Spurr Racing – Round 1 Redstar Raceway 13 February

Spurr Racing – Round 1 Redstar Raceway
13 February

 

This past weekend saw the first round of the SuperHatch championship take place at Redstar Raceway just outside of Delmas…
All new for us… new track, new engine (a borrrowed one) and a first of many race days without my pillar of strength…
Friday morning I managed to get out on track and see the lay of the land…. None of which made any sense to start with, as the 4km circuit has one long flowing corner after another and I never knew where I was… I did however fall off in the only hairpin bend on lap 2 and stall and wasn’t able to re-start the car…. And I caused the first red flag of the day… after being towed back to the pits luckily we discovered it was just the crank angle sensor which needed a small adjustment…
I did a few more sessions in the day and got a little more familiar with the circuit each time I went out…and made myself very familiar with that hairpin… where I managed to spin often…
Saturday morning and we were the first category for the day… we set out for qualifying and I felt as if I was finally getting to grips with the circuit and that hairpin… suddenly without warning I came to a standstill, with what felt like no drive.. I thought perhaps the side shaft had broken or pulled out…

After getting towed back to the pits, I saw a loose wire under the car, and thankfully it was just the mains to the fuel pump that had come loose and the fix was quick and painless…
I had qualified 7th in class B and 14th on the road….
Race 1…. and lights on and off and I ensured that my pull away was one to count, I squeezed my way through in between Sammy G and Jono Konig.. and down to turn 1 the three of us went side by side, 3 abreast into the very twisty turns 1, and 2… I got ahead of Sammy but just could not make it stick ahead of Jono… but the three of us had pulled a small gap from the chasing pack.
By turn 9 I had a moment and I lost it, got all sideways and lost a ton of ground and now had the chasing pack right on my boot… we had a ding dong battle and I held them off until the flag… finishing where I started in 7th in class but up to 12th on the road…
Race 2… and 7th on the grid, another good start and in the bunch, ahead of Sammy this time after a few corners and head down and the hunt was on for that lead pack… on lap 3 as I depressed the clutch to go from 2nd to 3rd gear… and a double bapapapaaaaaa… and bang went the engine …NEVER have any of use seen a ring leave an engine and get stuck in the fan….
A tough first outing but certainly meaning that the season can only get better from here on in..

 

This was a TV round and will be on Ignition (dates will be sent out to all once I have them)
The next round will be at Zwartkops on the 5th of March as part of the Inland racing series….

 

THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT J