Race Review: Power Series - Round One

Racing is strange on the body. In a race, heightened cognitive ability driven by adrenaline takes front seat, coupled with the ability to sharpen senses beyond normal levels. A by-product however is…short term memory loss. But slowly as the hours go by, your brain has stored those memories somehow, which slowly creates the roller deck piecing it all together.

A short inside scoop as to the process. But let’s get to the first Power Series of the year…Struggling with pace, I’ve always looked at this year as a development process. At the bar on a media event one evening, I had once asked Sarel vd Merwe for his biggest pieces of advice in racing. One that stood out for me is that you need to know your place in terms of how fast you are to others on a skill level. In a way if you can master that, you’ll increase your chances of surviving each 8-lap race and get faster over time. Sure, when the time comes to fight, then fight but don’t overreach…or you’ll fall off. That has and always will be my approach. Sensible, right?

Photocred: Abri De Bruin — Photocred: Migael Dannhauser

Race One - I had botched the start. Missed a gear and found neutral. There was however enough momentum that allowed me to stay within close distance of the front 3. The two class leaders had a moment around turn 2, connecting with each other, which allowed myself to inherit two places, getting up to third. Eden in his Polo 6 is blindingly quick and despite my best efforts, I was not able to protect the advantage. Slowly he reeled me in. Sensibly I decided to concede. Despite what anyone says, racing smart is a virtue. I had done little wrong and in hindsight the two biggest mistakes made were leaving the door open around turn 4, a place where a class B car gets up to 145km/h. The double right hander, a favourite of mine but get it wrong and you’re going to need to replace your car. Dario came back to show why he’s the reigning Polo Cup Champion. Again, I had conceded and put myself in an extremely compromised position around turn 4. He had given me enough room…thankfully. Any form of contact at that point and it would have spelt disaster. Again, there’s this old adage from the aviation industry that says, “Each time you have a close call, you take something out of the luck bucket and put it into the experience bucket.” That rings true.

Race Two - I had caught Ian sleeping and needed to go around the outside before slotting in behind Byron. It then proved a taxing exercise of defending for 3 long laps before being passed but again, big lessons learnt, in trying to be fast with defensive lines. Bearing in mind that GTi Challenge is a like-for-like situation in that everyone has the same package from a performance point of view and technological advantage is limited but not completely ruled out. This makes for proper dicing where technique is critical and you’re needing to think and act smart. You’re totally exposed if you make any mistakes and having power to be faster is out of the question. Learning under these circumstances will improve your driving in the long run. I had made my way up unto 4th position and kept it.

Getting forth for the day despite the struggles isn’t quite the best result on paper but the lessons learnt competing against some of the best drivers out there not doing trophy hunting but just racing and having fun, is priceless. I raced a clean and calculated race in both heats. Something I’m particularly proud of. Sure, it could have been better. It always can be but appreciating what you have makes for a better conversation and putting the car untouched, back into the garage is a success in itself.

Truthfully, it is hugely frustrating when you can see the positions in front. The cars aren’t flying off into the distance. But the reality is that there just isn’t enough gas and/or skill to get there. The fun part is that we can get to the learning part now, retrospectively analysing every piece of the package and then deciding on corrective measures. First up, get Nian Du Toit into the car to post a benchmark time.