:31

Team REACT

Much have changed since we traveled to PE for the 21st VW Algoa Rally in 2004, celebrating the 21st birthday of Ettiene du Toit with a bottle of champagne at midnight – in front of the Heidelberg Wimpy. Officially his 21st birthday present was to be his national debut in the ex-Dean Sanders Gp N2 Toyota Corolla RXi 1600 and though still new to the sport of rallying, he entered with a proud track racing pedigree.

Chris de Wit was the cream of the crop with Jon Williams and Mike Nathan as ankle biters, making it quite a steep challenge in a strange environment. Running competitively the RXi made quite an impact on national TV, for all the wrong reasons! Serge Damseaux put a left rear wheel off the side of the mountain in the penultimate stage but recovered without any damage, then Charl Wilken parked his Toyota against a tree midway down and was still discussing the incident when Ettiene inverted the Corolla, finishing his event with excellent coverage and a major repair bill as result.

In 2005 we tried again and this time an awkward bounce had the Corolla clout an embankment, breaking the left lower control arm on stage 6. Finally we finished PE in 2006 albeit behind a very motivated Mike Nathan. For 2007 the Corolla finally reached proper N2 specification and Ettiene reveled in the idea that now he could compete on equal terms, only to start 2007 with no opposition. Chasing after A5 entries a promising result on the season opening Toyota rally was ruined when a CV broke on the final stage of the event. Having discovered that the new LS did not actually work in the Cape had Ettiene getting to grips with the new toy during the Sasol and discovering new maladies with engine mountings and the like giving up the ghost as a result of the new found pulling power.

The Zulu Rally nearly did not happen when the Corolla simply cut out enroute to stage one, a problem that persisted to even the Total Rally when he lost some seven minutes in the 60km stage before it would simply restart and continue without missing a beat. A new colour scheme and wiring had the team in high spirit for the VW Algoa, only for the starter to fail minutes before scrutineering. Alan, Marius and Andri had the gearbox out by midnight and thanks to a very sporting Andy Haigh-Smith a new starter (Team REACT giving up their reserve unit) found it’s way to Uitenhage where the VWSA Security Manager, Danie Brown, had sportingly allowed the team to repair the car under the supervision of Abram Maarman. Needless to say a few choice descriptions of the problem were aired in all eleven official languages and the entire team pretty much frozen by the time they returned to PE.

Long Haul

Still not quite convinced as to why this problem had occurred most of the expert assistants recommended a N(ot) 2 worry attitude and that we simply enjoy the event. It’s pretty straight forward advice to simply go out and finish every event without chasing positions as we were in most cases the only entry in the class. With everyone in A5 and Andy Haigh-Smith (A6-0+) as our target on every event Murphy did his level best to ruin every attempt to live with these teams. Alan almost had a fit when he saw all the green on the Corolla and it was nearly resprayed before the start of the event on Friday but fortunately there were a few other concerns keeping everyone busy.

Andy Haigh-Smith Huffed and Puffed

Kruisrivier proved to be an encouraging start to the event and the noisy power steering, electrical hiccup and starter problems seemed to be something of the past. Winterhoek was treated with some caution as it simply proved tempting to rev the car beyond it’s limits achieving very little in the process. As the 1300 Production Car lap record holder at Scribante it was something of an eye opener to complete four laps in the proper direction with the Corolla. Almost perfect lines, lots of commitment and a properly prepared car genuinely made this a pleasure experience and the bonus was beating all the N3 and A5 cars. By the time we started Parsons Green the road surface was covered in dirt and we actually watched Gugu spin out in the Golf. Rather a little too cautious than out of the rally the approach taken before heading towards the impressive new PE oval. Not impressed with the way the controls were set up as it was rather confusing but the stage proved quite interesting . SS6 and 7 would constitute SS11 on Saturday and having bought shares in this property over the past three years a quick but safe pace was opted for round one through Culturama and Fourways. The first lengthy stage arriving with Fat Tracks before heading to the land of Billabong and Quicksilver.

Having entertained the spectators with a spin in front of the Savoy Hotel in 2006 we managed to post a reasonable time this year. Possibly assisted by those delicious chilly hotdogs sold at the service park during the supper break. Few would have believed just how tight the overall result would be after day one and if ever any proof was needed as to just how good rallying is in SA, this was it! Leon Botha may grow older with every event due to the stress (fortunately he is so old nobody notices any change) but he has his Route Note act together! It’s time to see McCrae (anyone of them) return and try to kick ass now! Any doubts about which form of motorsport reigns supreme in SA!

LLL Planthire is seriously fast as a special stage but the road surface still manages to have the car feel as though the handbrake is on. Sadly this was the end of the road for Jon and Doug Williams in the Guma Polo. Culturama it’s normal challenging self as SS11 and then PPC provided “iets van alles”, until we discovered even more of the same in Loerie. SS13 popping in and out of SS12 and really proving challenging. Sinkdam had another selection of hairy bridge crossings but removed the sting out of the 2007 event with only the second PE oval and Kings Beach remaining as stages. At the oval we dropped only two seconds on our first time even though we had dropped our pace to simply finishing pace whilst King Beach simply reminded us of how quickly a good result can become a disappointing DNF.

A simply awesome result at the front of the field with Serge Damseaux and Robert Paisley stealing the glamour from VW by bringing the Castrol Run X home first on what could be termed as the most exciting rally ever on SA soil. Jannie and Douglas assisting Toyota by pinching points from Enzo and Guy in third spot and fourth going to the third BP Ultimate Polo of Hergen and Pierre.

Good to see the Spanish Capetonian, Fernando Rueda and Gerhard Snyman return to form as Gp n4 winners for team Total in their Mitsu Evo 9 and a bonus point for his comments at the prizegiving where he proposed Mitsubishi as an alternative to Toyota and VW. In fact a compliment to all for the sporting manner in which the prizegiving was conducted, irrespective of your choice of manufacturer. However, Fernando should be watching his rear as brother-in-law, Paul Pfeiffer, obviously benefited from whatever they cut out of him and with Cindi Harding as pathfinder the Evo 6 was white hot on day one.

Something fishy about Ettiene (du Toit) as the other one went fishing

JP and Cobus had a miserable event and 11th overall certainly does not do their effort any justice in the second Team Total S2000 Run X. Etienne Lourens opted for a spot of fly fishing whilst Mike Nathan and Dean Redelinghuys brought the ex-Lourens A7 Corolla home second after an encouraging debut. Four consecutive finishes saw Ettiene du Toit and Patrick Vermaak secure the N2 class championship in their McCarthy N1 City / Castrol / NCE / Ugly Ducklings (no reference to the crew) Toyota Corolla RXi 1600.
Possibly not the way anyone would like to win, but it still took many hours of work, money and perseverance to achieve. Not to mention exceptional sportsmanship by Andy Haigh-Smith and Team REACT Marketing!

Though they rally to beat each other a healthy dose of respect and sportsmanship makes this an absolute pleasure to be part of this scenario and we felt every one of the three punctures you endured. Andy Haigh-Smith and Eugene le Roux officially had three punctures in the A6 Team REACT Toyota Corolla RXi 1600 (they had to find some excuse for being behind an N2 version). That statement should have WWIII going between them at the Osram in August!

The only other Cape based competitor making it home was Carl Peskin as navigator for Gugu Zulu in the A5 winning VW Citi Golf 1.4i.

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