CARtoday.com’s Hailey Philander went for a spin around Killarney with Production Car race ace Craig Nicholson in a Class A Nissan 350Z… Her introduction to the world of motor racing was “nothing less than absolutely exhilarating!”
By Hailey Philander, Assistant News Ed.
Organisers of local motorsport have realised that their high-octane pastime is in need of a serious image overhaul, and have started sticking an extra seat into the larger Class A Production Cars, harnessing some fearless individuals into them, and leaving them at the mercy of a band of accepted speed freaks. Being chosen as a “taxi ride” participant has to be a big thing – how often does a “regular” driver get strapped into a full race specification car and flung around a race circuit in anger?
Woohoo! The prospect of becoming more familiar with Cape Town’s Killarney circuit in a blur of sound and tar definitely got my imagination racing. Three roaring laps in the über-cool Sabat Nissan 350Z driven by Craig Nicholson in Class A of the Production Car championship sounded like sheer bliss to me. And the experience could be described as nothing less than absolutely exhilarating.
Folding my body into the makeshift passenger seat and slipping the helmet over my head left me with a weird tunnel-vision sensation, which was broken only by the gleaming grey roll cage inside the cabin. But after a quick harness check and a few encouraging words by Nicholson, we left the smell of the burnt tyres and excess adrenaline in the pits and gave the scorching Killarney a thorough thrashing.
Since the first lap’s pace was relatively conservative, I took a few moments to note the juggling hand- and footwork required to keep a rampant race car in check when all it really wants to do is stray into the grassy areas or tyre walls.
The second lap produced a more “spirited” performance from Nicholson and his black and flaming red machine, which was called to bite into the track more often than on the first lap. It also meant that the Nissan’s interior became an instant hub of passenger limb-flinging, head-swaying and harness-holding. And where the 350Z threatened to become unstuck, a few quick, and almost intuitive, adjustments demonstrated the immense concentration levels required by the driver to keep his car on the track and to ensure the continued ecstasy of his passenger.
But as we tore down the bumpy back straight at speeds in excess of 200-km/h for a second time, I realised that my cameo appearance in the race car would soon come to an end. My chauffeur probably realised that too. After a few quick shouts to check whether I was coping with the pressures of pseudo-track racing was met with a joyful whoop, he made the car shimmy across the surface between a tight set of curves. Brilliant!
One last dash around the final hairpin, a tight dart into the pits and the “taxi ride” was over. The fantastic trip lasted about five minutes (the quickest lap, with the added weight of a seat and a passenger with a sweet tooth, took just over 1,25 minutes). I was hungry for more and I pleaded for “one more lap” while I was hauled from the race 350Z.
How anyone could not be blown away by the experience is beyond my understanding. The entire experience could be described as a total sensory assault. The screech of those high-powered V6s combined with the flash of blurred images, the smell of frying tyres and fuel, the thump of a knee crashing against the carbon-fibre door panel, and the taste of sheer tyre-screeching bliss. I’d probably part with a kidney to experience that thrill every day…