NO MATTER HOW MANY CARS PARTICIPATE...
author: Leon Botha
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The Rallystar Subaru testing someones exhaust valves!
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There are a few 'sayings' or 'questions' that irritate the hell out of me - one being the empty, false and worthless "how are djzoo?" coming from every Tom, Dick and Mary at the tills is shops, over the phone when people phone and start asking you questions or try to sell you something you do not need, and then the expression "I am so heppie!" about everything that actually should have been there naturally - but the mother of them all is the expression "oh don't worry - I know where you come from!" when a person tries to insinuate that he/she understands why you just killed someone or gave some one an educational smack or something to that effect?
At the risk of irritating you but to make you understand where I come from regarding holidays, dates, days of the week, months of the year and so one - allow me to explain.
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The Tjaart and Tjaart Toyota in action before they broke the bloody thing!
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I attended 13 primary schools and when I hit the third high school in standard six I put my foot down and said "this is where I am staying until matric".
My parents were always involved in business and twice in farming and I think the only two businesses my dad did not have in the computer free era were a butchery and a chemist! As a child - legally or illegally - I had to work during school holidays when my friends ran around in Margate, Durban or even Lourenço Marques if they were lucky!
click for a bit of background music and a short video of the days that were
So, I am sure no one can blame me for not worrying about small things such as school holidays, long-weekends and public holidays when I decide on a date for an event.
It is a simple fact that everyday is exactly the same to me and also to almost all working for Rallystar - except of course the two or three days around Xmas!
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The all new "Sideways" van Heerden!
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Absolutely par for the course - I did it again and as I am surrounded by people who suffer from the same problem as I do, no one pointed out that we are actually in a school holiday period and also that South Africans have fallen into the habit of forming their own long-weekends if any day of a previous week is a public holiday or if the power goes out more than once in a week!
The fact that we had 14 entries and about 300 spectators on Saturday the 19th June at the HiQ Rallystar Sprint is just short of a miracle. For an explanation of what a miracle is, watch tonight when Bafana plays the French couch (he seems to be the only one left of the team) and beat them by 4 nil! That will be a good example of a miracle or wait until you see more than two people working together in motorsport without one having a lot to say about the rest (behind their backs) and you experience a true miracle!
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Etienne and Michelle Lourens with Mary-Lou of one of the series sponsors Gabriel between them
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So - we had a rally sprint? At least we were better off than friend Kobus Roos who apparently had MUMPS! Can you imagine?
Wynand Loubser of HiQ remarked about Saturday that, "no matter how many entries you have - you can have a hundred and it can be boring - but you can have 14 that is evenly matched and you can have a great motorsport day!"
This is what happened - we were lucky to see some of the best dices in a long time. Cars came over that last jump so close to each other that every one were on their feet about 84 times during the 6 tests!
Just to tell you how close times were - we had to use split seconds for the first time in the sprint series and as you will see, second and third spots overall were split by only two seconds!
This was simply amazing stuff and we will in future score and publish provisional results of every test to ensure that competitors know exactly where they stand.
When the robot switched to green for the start of the first test and by the time the dust settled we knew that we were in for a hard time to score the event and that we were also in for a spectacular day full of fun!
The Top five spots after Test One were separated by a mere 2 seconds and three drivers were sharing the lead, while the nest two shared 4th spot!
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Andre Stander (left) and Jan Fritz (son in law) getting ready to sort out the "who's your daddy" argument!
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Etienne Lourens got it right first time out, but the two Tjaart's sharing a car posted exactly the same time!
Nico Higgs had to be satisfied to share the 4th spot with relative rookie Rallystar Rent-a-drive driver - Christo Carstens!
In 6th spot was the two Schalk van Heerdens with the young one behind the steering wheel deciding to fall for the Skyline "trap" of approaching everything side-ways! Sheet man, that thing still sounds great?
It was great to see that the drivers actually decided to use their own second - rather than sharing with others in the second test.
This time Nico Higgs and Gert Nienaber posted fastest time of 2m16s with Tjaart and his daughter Marie van der Walt missing top spot by a mere second. Then one second later followed the Lourens family Etienne and Michelle, while Christo Carsten and Angela Shields were only a second slower than them!
Tjaart Conradie must have slipped a gear and had to be satisfied to share the same spot with Christo.
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Christoff and Celeste Snyders - 2nd in Class B and 3rd in the running for Champion of Champions
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Then followed the Snyders clan, Christoff and his much more beautiful sister Celeste in that willing little red Golf just ahead of the Green Mamba in the hands of Schalk van Heerden.
At the end of the first leg Tjaart van der Walt showed that he still had what it takes by leading the rest by a full second! Etienne Lourens and Nico Higgs shared second spot overall with Tjaart Conradie and Gert Nienaber in 4th.
Christo Carsten and Angie Shields were in 5th overall followed by Christoff and Celeste in 6th.
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Chris and Douglas Judd - 2nd Class A
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In Class A Chris and dad Douglas Judd led the rest. Interesting to see how many of the older rally "fathers" realise the value of this series to get a rally driver ready for bigger things! Although when you look at the action on the HiQ series - you can hardly think of anything more exciting - well not when you have reached my age?
Now it was the turn of the long test and we decided to run the two long ones, back to back to save a bit of time and make our own lives easier!
If you have not been through this specialist stage at the Rallystar facility you will have no idea what it is all about. There is hardly anything a rally can offer you, except rocks and deep sand that you will not find on this stage. There are perfect hairpins, short ones and lob-sided ones. Dips, jumps, straights and sweeps - in short if you can drive or navigate this one - I mean really drive and really navigate it, then you are ready for whatever a rally can throw at you! Young drivers who have done this stage and have mastered all the specially worked out corners will be at least 15% quicker than they were before they have done that. Even well experienced drivers simply get quicker doing the various tests offered in this package.
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Grant Reed and Robbie Coetzee with Mary-Lou
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It was somewhat predictable that Etienne Lourens would win this one - and to be honest he has to win this sort of thing to ensure that his reputation stays intact! It is actually sad to see him not competing in National rallies anymore and this also reflects on the state of affairs regarding the unnecessary lack of sponsorship and assistance and opportunities in the sport.
Tjaart Conradie was seconds fastest but unfortunately that would almost be the last run of the car that will as you will see, call it a day after the next stage, robbing the other Tjaart from a chance to share in the glory!
The surprise of the day was the performance of Christo Carsten and Angie Shield - but relative rookies, but I am proud to say that they are both Rallystar products. Christo posted third fastest time through this tricky stage and I am willing to tell you why - he is one of those drivers who listens to good advice instead of trying to tell those with much more experience how they should do the thing behind the steering wheel!
Schalk van Heerden also put in a great show by pipping Nico Higgs to the finish line. Christoff Snyders was 6th, while Ettiene Malherbe and Carel Jacobs were having a rather quiet day managed 7th. The sad news is that Ettiene willnot be in action in the sprint series for long anymore as he is moving to the Cape (George I believe?) where he will be opening a Silverton Radiator franchise. We will truly miss him, but I am sure he will be back a few times to come throw the Datsun around?
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That yellow MALherbe Datsun!
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While I mention his leaving - it also needs to be said that because of his leaving at the end July 2010 the SAHRA club will need a new Chairman as well! The club will have its meeting tonight - Ettiene requested us to mention that and ask all members to attend!
After Test 3 Lourens was leading Conradie by 5 seconds with Carsten in third, Higgs in fourth and van Heerden in 5th position overall.
The next test - a repeat of the 3rd one was again won by Lourens who managed to imporve his first run by a mere 1.1 seconds, while Christo Carsten managed to finish in second spot improving his first time by four seconds!
Nico Higgs was third fastest, Tjaart fourth and Christoff fifth.
Tjaart van der Walt's run ended when the car he shared with Tjaart Conradie refused to co-operate.
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Andries van Jaarsveld and Framk Smit - winners Class A
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With only the two sided Super Special to go, Lourens ensured a comfortable lead and the fact that Tjaart Conradie who was second could not compete further took a bit of shine from the fun. Effectively Carsten moved into second spot and he now had Higgs who trailed by a mere 3 seconds to worry about!
One of the other stalwarts - Andre Stander also had to give up as the Corolla gave up the ghost!
Predictably Nico Higgs attacked big time and won Test 4 by .01 of a second form Etienne Lourens but most of all he managed to reel Carsten in by 3.4 seconds in at the same time "open" a lead of 0.03s to take seconds spot overall!
Schalk van Heerden was now 4th and Ettiene Malherbe moved up to 5th spot overall with Christoff Snyders in 6th and another Rallystar team, that of Grant Reed and Robbie Coetzee in 7th.
First overall was relatively safe but the money and attention was on second spot!
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Christo Carsten and Angie Shields 2nd overall
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Christo Carsten was under instruction to keep the rear wheels right behind the front ones, not to slide around and/or take any chances - what I wanted was a smooth as silk run. This he did and managed to regain second spot reopening the gap between him and Higgs to two seconds.
What a great dice this have been and I have a feeling that this was not the last time we would see them at each other's throats?
At the end of another very exciting HiQ Rallystar Sprint Etienne and Michelle Lourens walked away with most of the silver wear. They obviously won Class B as well.
Carsten and Shields won the Open class while Nico Higgs and Gert Nienaber took Class C.
Andries van Jaarsveld and Frank Smit pulled off a win in Class A with Chris and Douglas Judd in seconds spot.
The next HiQ Rallystar Sprint will be held on the 3rd of July and we trust that most of you will be back from holiday or wherever else you were on Saturday when you were supposed to have shared in fun at Rallystar!
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Carel Scholly and Charlie Knox in the Class C Golf
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The current standing for participation in the CHAMPION OF CHAMPIONS are:
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Nico Higgs and Gert Nienaber - 2nd overall and leaders in the Champion of Championship series
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CHAMPION OF CHAMPIONS SCORE:
Nico Higgs 18
Christo Carsten 12
Christoff Snyders 11
Etienne Malherbe 11
Tjaart Conradie 10
Carel Scholly 9
Jan Fritz 9
Pieter Smith 8
Grant Reed 6
Tjaart van der Walt 6
Andre Stander 5
Andries van Jaarsveld 5
Christo du Plessis 4
Schalk van Heerden 4
Mark Attree 4
Christoffer Judd 3
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Can I please go once in a rally car?
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