September 2014 Off Road competition

For some unknown reason, our September off-road event just seemed to draw a whole bunch of unexpected, but nevertheless very welcome group of visitors! When we loaded the race onto the computer on Saturday evening, there were already more than 30 entries. And as usual, on Sunday morning, an additional 6 or more guys showed up at the track. All in all we had 39 class entries. The Secunda crowd made up a great part of these entries, which we were very happy about, because they really are an extremely nice group of guys to associate with!

 

After a couple of weeks of extremely hot weather, we were surprised by an almost unpleasantly cool start to the Sunday. But that didn’t last very long and as the day progressed, it became warmer and warmer. The newly erected car ports/shaded pit areas came in very handy and the club members and visitors all enjoyed the benefit of it.

Due to the ongoing absence of rain, there was a concern that the large amount of cars would break the very dry track up, but apart from some nasty dust, the track lasted very well. Oh, I almost forgot: it actually WAS an off-road event.. so dust actually was in order…brooms not!

The race: With the number of entries we had, we could make 3 Nitro buggy heats, an Electric buggy heat as well as a Nitro truggy heat.

Electric Buggy:

The 1^st heat consisted of the “Secunda team”

Round 1:  Danie de Swart won the 1^st round, with Hannes Kruger 2^nd and Gustav Engelbrecht 3^rd.

The fastest lap was raced by Danie, 50.78 seconds.

Round 2: This time Gustav won the race, with Hannes in 2^nd place again and Neill van Wyk in 3^rd position.  Fastest lap: Hannes Kruger with a 53.9 seconds.

Round 3:  Again we saw Gustav took the lead, with Hannes behind him and Neill in 3^rd place. Fastest lap: Neill with a 52.02 sec.

Leg 1 of Final: Danie de Swart took back his 1^st place, Gustav came 2^nd and Hannes 3^rd.  Neill did not start. Fastest lap time: 50.7 - raced by Danie.

Leg 2 of Final: Danie won the race again with Gustav at his tail… again…., this time followed by Attie de Jager. Hannes did not start. An amazing 50.17, raced by Danie, faster in every round…. well done!

Heat 2 - Nitro Buggies: This class consisted of a mixed group: from novices to much more experienced drivers.

Round 1:  Leo de Oliveira (JHB) won the race – 7 laps completed. 2 seconds behind him was Johan Godwald (PTA) – also 7 laps- with a best lap of 51.7 sec.  14 seconds later Schalk Vorster came in to get the 3^rd place. It serves to be mentioned that it was probably Schalk’s 3^rd or 4^th time on a track…ever!!  Schalk completed 5 laps and so did his brother in law, Johan Killian. Ronel Bann and Charles Ellis, both beginners from the hosting club, completed 4 laps each.  Jacques van Zyl had numerous flame-outs and Johan Barnard did not start.

Round 2: Johan Godwald took the lead over from Leo and improved somewhat on his best lap of round 1. Leo ended 2^nd and Schalk in 3^rd again. This time Ronel did one lap more than her brother, Johan Killian. Both Johan and Charles completed 3 laps each. Jacques battled with his headstrong buggy and Johan Barnard did not start.

Round 3: Leo only came onto the track more than halfway through the race… That left the field wide open for Johan Godwald to win the race hands down, with Schalk 2^nd and Johan Barnard in 3^rd position. Johan G.  raced some very fast laps in this round. 52 and 53 sec were no exceptions!

 

Heat 3 Nitro Buggy:

These guys mean business when they go onto the track…no fooling around for them!

Round 1 saw Herman du Toit in the lead with JP Pesoa 2^nd and Gustav Engelbrecht 3^rd. Fastest lap by JP was 50.09sec.

Round 2: JP won the race with Pedro behind him and Herman 3^rd. JP managed to break through the 50sec barrier and achieved a 49.51 sec lap.

Round 3 : Pedro Maldonado won the race this time around, with JP in 2^nd and Hannes Kruger 3^rd. These top 3 guys, as well as Meyerton’s own Adriaan Johnsen, completed 6 laps each. Herman, Jacques Albrech and Gustav got 5 laps each. The fastest lap belongs to JP -  49.33 sec.

 

Heat 4  Nitro Buggy:

Danie de Swart and Louis Trichardt, along with some of their Secunda pals, took on the local guys. If I am not mistaken, Danie and Louis have both taken part in World’s competitions in the past.

Round 1: Danie won the race with more than a lap, with Louis in 2^nd place. Jacques Brits from Klerksdorp came in 3^rd place. Attie de Jager did not start. Danie’s best lap time was 50.92 sec.

Round 2: Danie won again, with Neill van Wyk this time behind him and Louis in 3^rd position.

No one broke the 50sec barrier…

Round 3: Once again Danie in the lead, Louis in 2^nd and Jacques Brits in 3^rd. Round 3: Now we witnessed Danie broke not only the 50 sec barrier, but sommer the 49 as well! He raced a very fast 48.93 seconds lap. Once more it was Louis in 2^nd and Jacques in 3^rd. Henry kept a nice 4^th place throughout  the qualifying heats. Kobus Griesel and Kevin Bann kept each other company right behind Henry, with Attie de Jager and Bjorn Boogaard also in their league.

 

Heat 5 nitro Truggy:

Round 1: Jacques Albrech Showed the rest how it should be done, by winning with more than a lap. But Henry Ogden and Kevin Bann followed suit and ended 2^nd and 3^rd respectively. Young, like in VERY young, Divan Albrech raced really well with, or rather, against the ou toppies. Ronel Bann and primary school kid, James Boogaard experienced a lot of car problems, while Kobus Griesel, after several flame outs, ended in 5^th position.

Round 2:  Same as Round 1, with Ronel who did not start. Jacques Albrech’s bast lap= 52.26 sec.

Round 3: Kobus had recovered from all his car trouble and ended 2^nd behind Jacques, with 6 laps each. This time Kevin came in 3^rd with Attie de Jager in 4^th. Now it was Henry’s turn to struggle with car problems.

When the truggy Final was run, poor Kobus only joined them halfway through ten race, due to idling problems.....and still managed to do 16 laps....With that kind of racing he could easily have ended right on top!  Jacques won the race with 3 laps. Well done! Divan and Attie did not start.

Electric Buggy OVERALL:

1. Danie de Swart
2. Gustav Engelbrecht
3. Attie de Jager

Nitro Truggy OVERALL:

1. Jacques Albrech
2. Kevin Bann
3. Henry Ogden

 

C Final- Nitro Buggy OVERALL :

1. Johan Barnard
2. Ronel Bann
3. Attie de jager

 

B  Final Nitro Buggy:

1. Jacques Albrech
2. Adriaan Johnsen
3. Gustav Engelbrecht

 

A Final Nitro Buggy

1. JP Pessoa
2. Danie de Swart
3. Pedro Maldonado

The whole race went well, except for the part where Race Control has forgotten to set the race time for the C mains for 30 minutes. Instead they accidentally left it on 5 minutes, as it was for in the qualifying heats. The group therefore had to run an additional race for 25 more minutes to make up their 30 minutes. . Oops. But all’s well that ends well.

Oh, and unfortunately, the last race for the day only ended 17h32 (half past 5) and subsequently the daylight was already gone by the time the podium pictures were taken.

The general feeling was that the day was enjoyed by all.