There are not many petrolheads in my circle of friends, associates or family who can say they’ve driven a proper racecar. Sure, there are some of us who’ve driven a special production car, but I’m talking about a car that is or has at one stage competed against a field of standardized or similarly powerful and raw cars…
Even in the CAR office, there’s a handful who’ve had the privilege. Ian McLaren’s driven Jannie Habig’s 2005 South African Rally Championship title-winning Volkswagen Polo S2000, and editor Oosthuizen had a go in a Renault Formula One car at Paul Ricard circuit in France. Sudhir Matai’s driven Mohammed Moosa’s Auris S2000 rally car, raced endurance style in the Border 100 with a Porsche GT3 cup, and of course (as most of you would by now have read about) is now competing in this year’s Engen Volkswagen (still known as Polo) Cup.
So imagine my excitement when I found out that my name was down to attend a launch where I would be given the chance to drive a single-seater racecar, courtesy of Fantastic Racing, at Kyalami.
The launch itself was unlike any I’ve ever been to as a well-known skin care company launched a few new products in their Men’s range.
Now, apologies to this company, but what was really going through my mind all the time was not how I should be taking better care of my skin, but rather how I was going to look after myself on the track. After all, with just over a dozen members of the media present, a real mismatch from all kinds of publications, I wasn’t too sure of the kind of competition I was up against.
After being transported to the Fantastic Racing office, we got a chance to have a look at just what we were getting to drive that day – a line of Reynard single-seaters that used to compete in the Barber Dodge series in the US, a sort of feeder for the more well-known Champ Car Series.
After my involvement in CAR’s own Virtual Le Mans challenge, I was pretty confident I could ace the simulators set up behind the reception area, but my suspicions that those would be used to prep the assembled group for the challenge of the Kyalami circuit were put to rest when we were informed that, due to time constraints we would be skipping the sim, and heading straight for the driver’s briefing.
It was at the driver’s briefing where the reality of the task ahead truly began to set in. 450 bhp per tonne of racing car could bite at any moment and if it came down to driver error, that driver would be held responsible for damages!
To my horror, I learned that overtaking, as part of the Fantastic Racing programme, was only allowed on two places at Kyalami– on the pit straight, and on the straight between turn three and four.
Our instructor for the day led us out onto the circuit in a Birkin S3 – powered by a 20 valve Toyota 4AGE. The first two laps were nothing more than scout outings so the drivers (eight at a time) could get a feel for the cars and follow the correct racing lines. The biggest thing to overcome was the pull-push/up-down shift of the sequential gearbox positioned alongside the driver’s right thigh, but after a few practice shifts, there really is nothing to it. There was a strictly NO OVERTAKING policy during this instruction, but a few knuckleheads decided to play taxi driver and disobey those simple instructions – passing everyone (including me) on the main straight before having to enter the Fantastic Racing pit just before turn three.
One of those guys happened to be the skin care company’s marketing manager for Sub-Saharan Africa who, strolling past me in the pitlane as the next group prepared for their sighting laps, mentioned that he was quite bored driving behind me… a comment that pretty much lit the fire under my backside. As it turned out, he insisted that he should be the first driver out, so as not to be held up by any slow guys.
Now I’d been pretty relaxed up until that point, but I promised myself that I’d be the one to put the pole-sitter in his place.
Despite my slow start out of the pits after trying to operate the two GoPro video cameras I’d brought along, I caught up with the pack relatively quickly, before having to sit back and bide my time before opening up on the main straight.
After two laps of semi-decent overtaking maneuvers, I’d finally caught up with my “nemesis” and after placing my own car behind his a few times, I realized that I was on the throttle a lot faster than him, and my opportunity came up right in front of the Fantastic pit when I planted a lot earlier than him out of turn three. His line was a bit untidy, and he left me far too much space on the outside – which I gladly capitalised on.
The trouble with cars of exactly the same power is that it becomes pretty difficult to pass someone else. Realising his error, my rival tried to close up the road going into turn four (a right-hander), but going into the turn side by side, I pulled a “Senna” on him, giving him the choice of trying to overtake me on the outside (which would have set him up for an inside maneuver on the next left hander, but he wisely opted out and dabbed the brakes as I took turn four flat-out in third.
My performances on the day were enough to earn me the “best driver” award, and later a spot at the top of the podium in the champagne ceremony though, in hindsight, as much fun as I had had on the day, I can imagine that Fantastic Racing might have been a tad nervous during the heat of the track battle…
What good fun to be competitive in a legal, controlled environment behind the wheel of something special.
My only slight criticism of Fantastic Racing’s programme is that they, for obvious reasons, cater largely for “slower”, more inexperienced, driver on the circuit, and therefore need to keep overtaking and individual pace in check.
Do it as soon as possible, is what I’d recommend!
Fantastic Racing also has programmes at Killarney in Cape Town, and Zwartkops in Pretoria. Visit www.fantasticracing.co.za for more details.
Kyle was taken Fantastic Racing by Nivea For Men
