I am pleased to report that the Shield Golf which is sporting a new refreshed look and motor has managed a 1st in Class in the 111 series run at Kyalami on the 13th of April and a 3rd overall this past weekend in Class D of the Clubman’s held at Zwartkops Raceway.
The past 3 weeks have been a hive of activity for the team as we needed to test and setup the car at Midvaal, firstly in preparation for one of the main events of the year in the form of the Extreme Festival of racing run over 3 days at Kyalami before heading to Zwartkops the following week. Kyalami draws the cream of SA motors sport, all competing in various series ranging from motorcycles to the Extreme Supercars which consist of Porsches, Lamborghini’s, McLarens and various other high-end machinery. The Extreme Festival which is live streamed on You Tube and watched all over the world by over 100,000 viewers and it was therefore important for the Team that we put in every effort to try and obtain a good result on the day. I must say the Shield Golf was looking like a winner before even getting to the grid with a new dash of paint and branding to ensure the Shield Flag was seen flying high.
Overhauling for the Extreme Festival
Heading out to Kyalami
Thursday morning was an early start for the team as the Extreme Festival pit allocation for the 111series was not under cover in the main building area of Kyalami but at the old main straight area which requires you to setup your own gazebo, or you will simply get toasted by the harsh African sun. Sporting a new look and under the Shied Racing Gazebo the competition knew we meant business – it was now up to me to make it all happen.
Thursday was mainly for registration and scrutineering, and with one free practice session thrown in it was jammed packed as the last time we had a chance to race at Kyalami was almost a year or two ago. Kyalami is an unbelievable circuit and probably compares with the top tracks around the world which is real treat for any club racer such as me. Straight out the blocks the car was good and without much effort was running in the low 2m11 with a breakout time at 2m10,00 which meant I needed to careful as with new rubber I could easy find a second or two of pace. 8V Performance had really done great job on the refresh of the motor and the car was tuned to perfection giving me the confidence that we could challenge for a win or at least a top 3 spot. Kyalami is an extremely fast circuit with the car hovering near the 200km an hour mark before the left-hand corner at the end of the main straight and therefore new brake pads and bedding in the disks is an absolute must to ensure you have no brake fade or it could be scary to say the least. Fortunately, the team had put in all the effort upfront, and practice went smoothly with only minor adjustments needed for qualifying on Friday in anticipation for the big race day on Saturday.
Qualifying
Some may be asking why you are going through the S’S wrong way around and surely in the kitty litter can’t be the quickest option – Yip you are all correct.
Unfortunately, someone just in front of me on ether the 2nd or 3rd lap of quail off loaded an oil tanker in front of me which shot me like a missile straight off the track in the kitty litter which prevented me hitting the barriers. Our Qualifying session was cut short as several cars had spun out and had to be towed in due to damage. Using the lap time dialed in on lap 1 or 2 we all had to then start in apposition that was not typically the spot you would normally be in – this was therefore going to make things interesting at the start.
Heat 1 & 2
Virtually a mirror image as the Shield Golf manged to weave its way into the midfield of the Class A cars consisting of Golf Gti 6, Ford Focus STI , Porsche 924 turbo’s and a couple of 16V Opel’s which was such a crowd pleaser as the Shield Golf was punching way above its weight and running on the edge of 2m10,2 which was to close for comfort or breaking out .
The Shield golf was on song picking up a race win in both Heats and 1st overall in class.
Zwatkops Inland Series
On the back of a successful Kyalami when going out for practice on Friday the car had picked up a strange miss fire which is normally only two things –(Fueling or electronics with the latter being something that can become a nightmare) . Frustrated after trying everything and was hoping that we sorted out the problem by changing the coil for the last practice session with no luck I had to load up the car at 5pm and head out to the emergency room in Brakpan in the form of 8V Performance, Sarel would bring in a crew at 7am to put the car on the dyno and try identifying the problem.
The 8v Team found the fault quite quickly which was due a TPS sensor clip being broken not ensuring that proper contact was made under breaking between the sensor and electronic management system which enabled me to get to get back to Zwartkops for the start of Heat 1.
Heat 1
Starting from the back of the grid I managed to work my way up through the field which was exciting and running in the low 1 min 13,00 eventually ended up 4th in class which allowed me to gain some valuable point towards the championship.
Heat 2
Starting closer to front of the pack made it easier to hook onto the back of the Multi Valve Honda of Kruiz and Diaz and then chase down Roland Hopkins and ex-champion who is now in a BMW. Having put a cable tie around the TPS as an interim solution let me down on the last lap as the car picked up a miss again which hindered my chances of getting past the BMW.
Big thank you to my team, 8V Performance for coming in early on Saturday morning and Shield for all the support… hopefully we have sorted out the TPS gremlin and look forward to doing better at Redstar Raceway in a couple of weeks.
BIG THANKS TO SHIELD
