The week prior to this month’s nitro on road club race we were told to expect a couple of visitors from the former Atlas Raceway club (AMR). When we were about to start and they haven’t showed up yet, we were sure that they backed out. Fortunately we were informed that they were on their way, although a little late, due to load shedding and also an accident on the highway that caused their delay.

When they eventually showed up almost 9 o’clock, we confirmed their entries and a squad list was printed. Oh, that was after the men (Tony, Derrick, Johan and Charlie) and their better halves were introduced to the club members.

Above: Our Atlas (AMR) visitors

At the drivers’ briefing we mentioned that two of the (fast driving) guys that normally attend our nitro race meetings, Bjorn Boogaard and Brent Alexander, were at the National event in East London. We wished them luck in their absence.

The 200mm Nitro touring class had 16 entries, so we’ve split them into two classes, trying to put the less experienced drivers and the more experienced drivers separately. This is unfortunately not an easy task if one does not have any record of the visitors’ abilities.  Personally I think it was a mistake to put Christo Meintjies from Pretoria with the less experienced guys, but on the other hand, neither André nor Henry asked me for my opinion… hehe. But I think they won’t make that mistake again in future. And the relatively local newbie Kevin Gates has also made his mark in this race, so he also cannot be considered a ‘beginner’ any more. So, let us take a look at the race:

Heat 1 Round 1  -   200mm Nitro Touring:

Kevin Gates boasts the fastest lap time – 18.32 seconds, but Christo Meintjies won the race because of his better average. Kevin got 2^nd place.. both of them completed 17 laps.  Jannie Holtzhausen ended in 3^rd place. Then came husband and wife team, Johnny and Marika Claes in 4^th and 5^th places, respectively and then yet another husband and wife team, Schalk and Colleen Vorster. Uhm, Colleen before Schalk, in this case. Both Schalk and Colleen had car trouble and poor Schalk actually had to quit after only 4 laps.

Heat 1 Round 2  -   200mm Nitro Touring:

With both Kevin and Jannie out of this race (did not start) Christo took an easy lead and won comfortably. Marika equaled his 16 laps, but I suspect that Christo did not complete the race, because Marika had 22 seconds more racing time than he had. Oh yes, he ran out of fuel! Christo’s fastest lap: 17.29 seconds. Marika’s husband, Johnny had a two minute flame out, which robbed him from precious racing time and obviously caused him a lot of stress and frustration.  

Heat 1 Round 3  -   200mm Nitro Touring:

Jannie did not start, due to seized bearings…or something, Christo only had four laps and Kevin was plagued by flame outs. That left Marika with the opportunity to win the race. This is an amazing feat for a beginner. Fastest lap belongs to Christo 17.95 seconds.

Heat 2 Round 1  - 200mm Nitro Touring:

Here we had all four the visitors, together with 3 of our local guys, as well as Wayne Smith. (Wayne only recently started racing with us, so I don’t think I am allowed to call him and his son, Stephen, ‘local’ guys yet. Maybe soon?)                                                                                                                 Jason Landsberg did what he always does: Race like hell! Jason won the race with two laps more than his closest competitor Derrick Plank. But that doesn’t mean that Derrick –or any of the other guys – were push overs. On the contrary; they were all pretty fast! Derrick had 2 laps of 16.something seconds and many 17 second laps. I see on the race results that Tony George retired from the race after a mere 7 laps, but it serves to be mentioned that it was 7 FAST laps. Johan Theron did not start.

Heat 2 Round 2  - 200mm Nitro Touring:

Lucas Dillschnitter won this race. Jason, now starting to encounter car trouble, ended 2^nd. His fastest lap – 16.13 sec. WOW!! Wayne, Derrick and Johan all had numerous 16. something laps. Tony left the race early and Piet du Toit did not start.

Heat 2 Round 3  - 200mm Nitro Touring:

Jason led the race again with Lucas equaling his 21 laps. Lucas did some of the fastest laps ever, maybe indeed his best lap time ever  - 16.93 sec! Derrick ended 3^rd. Wayne and Johan took early retirements and Tony did not start.

Heat 3 Round 1  -  1/8^th Nitro GT  :

(One could almost called this the Hong Nor class)

Kobus Griesel won this round quite comfortably – 21 laps and his best lap 17.74 seconds. This is an amazing time to achieve. Behind him in 2^nd place was Johan Barnard. Then came the two ladies, Charmaine Wright and Ronel Bann, in that order, with 16 laps each. Jannie Holzhausen, ending in 5^th place, also had 16 laps. Kevin Bann, André Steenekamp and Johnny Claes did not complete the race.

Heat 3 Round 2  -  1/8^th Nitro GT  :

Kobus won yet again and again boasts the fastest lap  -  18.10 sec. Johnny ended 2^nd and André 3^rd. Kevin and Charmaine did not start.

Heat 3 Round 3  -  1/8^th Nitro GT  :

Now the race became more competitive: the top four positions all completed 18 laps and their averages were all close to one another. André shed his car trouble while Kobus unfortunately did not join in this very competitive race. But now at least things started to get better for Kevin. Kevin succeeded in improving his own best lap. He boasts 4 laps of 18. something and 10 laps of 19. something seconds and he also boasts the best lap in this round  - 18.29 sec.  Kevin tried his best to equal or better the amazing 17.74 seconds of Kobus but failed to do so. André won the race, Kevin Bann was 2^nd and Charmaine ended 3^rd.

Heat 4 Round 1  -  1/8^th Nitro Pan Cars:

Johan Theron – after a late start - won this 4-man race. Do you want to guess what his best Heat 4 Round 2  -  1/8^th Nitro Pan Cars:

Johan – with at least 2 flame outs – or spin outs – won again. Jason improved on Johan’s previous best lap, 15.22 for Jason, he got 19 laps, but still couldn’t finish the race. Grrrrrrrrr… frustration!! Kevin also couldn’t complete the race and Stephen’s problems also allowed him only one lap.

Heat 4 Round 3  -  1/8^th Nitro Pan Cars:

Another win for our visitor, Johan Theron. Best lap 15.56 seconds. Jason again in 2^nd position, still encountered car trouble. The same goes for Kevin and Stephen. But wait for this: Stephen’s best lap – 14.67 seconds. Well done!!

THE FINALS:

Final 1/8^th nitro Pan Cars:

This 30 minute race was such a pleasure to watch! Visitor Johan Theron had an almost flawless race. He completed 103 laps, which equals our local boy, Jason Landsberg’s performance earlier this year.

Johan’s fastest lap was a brilliant 14.94 seconds.

Stephen Smith started 4 and a half minutes late, but from then onwards he only had one 94 seconds flame out. He did a…wait for this…… 14.32 sec lap!!!!! And that was by no means a mistake, because he did 9 laps of less than 15 seconds. That is Sooooooooo fast! Well done and congratulations with your 81 laps, Stephen!

Kevin Bann had 6 flame outs and he blames himself for that. Apparently he didn’t replace the clutch bell bearings as he should have done. He says his car continuously went off the track because of that and he consequently flamed out. But I am of the opinion that he nevertheless is quite happy with his fastest lap of 16.48 seconds. By the way; he had 5 laps of 16.something. Good job, Kevin, you are really catching up with the pro’s fast! Kevin and his family are into RC for about 12 months now.

This time around Jason had REALLY bad luck. His car let him down BIG TIME! So sorry, Jason. At least we know that you will be back and show everyone what you really are capable of. 60 laps for Jason before he quit the race due to rear suspension problems that made his car uncontrollable.

Pan car results:

1. Johan Theron

2. Stephen Smith

3. Kevin Bann

 

 

Final 1/8^th nitro GT Cars:

In this race, as exciting as the previous one, it was once again proved that the fastest car and driver does not necessarily win the race. Both André Steenekamp and Kobus Griesel had faster lap time than Kevin Bann, but it was Kevin that got the 1^st place on the podium. Kobus unfortunately had an 82 second flame out and that cost him dearly. Actually; it cost him the race. He (Kobus) recovered remarkably, but could not make up for the lost time. Kevin’s car behaved well and Kevin drove well, which made him the overall winner in this class for the day. Good for you, Kevin!

Kobus ended 2^nd after his loooong flame out and still boasts the fastest lap in this race – 17.33 seconds.

Charmaine Wright was out of the race for a full 4 minutes, but still managed to end in 3^rd place, having completed 60 laps. . Well done!

André Steenekamp started off with some brilliant lap times, but on this day also his car let him down immensely. André’s best lap - 17.47 seconds. Johnny Claes, Jannie Holtzhausen and Johan Barnard all suffered multiple flame outs.

GT results:

1. Kevin Bann

2. Kobus Griesel

3. Charmaine Wright

 

B Final 200 mm Nitro Touring:

Jannie Holtzhausen did not start and Colleen left the race after only 2 laps. That left visitors Charlie Herbst and Tony George to deal with each other and our local (newbie) Schalk Vorster. Charlie had average lap times, but he stayed on the track and that is what counts. So he won the race. Great stuff! Tony raced more spectacular laps, like 17.7 sec, but for a third of the race he wasn’t even on the track, due to flame outs. He still managed to end 2^nd. Whoop whoop! Schalk kept a more steady pace and had just a few short flame outs. He completed 60 laps and deserved the 3^rd place on the podium.

B Final 1/10th  Nitro:

1. Charlie Nienaber

2. Tony George

3. Schalk Vorster

 

 

A Final 200 mm Nitro Touring:

A group of 10 very enthusiastic drivers, this lot! Oops, sorry, I see that Piet du Toit did not start. Let me start from the bottom this time:

Poor Jason Landsberg had a day that he wishes not to remember. His car just wouldn’t idle. He had to quit the race after 36 laps, but he can still be proud to be the one with the best lap time for this class - 16.31 sec.

Lucas Dillschnitter did very well while he was still racing, but apparently something on his car broke, because he too quit after 61 laps. His fastest lap being 17.23 sec. Better luck next time, Lucas, we know you deserve a better position.

Then we have our dear little missus Marika Claes. I understand she wasn’t feeling comfortable to race with the big guns, but Race Control told her that it was where she belonged and she stood her man for 63 laps. Mooi man…ek bedoel dame!

Johnny Claes had a very late start and he also had a flame out of more than 2 minutes, but he still completed 71 laps.

Wayne Smith had 2 longish flame outs and still completed 72 laps. Best lap – 16.55 sec.

Christo Meintjies completed 76 laps, of which most were better than average, but he also suffered two long flame outs. Ag sorry man..

Derrick Plank got the 3^rd place on the podium with his 76 laps. Taking in consideration that he had a 279 second flame out, I think his comeback was quite significant.

The relatively new club member Kevin Gates got a well deserved 2^nd place. 90 laps completed.

Johan Theron qualified 10^th but won the race. How smart is that?? Looking at the race results, I cannot see anything bad that had happened to him in this race.. So happy for you, Johan. Congrats with your 93 laps. Fastest lap – 16.63 sec.

A Final 1/10th Nitro results:

1. Johan Theron

2. Kevin Gates

3. Derrick Plank

 

Best presented RC body award:  Johan Theron

 

I will definitely call it a very successful and pleasant day at the track. Thank you to all involved.