Temperatures were up to about 33 degrees at the 13:00 start and the local circuit commentator, named simply Elvis, was excited (think John Hindhaugh with a South African accent, longer sideburns, perfect shades, and a blue suede shoes attitude).
Twenty-four cars made the start with the #1 BMW, and #910 910 missing the call to the grid. We knew about the diesel’s issue and the 910 seemed to be having trouble getting the precise fuel pressure through its old fashioned mechanical injection. The #6 Lotus withdrew just before the start – problems with the ECU.
Duncan Vos (#98 Pilbeam) maintained a very slight edge over Dawie Joubert (#86 Lola) and these two soon seemed to settle into a proper endurance race. By Lap 4 there was a yawning nine plus second gap to third place, Franco Scribante in the #22 Backdraft. Very close behind was Francis Carruthers in the #69 Juno. Also in this second group was Andre Bezuidenhout in the best of the Porsches, the #4 993 RSR.
A short gap followed and then came the shocking-magenta Porsche Dino Scribante (#75), with the #911 911 of Michael Tischner nipping behind. On Lap 3 Rohann Theron finally sputtered out with the 910, only to return one slow lap later. The injectors were readjusted and he ventured back out, for one slow lap. It went back out for two slow laps, and returned again, they worked . . .you get the pattern.
Next to pit was Darryn Lobb when the #18 TVR slowed dramatically heading into the back stretch. There was fluid leaking from Rod Schaffer – more exactly, from his #25 Lotus. Another Lotus, #101 with Hennie Trollip driving, was among the early pit callers; the clutch was gone and they retired. Another making a clearly unscheduled call at the 25 minute mark was Geoff Stephen in the #20 Golf. The #55 Escort of Barry Sprigs retired when it dropped a valve.
The first of the leaders in was the #75 IROC Porsche of Dino Scribante. Coming at 40 minutes, this may have been semi-scheduled. Something had broken on Johan Goetzer, Sr.’s #9 Datsun and it was stranded on course.
At 45 minutes, these were the standings:
1st, Duncan Voss, #98, Pilbeam
2nd, #86, Joubert, Lola, -13 seconds
3rd, #22, F. Scribante, Backdraft, -1 lap
4th, #69, Carruthers, Juno, -28 seconds
5th, #4, Bezuidenhout, Porsche 993, -3 seconds
6th, #19 C. Arangies, Porsche 944, -1 lap
7th, #194, Peter Jenkins, Porsche RSR, -45 seconds
8th, #911, Tischner, Porsche RSR, -2 seconds [closest race]
9th, #5, Jeff Gable, Lotus 7, -59 seconds [going faster now]
10th, #16, Neil de Later, Birkin, -1 lap
11th, #15, Jaco Lambert, Panoz, -8 seconds [at 58 minutes stopped, first of definite scheduled stops]
12th, #83, Willie Lochman, Locost, -10 seconds
13th, #119, Sean Pearce, Porsche RS, -22
14th, #33, Andre de Lange, VW, -43 [handed over to Kevin Paynter at 1 hour]
15th, #8, Michael Schlater, Locost, -26 seconds [in at 1-hour, handed over to Estelle Vermooten]
The Lola and the Juno came in together at the 1-hour mark while the Pilbeam remained out and built up its lead. The #22 Backdraft pitted for the second time, as did the #25 Lotus with Schafer going very slow with an intermittent fuel surge problem. The Backdraft had had alternator problems and would continue running, changing the battery regularly. The #7 Toyota was moving slowly for a bit but then regained speed. The 910, meanwhile, was going about its test session with Steve Pickering now driving. A good Porsche, the #4 Kidscape team car, made its stop at about 70 minutes, Theo du Toit taking over at the wheel. The TVR was once again slow, however, now with Christopher Corna aboard. It had overheating problems before, but now the differential appeared to be broken and they soon retired.
Duncan Vos finally came into the pits at the 80-minute mark for a routine stop. Oops, no it wasn’t’ – the rear wing had come loose. They had built up a three lap lead which was now all for naught. They re-entered down in ninth place with the German Porsche taking the lead. Thanks to the earlier stops of the other two sports-racers the #911 911 had moved into second place overall. The #194 RSR was second, the #5 Lotus a nice third, the Kidscape Porsche fourth and the #83 Locost fifth, until it made its first scheduled stop, elevating the Juno another spot. The Lola was further back, thanks to a longish stop.
Behind them, the rest of the field was somewhere near Botswana. The #20 VW’s wheel bearings were behaving like Golf balls and the Datsun was wrestling with a timing issue. The team had disconnected the power steering on the Panoz – its fluid was boiling. The #7 Corolla was smoking badly (again), while the 910 was running smoothly for a change [if you call being passed by a VW Golf on the fast straight smooth]. It turns out that their fuel problem came from crossing the intake with the outlet lines – d’oh! The Corolla’s issue involved a cracked oil cooler which was being cut out of the system.
Approaching 100 minutes the two Puschavez team cars had yet to stop, as had the #5 Lotus. Finally the leading car of Tischner came in, handing over to Frank Nöhring. Their stop went very well and the team was able to maintain the lead, otherwise a Lotus 7 would have become the overall leader (instead we had a nearly 40 year Porsche atop the chart)!
The #19 Porsche Turbo was losing oil, while the #23 Backdraft retired with a blown piston. The #119 Porsche stopped at nearly the two hour mark, leaving only the #5 Lotus not having pitted.
Nick Adcock was now driving the #69 Juno, which had gained the lead through the pit stop cycle and had completed 60 laps. The #5 Lotus was second but made its stop at the 2-hour mark. This elevated the Pilbeam into second with Graham Vos setting the race’s fast lap at 1:44.744. The car remained nearly a minute down on the leaders, but catching fast. Du Toit was next, about 30 seconds further back in the #4 Porsche. The erstwhile leading #911 was a lap down, followed a few seconds behind by the troubled #22 Backdraft with Tony Martin now driving (it had another bad stop, a backdraft of 10 liters of fuel spilling everywhere and the team incurring a penalty). The #194 Porsche of Mike Altona was a further lap down. The Porsche 944 was still in the mix, moving up a spot when the #119 Porsche stopped and Stefan Puschavez took over. The #83 Locost was two laps further down followed by the #16 Birkin – good Lotus fight between them.
The Juno made its second stop at about the 2:25 elapsed time mark, allowing the Pilbeam back into the lead. Unfortunately, the Lola had retired after Andrew Moffitt had the apex seal on the rotary give way. The distributor drive snapped on the #9 Datsun and the team was waiting for a welcome replacement to be delivered from the Welkom Nissan agent. The #33 Golf’s problems involved a loss of fifth gear and a broken oil sensor line. The second Backdraft car retired with a burnt piston, while the #911 was penalized with a drive through for a push start. The Mixtec Locost (#83) was gone with a blown motor.
This left 19 cars still running – with only about half in good health – at the halfway point, and there were gaps everywhere. Graham Vos still led, now with a five lap gap over the Juno (which had to make a further stop – a penalty for pit lane speeding). At almost the halfway mark Vos reset the fast lap at 1:44.119. And it was getting hot – marshals reporting 38 degrees!
The #5 Lotus was running very well and had graduated to second overall with the extra stop of the Juno. The Kidscape Porsche was running like a clock and was third.
#5 also led Class Y over the other Loti-like cars, #16 and #8, and all three had been running rather well. Dragging behind were the #7 Corolla, #25 Lotus, #16 Birkin, and #9 Datsun – all with several delays each. Class V belongs to the Kidscape Porsche, ahead of other Stuttgart products, numbers 911, 19, 75, and 194. The first and only remaining non-Porsche was the Panoz.
The only two cars in Class U were gone (the Backdrafts) and similarly Class S would have no finishers with the Lola gone – it was the only starter. Class W had only the quite healthy #119 Porsche, while Class X was now led by the #33 VW after the retirement of the #83 Locost. The #20, although further behind, was still in the running.
These were the fast laps by class at this point: Class Y, #5 Lotus, Jeff Gable, 1:55,338; Class V, Andre Bezuidenhout, #4 Porsche, 1:48.679; Class W, #119 Porsche, Stefan Puschavez, 1:58.884; Class U, #22 Backdraft, Franco Scribante, 1:43.399; Class X, #83 Locost, Willie Lochman, 1:57.424; Class S, #86 Lola, Dawie Joubert, 1:46.218.
At the 3:21 elapsed time mark we had the first neutralization (done with a Code 60 system) when the #7 Toyota pulled off course. It lasted less than two minutes and was mostly needed to get the recovery truck across the track. The problem was merely a broken driveshaft and the car was retrieved from the dead car park and repaired.
Here are the 2/3 point standings with gaps to the car ahead:
1st place, #98 Pilbeam at 124 laps
2nd place, #69 Juno, -5 laps
3rd place, #5 Lotus, -1 lap
4th place, #911 911, -2 laps
5th place, #4 Porsche, -1 lap
6th place, #16 Birkin, -1 lap
7th place, #75 Porsche, -1 lap
8th place, #19 Porsche 944, -1 lap
9th place, #119 Porsche, -41 seconds [same lap, wow!]
10th place, #194 Porsche, -10 laps [it lost time replaced a driveshaft – not used to 6 hours events, the historic Porsche started the race with a reconditioned unit.]
11th place, #8 Locost, -1 lap
12th place, #33 VW, -10 laps
13th place, #15 Panoz, -4 laps
The remaining runners were more or less wounded.
About Hour 5 you ask? Simply the most stable hour of the race – the rash of retirements and delays had slackened and all the gaps were either growing or stable. The only exception regarding positions was that the pace of the #4 Porsche moved it ahead of the #5 Lotus for second place. An exception regarding problems was the #25 Lotus, which stopped on course and was flat-towed around on the oval. This part of the circuit is rarely used and the two truck drivers had great fun hauling the little car, probably running faster than it had all weekend. The #20 Golf was a late retirement with a broken halfshaft.
The gap between the Pilbeam and the Juno grew to 10 laps. With just a tad over an hour remaining the Pilbeam made its last stop, dropping its lead back into single digits. The brothers Vos have much to be proud of in their almost trouble free to the flag, and younger brother Duncan was able to add the African 6 Hour crown to a long list of titles that include several national touring car titles. As the race wound down, even the commentators had slowed their pace – indeed Elvis had left the building.
Kidscape’s last stop reversed the third-fourth place order again, with the #6 Signkor Lotus back in the last podium spot. Ahead of them the Harp Motorsport Juno remained solidly in second and made its last stop with 30 minutes to go. Although there was only a one-lap gap to the battle for third, the sports-racer was running seven seconds per lap quicker than then the little roadster. However, the #4 Porsche was similarly seven seconds per laps faster than the Seven.
Much kudos to the little #5 of Jeff Gable, John Glover, and Derek van der Merwe, nonetheless; the locally built car was better than the Birkins but nevertheless the Lotus replica had done better than most of Colin Chapman’s entries. The last remaining big battle was for fifth overall and second in Class V. #911 started the hour seven seconds ahead [what is it with seven second gaps?] of the rapidly gaining #75 Scribante Porsche. This quickly eroded and #75 took the spot.
The fight for third remained interesting to the end. The #4 Kidscape Porsche made its last stop with the #5 still circulating and inheriting third. It didn’t last, and with 15 minutes to go the much faster Porsche was through.
The finish of African 6 Hours coincided almost exactly with the African Sunset, which took place over the outer oval wall, past the pits – of course, it’s to the NW here in the Southern Hemisphere – the disc actually dropping a few minutes before the checkered flag. The low angle of light was the last challenge for drivers, particularly as they headed into the last set of kinks before the pit straight.
In true endurance racing fashion, several walking wounded cars were reanimated on the penultimate lap. By now it was quite dark and while headlamps were required, no one exactly had high candlepower bulbs aboard. Into the gloaming came the smoke shrouded # 7 Toyota. It came to a complete halt on the straight some 50 meters from the finish line. As the winning Pilbeam swept past the Toyota tried to crawl forward by whatever was left of internal combustion, electric starter, and sheer will and the cheers of the crowd—but alas, he couldn’t make it.
Utterly unknown to me until the checkered flag, there was an Index of Performance being contested. The # 5 Lotus was a deserving winner—first time for a Lotus since the infamous Le Man debacle.
It was a fun and worthy event. With a little tweaking South Africa is back in the endurance racing big time. This was the first African 6 Hours. It won’t be the last.
Janos Wimpffen
(With thanks to David Richardson for his help with pit-running and to Francois Pretorius and Roger Pearce for their assistance throughout the weekend.)
