SCC EAST RAND SPRINT TURNS INTO A WAR
author: Leon Botha
What was supposed to be a day of peace and fun, almost turned into a day of war filled with pieces?
It all started when Jacques talked me into driving his Subaru in the SCC East Rand Rally Sprint.
I reluctantly agreed knowing that the young Turk wanted to prove once and for all that I was to leave for greener pastures, polish his grandpa’s bowling balls and be on my way.
The Pretoria Subaru/ Step Ahead Interior/ and thank goodness Italian Panel Beaters Scooby looked very nice and better prepared than my rally car usually is, but being the guest (not necessarily of honor) I kept my trap shut. I was not too worried that I would return home without a cup or two, and with my reputation still in tack.
At the venue I was a bit surprised to see that very nice looking Subaru of Rocky Reynecke standing around, doing its best look innocent. That bloody car has got everything that opens and closes, fitted to it, and fitted correctly by professionals I might add.
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Leon Botha
That very well prepared Reynecke Subaru in action.
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As if this was not enough, present in all his glory was Marius Swart with the confusing Subaru. Confusing because when he competes against you, the car is stock standard, but when he wants to sell it, suddenly it has all the greatest and most expensive parts fitted to it.
Also present to cause further unnecessary stress was Enzo Kuun with his threatening looking Polo with a huge number three on the door. This was a works car, if ever I have seen one.
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Leon Botha
Schalk Burger in a pure white and brand new standard Toyota enjoying himself.
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Schalk Burger could luckily only lay his hands on a spare Toyota Corolla he had standing around, as Tubby was still busy preparing what I hear is going to be an awesome Impreza STi for the National season. It was a relief to find out that Nicolas Ryan displayed his Subaru in an attempt to sell it and was not going to compete. I did not have to worry about him as well.
Then I saw Elizio Miranda pitching up with deadly looking Polo, and soon the young Kobus Roos also crawled into the scrutineering area in the Hencom Panel beaters VW GTi. Theo Venter was there, and of course our Portuguese friends, owners of the famous Italian Panel beaters brought their Nissan to prove to the Botha’s that all wheel drive was not the latest and greatest.
It seemed to me, that my walk in the park I looked forward to would at least turn out to be a jog through the jungle!
The rules were simple; everybody would have three runs, and fastest time counts.
It was a very hot day and I doubted if the Subaru would last the six rounds without breaking something, as I knew Jacques did not really prepare the car for the event. He actually decided on Thursday that we were going to enter.
Jacques would drive first, after I did offer to do so. I knew he was scared I would break something and he would not be able to get his run. I could see that he was determined and adjusted my safety belts; duck taped my helmet to my head, and held on for dear life.
He sat there while the marshal counted him down, hyperventilating, huffing and puffing and I knew nobody was going to have a second run in this car today!
When that marshal dropped his hand, Jacques made a pull away last seen when some people left Mozambique. The G-forces pressed my eyeballs to the back of my head and my upper lip formed a flap over my nose as I lost control trying to say, “go”!
And that was it, nothing further happened. No power, no nothing! The Intercooler simply came off because the person who had to fit it thought it would be OK just to place it on top of the engine without tightening any bolts or nuts.
Luckily the intercom system was not operational from driver to navigator. His lips were moving at 6500rpm and he was not singing! We both fiddled with every possible lever, button, switch, flap, wire harness, looking around in the car, and not at the route we were traveling. I like to call this sort of time a “Donald Moment” in honour of you know who, who is currently once again playing the game that cost me more years of my life than motorsport and Gerry Coetzee together. Luckily I am not a Golden Lions supporter, as that would have been the end of me.
Slowly we got out of the “Donald moment” and I suggested we use the opportunity to look at the road instead of trying to fix what was broken outside under the hood, inside the car.
Needless to say, we were almost through the stage by that time.
At the service van, the problem was quickly sorted out, and I was on my way. Jacques in the passenger seat this time. On my way to the start I realised that I could not remember anything worthwhile of the stage, and decided to push it hard, within limits.
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Leon Botha
Botha senior getting to grips with junior's Subaru.
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After the pull away, you go about 15meter straight into a 90 left, 50m straight around water pump, 90 right into a straight of more than 2kms through a 7 feet high mealie tunnel.
The road forms a lazy on-going-sweep to the left, and it seems never ending. The mealie tunnel blitzes along as all the plenty of horses kicks butt under the Subaru bonnet. After repeating your favourite prayer about twice you get to a slight S-left into a 90 right, 100m straight, into a 90 right, and into a straight again.
Hands, knees, elbows, jockstraps and feet flying around in the car, and there you go – back on the straight again. That familiar Subaru growl picking up a few decibels. Jacques suddenly started to navigate, his right hand showing me to slow down by moving up and down, his finger pointing in a left direction. I interpret the corner to be closer than I thought and braked, only to find out that it was about 200 meter further on. He immediately pretended that he did that motion with his hand out of habit, by pocking his finger in a few different directions like Mr Bean would have. After expressing my sorrow for not have danced all night about 30 years ago, I got going again.
The stage is superb, throwing every type of test your way in close succession. There are long sweeps, short straights, tight blind sections, loose sandy areas, and slippery grassy sections, wide and also tight hairpin bends.
We get out of there in 4minutes 7 seconds, and I smile confidently thinking that I did enough to be able to relax for the rest of the day.
Jacques went out, and this time everything worked out. He proceeded to give me a bit of a lesson in smooth driving, and as we rounded the second last long open hairpin I knew that I would have to drive again, to defend my little reputation. A time of 4m 2s is confirmed by the marshal and Junior looks rather content.
“Wag maar boet, Pappa ry vandag jou gatjie mors af” I thought to myself in one of the eleven official languages, but deep inside me I knew that this would take some doing. I started to think out some acceptable excuses and the best I could come up with was to sit on my glasses by “artificial accident” and declare blindness. The fact that I was still paying off on the budget account for this set makes me decide against that story. Low blood sugar levels were sort of a general problem, and I decided to faint on my way to the car. The grass and ground looks too uncomfortable, and seeing that Jacques was holding my arm I knew, he knew that I was planning something.
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Leon Botha
Jacques Botha throwing everything at it.
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Well, I thought, retirement could not be that bad, and I was tired of scaring myself anyway.
Jose Ferreira, our friendly Panel Beater decided that he deserved a ride with me seeing that they had to repair my STi after every rally last year.
He got into the seat and I smiled, thinking that he would never be the same again.
On the previous run I did tap of twice in the famous tunnel, every time I heard my cajonies deflate, but this time around I was convinced that one could go right around, without lifting a foot.
We accelerated nicely out of the 90-degree right at the start of the straight and as I went through the gears I realised that this car was deceptionally fast. The tunnel started getting narrower and narrower, the mealies formed a yellowish green wall and still the Scooby did not run out of breath. I knew we were flying but I did not think that you did well over 200km/h when you go to fifth in the GT. The slight kink that looked like a straight on my previous run now suddenly became a bend and I simply ran out of road when despite turning, the Subaru kept stubbornly set on its route.
The first mealie was ok; the second one less than a 10000000th of a second later not too bad, but the next 427 really stuffed up the car. I must have hit the Queen Mealie right in the centre of the field! The windscreen was gone, the side mirror destroyed, the lights cracked or out, the bonnet dented, the mudguard narrower. I could not believe the damage. I immediately thought about a possible escape route before reaching the point where our group was spectating. Go directly back to Pretoria, do not pass the service area, do not try to collect anything that belongs to you. Then after about a half an hour I got the car back under control and decided to finish the stage, Jacques would find me someday, somewhere, so I might just as well face the music now. He has never tried to hit me, so I suppose it would not be too bad.
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Leon Botha
Jose Ferreira and Jose Da Costa drove the Italian Panelbeaters Sentra Sti
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Then I looked at José, he looked like a “New Years Eve” hooker. Shiny from head to toe in glitter courtesy of the broken windscreen. His lips were sticking out about six inches past his full-face helmet, and he struggled to get his shoes out of the floorboard where they were stuck.
The rest of the stage went predictable messy as I did lose a bit of rhythm but we still managed to clock one second faster than Jacques on 4m 1sec.
The reception at the service area was a bit cool, if I may say so myself. After formally introducing myself as his natural father just to remind him of the respect the Bible tells him to have for a loving parent, I was about to suggest that we should maybe declare me the champion and go home before he buggered up the car any further, when the tidings came that Rocky Reynecke tried to be spiteful and equaled what I thought would be a good enough time.
New (actually only less worn) tyres were fitted, and after I stuck an excessive amount of duck tape on the inside of the windscreen trying to block Jacques’ view as much as possible, off he went.
When I saw the cloud of dust rise behind the lane of wattle and blue gum trees, resembling a miniature atom bomb blast, and a second or two later only heard the deep growl of Subaru power, I knew I was going to have to drive again.
Breaking the 4-minute barrier he posted a time of 3 minutes 59 secs after masterfully throwing the Subaru through the last corner of the stage.
Now, what now? How the hell do you better a time you thought not possible a little earlier?
I let a bit of time pass watching the antics of some of the other competitors, realising that through all the excitement we actually did not take pictures of the competitors and that they were not going to be too pleased not seeing them on the RallyStar site.
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Leon Botha
Guillaume Jordaan drove the Ford Escort magnificently to a 5th overall position.
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Guillaume Jordaan needs special mention. He completed the course in and incredible time of 4 minutes 8 seconds, driving that sweet sounding but dated Sahra Escort finishing only 4 seconds behind the very quick Subaru Impreza GT driven by Marius Swart.
Kobus Roos also put up a superb show despite breaking two side shafts during his runs, leaving him with his first run to count only. We really hope that he will manage to get some sponsors for this season to run that Hencom VW Golf properly. I must say that the fact that he did not even get the Class N2 Citi Golf he drove so well last year to campaign for this season, is, and will always remain a mystery. Thank goodness some of the people who make these mysterious decisions are not rugby selectors as Frik du Preez and Mof Myburgh would still have been playing for the Springbok team.
A rather splendid show was also put up by young Salie du Toit driving the Opel Kadet into second position in class A, almost catching another junior Nico Nienaber in his Tazz. Junior Nienaber did not manage to beat his old man, Nico snr who won in class A driving the same car.
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Leon Botha
Salie du Toit in the Opel Kadet
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The moment of reckoning arrived and I reluctantly got into the car to go and complete my 3rd run. This time I knew I had no option but to make up time through the “tunnel”, and I knew that I could reel in a second or two around some of the hairpins by running a tighter line, sliding the car around the corner trying to keep the revs up.
Rocky has the gearbox fitted to that yellow monster that I now needed desperately. The group around us caught on to this dice between father and son. This was now a pure bred civil war, and like our friend Rueda from the Cape said in a so far unpublished press release, he was not going to take prisoners. To take a prisoner, I knew you had to catch him first. So off I went.
Funny how a small matter concerning your reputation can become a major issue?
With a slightly worried looking Miguel da Costa tightly strapped in next to me, I pulled off and with the exception of one or two slight mistakes put in a clean run, clocking 3 minutes 55 seconds, keeping the young Botha at bay, leaving yours truly to live and drive yet another day.
This was a well-organised event, and I believe with the exception of one, or two enjoyed by all. There must be lots of scope to grow this type of event and clubs should look into a possible championship?
FINAL RESULTS
LEON BOTHA - SUBARU 3:55
JACQUES BOTHA - SUBARU 3:59
ROCKY REYNEKE - SUBARU 4:01
MARIUS SWART - SUBARU 4:04
G. JORDAAN - FORD ESCORT 4:08
THEO VENTER - VW GOLF 4:08
JAN DELPORT - VW GOLF 4:18
KOBUS ROOS - VW GOLF 4:21
SCHALK BURGER - TOYOTA 20V 4:22
NICO NIENABAR SNR. - TAZZ 1.3 4:24
CHRISTO STRYDOM - OPEL Sti 4 :25
JOSE FERREIRA - NISSAN 2.0 Sti 4:25
LLEWELYN EDWARDS - TOYOTA 16V 4:26
NIC PRINSLOO - DATSUN 180U 4:31
NICO NIENABAR JNR - TAZZ 1.3 4:35
ANDY ADENDORFF - TOYOTA 16V 4:35
ELISO MIRANDA - VW POLO 4:37
SALIE DU TOIT - OPEL KADETT 4:38
SEAN HEWITT - COROLLA 4:44
MIKE ANDREKA - VW GOLF 4:45
GAVIN HEWITT - NISSAN SENTRA 4:47
BRYAN HALSEY - FORD ESCORT 4:52
JOSE DA COSTA - NISSAN 2.0 Sti 4:58
MICHAEL HALSEY - FORD ESCORT 5:17
HYLTON MILLER - OPEL KADETT 5:18
IVAN GOLDBLATT - VW GOLF 5:35
ENZO KUUN - VW POLO NOT FINISHER
CLASS RESULTS
CLASS A
NICO NIENABAR SNR. TAZZ 1.3 4:24
SALIE DU TOIT OPEL KADETT 4:38
CLASS B
1ST GUILLAUME JORDAAN FORD ESCORT 4:08
2ND SEAN HEWITT TOYOTA COROLLA 4:44
CLASS C
1ST THEO VENTER VW GOLF 2.0 4:08
2ND JAN DELPORT VW GOLF 2.0 4:18
CLASS D
1ST LEON BOTHA SUBARU 3:55
2ND JACQUES BOTHA SUBARU 3:59
CLASS E (JUNIORS)
1ST NICO NIENABAR, JNR. TAZZ 1.3 4:35
2ND MICHAEL HALSEY FORD ESCORT 5:17
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