Toyota Automark All Tar Rally 2002
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The Toyota All Tar 2002 Regional Rally kicked off Friday evening with gusts of wind and bad
weather making the start of rally a bit of a fiasco, Nevertheless I found myself at the start with
a "NOT RECOGNISED DRIVER" which I knew was going to rock some boats.The first time for me
in a Volkswagon was great as I have hopped from Toyota to Subaru & now a Golf this Rally.
Some people would term that as "A Nav Slut",but hey, it’s the experience that you end up with.
One thing I have realized though, is that money doesn’t give you that ultimate joy in rallying ,as I
found myself in a R6000.00 Racing & rally car 1800cc Carb ,with no extras ,and by far the most
exhilarating and fantastic drive for me this year .
It was so exciting, the first stage left me speechless and suddenly realising that I was navigating, i ended up
making the fatal mistake of doing an extra lap around Zwartkops, which left us at 54th on the road the next
morning. It was quite a downer for myself & Heinz but all was to be revealed at the end of the day .
With day 2 on our hands, knowing a 1min 20sec would be a marathon to make up on something
like the all tar was difficult, but to have fun was the order of the day and so we did.
From the first stage at zwartkops Saturday morning ,we knew that the only problem would be catching cars
in stage which would alter real fast times we knew we could put up, and catching the Alfa of Gavin Joint
in almost every stage who was dropping about a 10 litres of oil ,left the last lap on Zwarties quite
interesting, sliding around like we were on dirt.
From Zwarties to Lotus park we were able to take one sec off Wilken/Houghton which was a moral
victory for Heinz, knowing the break pads of the toyota cost more than the entire Golf.
From there to the 2 Gerotech stages,where we had no problems, except for not knowing what was
happening in front of the field having started so far back. After that at the service we realized we had no
tyres left: starting with 6 old tyres, this could be a problem, but foutunately the helpfulness of Robin
Goodman/Irma Du Plooy with their car stuck on Gerotech 1 , who said" no problem" and gladly helped
us, for which we thank you .
Off to Rosslyn & then to the penultimate stage at the testing grounds,which pulls in thousands
of spectators each year.With a 26km stage, it is heavy on the car's motors ,which it proved, as cars
fell out everywhere on the stage. With us it was fast, as Heinz repeatedly kept on saying to
me "Hold On Bru" which I cleverly did. Together with a bit of bumper bashing with the Alfa of Joint it was
a fantastic stage.
To the final stage at Zwartkops. Yes, I did the right amount of laps, which ended a fantastic rally for
the both of us, especially the results, which shocked us a little. Now the No name driver ,Heinz Boze
is one to be reckoned with in motorsport, and I'm sure that those who don’t know that name wont
foget it !!
With a 3rd overall ,sorry 5th ,oh no wait, 4th overall, I think that is what it was at the end of the day ,
was a fantastic result nevertheless ,with the organisers backing down on their decision on excluding
teams, which obviously leaves too many grey areas in the white book. I think an organising committee
of whatever rally should stick to their guns & decisions. Maybe it’s a wake up call to the competitors !!
Special Thanks goes out to Pierre Bester From Matsema ,for sponsering us this weekend.And to Heinz
for a fantastic drive.
Yours in Rallying
Greg Gericke
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