I have been here before and it was a particularly nerve-wracking experience. A few years ago CAR was invited to partake in the Citi Celebrity Challenge race event and yours truly was given the task of holding up CAR’s honour.
VWSA assembled some of the most successful drivers that have worn VW Motorsport colours over the past three decades, including Sarel van der Merwe, Giniel de Villiers, Terry Moss and Enzo Kuun and I had to race against them. The competition was intense, but with such a high-calibre line-up of drivers in the field, I didn’t feel a considerable weight of expectation to dice with the frontrunners or emerge triumphant from bruising mid field exchanges at Killarney.
Heck, I am just a journalist and most of these guys have been paid racing drivers for longer than I have been alive. That event also happened to be my first outing as a racing driver, but as it turned out, the VW Citi Golfs we drove were quite familiar to me and I turned in a performance that, by most accounts, was not too shabby (http://www.carmagblog.co.za/motorsport/my-name-is-not-luca/).
Since that memorable day in September 2009 I have driven a few more laps of local racetracks, but I have not experienced any further competitive race action; but all that is about to change this weekend. By the good graces of the Big Foot Express racing team I will be making my second ever race appearance.
Big Foot Racing (Pty) Ltd, owned by the affable Sun Moodley, is a regular entrant in the highly competitive Altech GT Challenge class that is run as part of the ProTour race series. The team utilises two Porsche 911 (997) GT3 “Cup” cars. These pukka racecars have been purpose built by Porsche Motorsport and as such are eligible to participate in various formulae in SA. This weekend I will be the second driver in car No. 43 at the Border 100 endurance race, which will be hosted at the East London Grand Prix Circuit.
I am sure you’ll agree that a full race-spec GT3 is a far cry from the standard Citi Golf that I last raced. These flat-six, normally aspirated machines have in excess of 300 kW on tap. They boast an array of aero addenda for added downforce and ride on full slick rubber. As with any true racecar there are no driver aids, no electronic stability programme and not even ABS.
On top of that East London Grand Prix circuit is the fastest racetrack in South Africa. It has two of the most daunting corners I have ever experienced, Potters Pass and Rifle Range. The last time I went through these terrible twins I was piloting a 141 kW hot hatch, which would easily tackle each right-hander flat out. This time around I am not so sure. At any rate, I will be building up slowly to get a good feel of the car through these hair-raising curves.
The Border 100 is an endurance event that runs for 100 minutes plus one lap. As mentioned I will be sharing car No 43 with Preyen Moodley. I am hoping that the regular pilot will build up enough of a lead with the car to give me enough laps to get into a rhythm to get to grips with and enjoy the experience.