Found at: http://www.rallystar.co.za/article/articleprint/4911/-1/68/

2010 TOTAL TOUR NATAL - QUICK REVIEW

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Author: Leon Botha

Publishing date: 08.03.2010 07:03

It is difficult to determine what the competitors and also fans expected on this event as about a zillion factors played a role.

A number of competitors hardly had any seat-time in newly built and cars in higher classes despite the fact that we had a four-month recess.

The route of the rally had a number of bad spots in during the making of the Route Notes and most of these places were well repaired up to a day before the rally. The fact that long sections were graded shortly before the event obviously caused the surface to be loose - even looser than it already is.

The problem in Natal and especially the South Coast is that the \"natural\" tiny ball-bearing surface on the roads do not sweep well and after a number of cars went over, the surface will get worse instead of better and then - even a bigger problem occurs when you do these stages twice. The surface will without doubt offer more traction, but in places where the top layer does not sweep well, and do not co-operate to form that expected \"sticky\" base for the by then determined drivers, it will cause serious moments for most.

The slippery surface also causes the corners to feel sharper than they actually are and drivers will drive straight over the apex into trouble more and more. All these problems are aggravated by the speed they arrive at in the slippery corners where even six-wheel-drive will not help - and then things \"feels\" all wrong?

Mark Cronje and Robert Paisley - third overall

This is the sort of road surface that makes it almost impossible to get the rhythm right and if you make it through the rally like Hergen Fekken, Enzo Kuun and Mark Cronje did - no one can actually doubt your talent, but you can not ignore lots of luck that went with it. I am absolutely positive that every one of the mentioned three drivers had their fair share of moments and in retrospect they will admit that they were lucky to get away with some close shaves!

While making the route notes I knew that in some corners I had to be more conservative than usually - I even had three competitors commenting on that and that they changed some of the ratings down! This meant faster approaches and or more speed into these corners! Strange enough on the event I got the feeling that I could have been more conservative and that I may even get the blame for a moment or two?

The cars most at risk in my opinion would have been the heavier N4\'s and then obviously the already difficult to drive A7\'s, but my biggest concern were the number of S2000 vehicles entered.

Privately and off the record I predicted that we would not have less than six accidents on the rally and when I saw all the repairs and with that changes on Friday - I lost all hope for a good finishing rate. My biggest concern was the fat that some repairs were still in progress and then I also got worried about the different interpretations some navigators had about the changes. In one sections they had to delete two and more lines and then some thought we were going onto a different route. In retrospect it was absolutely obvious that all that happened was that rough patches were repaired and that the road was not straight.

The young and not so young guns like Schalk Burger Jnr and Mohammed Moosa, the \"come-back\" kid Nicolas Ryan, the upgrades Hein Lategan, Visser du Plessis, Evan Hutchison, Jaco van Dyk, Charl Wilken and so on - not necessary in that order, caused nightmares to me before the event, but there was little I could do to prevent the war I knew would break loose. New navigators were a concern, but most of all - the fact that I knew and told Enzo so before the event, that the game would be stepped up to new heights.

Overall winners - he magnificent Fekken/Arries/Volkswagen combination

Still - my main concern is that when some competitors watch the DVD a number of them make changes to go faster without actually knowing or being able to see what the real situation was.

Many so-called \"notes\" are Tipp-Exed out long before the event which then causes me to leave some notes - which gives the reason for things like \"no cut\" for instance, out. \"No cut\" should however be sufficient warning that something is wrong and that a driver should actually stay out of the inside of any blind corner!

In quite a number of cases on this specific event I upgraded a corner which led into a difficult situation to try and slow the competitors down. This however gets changed in may cases when they watch the DVD.

What happens is that they watch the DVD and look at the specific corner separately without even considering what happens after that. This leads into arriving at the corner following the one I tried to brake them slightly - too fast.

If ever there was a rally where you needed to look at the DVD closely and also be careful before changing calls - this was it.

All our hopes for new life into rallying - the magnificent looking Basil Read bizhub Ford Fiesta S2000

The saddest story about the rally however is the fact that the Basil Read bizhub Ford Fiesta S2000 caught alight and burned out completely on its way to the service park after stage 8.

I have to admit that I am still battling to find words and it still feels like a dream to me - all I can say is that what was supposed to blow new life into the sport may actually have sucked most of what was left out! I don’t care how we do it, but somehow we need to bring this team back!

Nothing left ....

The indirect news I got was that Schalk Burger junior as well as Armand du Toit was not as seriously injured when they landed upside down in a river and was rescued - thank you who ever you were - by some spectators, as we initially thought. Mohammed Moosa who misread the relatively corner (a Left 7 no cut) rolled in the same spot and he managed to break a collar bone. Grant Martin was ok.

Johnny Gemmel and Drew Sturrock apparently clipped a bank in a slow corner and also rolled out of the event.

We will however tell you all about the performances and further news in the traditional Rallystar Stage and Overall Analysis after we receive the results.

The final results were:
Hergen 116.43.8
Enzo 117.08.7
Mark 117.54.0
Conrad 118.29.2
Japie 119.23.8
Nic 121.13.3
JP 121.16.5
Habig 121.50.4
Rueda 121.57.0
Theuns 121.35.6
Evan 127.57.7

Watch Rallystar for full analysis.

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