Kyalami is simply put such an amazing circuit and an absolute privilege to race on with its high-speed mine shaft and long straight entwined into sixteen challenging corners which includes the famous sunset corner. Friday morning, we arrived early to setup our pits and gazebo to get settled in and the car ready for the morning practice session before afternoon qualifying.
Boasting an entry of close on 50 cars it was important to get out on track early for practice as to ensure you give yourself time to get a slot allowing you to go at race pace so that any adjustments required could be done before qualifying. Kyalami is a circuit that I only start giving it full throttle once the tyres have heated up as it so easy to spin out in the corners if they are not at optimal temperature. Silver Cup unlike the 111 or Clubman’s series has a standing start which in my opinions is far more dangerous for the drivers as you only go out on an out lap and line up in the grid position you qualify with before your foot is flat out on the accelerator when the race lights go out.
Practice went well and within 2 to 3 laps I was running in the low 2.10,0 which was perfect and totally on race pace meaning we could park the Golf and bring it out for qualifying knowing we had good pace.
Qualifying
Late afternoon at Kyalami can be tricky especially into sunset which has the sun shining directly into your eyes in a high-speed corner and with the track temperature dropping just enough to make the back of the car just a little loose and taking me right out of my comfort zone.
Kyalami has an extremely strict time allocation process of 15 minutes once the pre-race paddock gate opens until the flag drops for the session so with 40 plus cars this is a race on its own to get onto the circuit. The Shield Golf managed to get into a position that allowed me a good initial warm up lap and then two decent laps before a red flag stopped the session due to someone going off the circuit and parked in a dangerous position. Fortunately, I managed to get in a decent lap of 2m10.3 which was good enough for 13th on the grid and 1st in Class C.
Qualifying
Late afternoon at Kyalami can be tricky especially into sunset which has the sun shining directly into your eyes in a high-speed corner and with the track temperature dropping just enough to make the back of the car just a little loose and taking me right out of my comfort zone.
Kyalami has an extremely strict time allocation process of 15 minutes once the pre-race paddock gate opens until the flag drops for the session so with 40 plus cars this is a race on its own to get onto the circuit. The Shield Golf managed to get into a position that allowed me a good initial warm up lap and then two decent laps before a red flag stopped the session due to someone going off the circuit and parked in a dangerous position. Fortunately, I managed to get in a decent lap of 2m10.3 which was good enough for 13th on the grid and 1st in Class C.
Make sure your windows are shatterproof
BIG THANK YOU TO THE SHIELD TEAM
See your all at Zwartkops on the 24th of August for Clubman’s
