The home of motorsport in South Africa hosted the Extreme Festival and Round 2 of the Toyota GR Cup but, Alex Shahini learned following back-to-back pole positions, things don’t always go to plan in racing… 
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In Round 1 of the 2024 Toyota GR Cup hosted at Killarney Raceway, there was an obvious pace deficit between myself and Sean Nurse and Hannes Visser. I was thus as surprised as anyone to set the fastest time in practice for Round 2 at Kyalami, converted this pace into pole position for the first race. After wrestling the GR Corolla around the Cape circuit, I had begun to feel more comfortable behind the wheel of the all-paw hatch. This was until lap 4 of Race 2 at Kyalami…
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Despite securing back-to-back pole positions, Sean Nurse managed in both races to get ahead of me early on. Chasing Sean and a dealer-backed GR Yaris down on the pit straight, catastrophe struck. After a good exit out of Ingwe Corner onto the main straight, the Corolla’s uprated and aftermarket system failed as I sought to negotiate turn 1; Crowthorne Corner. Carrying significant pace while travelling past the 100m braking marker, my heart sank as there was zero response from the car’s middle pedal. Impressively reliable and consistent to this point, in the 4-seconds between me standing on the brakes and my appointment with the tyre barrier, not much went through my mind. No fear, no panic, just the instinct to try and slow the car as much as possible.
Related: Toyota GR Cup Heads to Kyalami for Action Packed Extreme Festival
Earlier in the day, fellow racer Hannes Visser, had suffered the same equipment failure towards the end of race 1. Thankfully uninjured, his crash resulted in his car being suspended on the metal catch fence behind the tyre wall. His rollover was a result of hitting the sand sideways after instinctively grabbing the hand brake, while my instinct was to keep my car as straight as possible (racer Deon Joubert later confirmed that tipping into a roll is arguably the safer of the two scenarios).
Realising that an impact was inevitable, I made my peace that the brakes weren’t coming to my rescue and tried to manoeuvre my car, affectionately named Carmella, so that the passenger side made contact with the tyres first.
Related: Racing Upgrades to the GR Corolla for the 2024 Toyota GR Cup
Prior to each GR Cup race, we have the opportunity to test the vehicles and provide feedback. One of the notes made was that, in race trim, the Corolla’s brakes may be susceptible to “glazing” due to excessive heat (not encountered in everyday road driving conditions). Hence the upgrade for the racing series.
My failure was unlike a feeling of so-called brake fade. From each lap in practice, qualifying and Race 1, the aftermarket system performed both powerfully and consistently. Thus, it was a surprise when they simply “gave up the ghost.” As a precaution following Hannes’ dramatic red flag moment in the morning, the Fast Development mechanic team conducted a thorough check on the systems and bled the braided lines to ensure there were no faults in the system. None of us were too concerned going into Race 2…
Unharmed but uncertain of how severe the damage was, I immediately unbuckled my 5-point harness, flung the door open and unfolded myself from the wreckage. My helmet-mounted GoPro had bounced off of the deployed airbag and into the rear compartment of the car. Helmet and balaclava removed, the Kyalami marshals were at my side in a matter of seconds. Fire extinguishers in hand and ready to contain any supplementary “excitement”, the two marshals escorted me to safety while the track was still live.
Back at the pits, I was encouraged to seek a precautionary medical check-up and after recollecting my thoughts and receiving warm wishes from the rest of the paddock, I proceeded to do so. Feeling robbed of the prospect of a lucrative Kyalami win or even a podium, on arrival at the medical centre, the news that a competitor in the Volkswagen Challenge had been sustained serious injuries in a subsequent race reminded me to be grateful that it was only my ambitions (and racing car) that had taken a knock in my accident.
As for the component failure, Toyota and Fast Developments have assured us that they will find and rectify the potential fault any competitor gets into the car again. Carmella, on the other hand, while battered and bruised may yet return to the circuit if the damage isn’t deemed too severe – fingers crossed.
