SOUTH AFRICA – FEBRUARY 2007
International Sports Prototypes
Butch beats the Local Daytona winning hero in thrilling races
For the third year your correspondent entered Butch, a 1968 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28, for the International Sports Prototypes Series which is held in South Africa in February each year. Details of what these illustrious racing drivers have got up to in the past can be found at their website: http://www.racecar.co.uk/isp/. What a difference a year makes! The first year we spent most of the available track time underneath the car pulling out and then relocating the gearbox (it came in and out three times). However before the races began there were a number of activities and events that I simply must tell you about concerning some of my fellow racers!
Graham Bryant of the eponymous housebuilders in UK (Bryant Homes) somehow managed to gatecrash Nelson Mandela’s daughter’s 45 birthday party in a grand hotel in Santon Johannesburg. He did this in the face of stupendous security by pretending to be a sound engineer. Before being bundled out of the party he spent a most amusing time up on stage doing loud soundchecks – much to the increasing consternation of Mandela’s security entourage, who were certainly numerically significant. Graham’s amazingly quick Mk 11 AC Cobra is red with gold stripes. He and his team subsequently turned up in borrowed white coats at a medical conference pretending to specialise in breast improvements. Having set up their stall with the help of some pumps and stethoscopes bought at a local chemist they were assailed by a queue of women attending the conference showing their breasts seeking advice as to possible improvements!
Martin Brewer, who runs Runnymede Motors - an Aston Martin dealership in the UK, races a very quick DB5, but very nearly didn’t make the trip. When he turned up at Gatwick Airport with his passport and airline ticket he was informed by security that his passport was no good –mainly because all the pages had been removed from it! He then discovered that he had been removed from the flight booking. When he went to the ticket desk to enquire how and why he was told that his wife had rung in to say the he was deceased! He reckons that his wife behaved in this manner principally because he decided to take his girlfriend out with him. He did eventually make it although his DB5 developed a misfire and he really was not in contention thereafter.
Zwartkops 3 & 4 February is a beautiful new circuit looking very much like Cadwell park. The owner had built a beautiful and enormous 7.5 litre red Ford Galaxy as a tribute to the Racing legend (in South Africa) Bobby Olthoff. The car was to be run by the legendary Sarel van der Merwe, “one of the greatest racing and rally drivers that South Africans and International motorsport followers have the privilege to see in action”. I can imagine that the fuss over Sarel was that he had been tempted out of retirement to do these races and he had previously won Daytona in a Porsche 956. The races were great fun. Butch ran well after we had replaced wobbling heat warped front discs and a graunchy wheel bearing. All the wheel bearings had been replaced prior to leaving UK and we had obviously got a bad one. We always carry spares as front wheel bearings are a notorious weak spot on early Camaros let alone souped up ones! We starred in the TransAm races coming overall second and had a good race in the 45 minute enduro where we came third overall Butch could do the entire lap still in third gear – so it didn’t really suit the long legs of the car. In the last race the heavens opened and we were allowed to change tyres for wets at the forming up area. Unfortunately we only had time to change the rears and so Bob Ridgard, my co driver had to go out with wets on the rear and slicks on the front! Still he did well to keep it on the black stuff. Before racing began we did some track time to familiarise ourselves with Butch. I agreed to take out the circuit secretary “Charlene“as she is a Chevrolet fan. Coming round the corner prior to the start/finish straight we came upon Sarel van der M with an Alfa embedded in the front of the Galaxy! Of course I took to the grass, and bounced around a lot before regaining control. Charlene of course said that she loved this excursion! At the prizegiving much was made of Butch’s infamous history in Florida having been impounded by Florida State Police for running Moonshine Whisky in the sixties.
Killarney 12 February was held the following weekend in Capetown. Killarney was preceded by a drive through the middle of Cape Town by the racing cars and a road closure event - again in the middle of Cape Town in order to enable a few selected racing cars to do burn ups and drive flat out up one side of a dual carriageway in front of cheering crowds and a huge gathering of spectators and invited guests who were invited to a reception after the drive by. The wines were produced by local wine farms, and the guests were those with an interest in old Classic cars. The event was held outside the offices of Bloomsbury Investment Cars. Pride of place as ever went to David Piper’s Le Mans winning Porsche 917, which, with 1000bhp and a weight of only 1000kgs had the highest power to weight ratio of all those cars attending. The fun of blasting up the dual carriageway, with a crowd pleasing 100 yard burnout-not the fastest way to progress, but really we were there to put on a show! Mind you it cost me one rear tyre which was so badly misshapen from heat build-up it had to be ditched.
Practice was uneventful other than some difficulties we had with the new slicks we had with us. We were both six seconds off where we expected to be. I was 1.33 (and later did 1.27, and Bob had even more trouble at 1.38). This meant that we qualified in relatively lowly positions but then with the much quicker Hoosier tyres we were able to power past those in front. In the pre 68 classic and Sportscar race I managed to make up ten places, overtaking a Maclaren M1 (with Mustang power) a quick Aston Martin DB4 and perhaps the best moment of that race a Shelby Daytona Coupe (replica). This was extremely memorable as the owner of the Daytona was the Zwartkops owner, and I knew what kit it had. A 427 Ford big block, its rear brakes were the same as Butch’s fronts! It weighed nothing and I shouldn’t have been able to set it up for a pass coming on to the back straight and then power past. But it worked - fantastic! David Piper had a spin having come into contact with a well driven Corvette, and so I passed him as well.
However, the main race was the headline TransAm race which was to pitch Butch against the two local aces: Sarel van der Merwe, and Ben Morganwood, in the Galaxy and Mustang respectively. Well we certainly had a dice—with a cigarette packet between each of the three cars for the whole of the first race. We also raced “openly” - that is to say we left the doors open and there was much changing of places. Sadly I couldn’t quite make the overtake on the Mustang stick. So as we headed for the line I again set the Galaxy up for an overtake—this time from a position that I had not tried before Sarel moved across, Butch kicked up dust-but I kept the toe in and just caught him over the line to finish second to the souped up Mustang! The crowd loved it! The second heat was equally close in its early stages—this time I caught Sarel earlier and headed after the Mustang. It was quite clear the Butch had the legs of both at the ends of the straights. But did we have the brakes? Sadly not. I actually overtook the Mustang for the lead at the back straight coming up to the banked turn, only to find Ben powering past me under brakes. He runs M3 BMW brakes with Porsche callipers—quite a difference from my historically accurate system on Butch. At the end of the second heat-which really had the 40,000 crowd on their feet none less than David Piper came up to me and said “Nice race Tim”
Afterwards I got David Piper to sign a poster for me. I shall frame it as it will always bring very happy memories of some really close racing in South Africa and the time when I managed to beat the local Ace!
Notes to editors (not familiar with the Classic Camaro Club!)
Butch is a 1968 Chevrolet Camaro which has been campaigned by Tim Boles, holder of an International Racing Licence since 1991. Tim is secretary of the Classic Camaro Club UK, part of the Association of American Car Clubs see:
http://www.motorvatinusa.org.uk/intro.h ... ction.html
Tim is Managing Director of Simcocks Pensions. Simcocks Pensions is part of the Simcocks Group which has offices in London, Capetown and Mauritius as well as Isle of Man, and provides legal services as well as Trusts, pensions, and Yacht services to clients all over the world.