A dream debut for Times Racing

Things were looking bleak for drivers competing in round two of the Execuline Historic Tour when our Friday practice session at Zwartkops Raceway was interrupted by a monsoon of Vietnamese proportions.

While a handful of unfortunates nursed their machines back into the pit lane - their semi-slick tyres rendered useless by the amount of water flooding across the circuit - those of us not behind the wheel of a racing car retreated to the shelter of the track-side cafeteria.

Swallowing greasy cheeseburgers with the help of strong cups of coffee, we watched in anguish as this foul deluge threatened to destroy what was otherwise promising to be another great weekend of classic car racing.

Fortunately, despite our lack of faith in the South African Weather Service, things cleared up overnight and when Johannesburg woke to clear skies and dry asphalt, we racers returned to the track in a better mood.

With more than 250 names on the official entry list, including that of experienced European campaigner Michiel Campagne, the morning paddock was a scene of organised chaos. Everywhere, pit crews shaped by a lifetime of lager could be seen offloading trailers or disappearing beneath bonnets and engines.

While this went on, still waiting for the caffeine to take effect, we drivers climbed into fireproof overalls and started psyching ourselves up for the business of qualifying. With no warm-up session preluding it, this was a shock to the system because we had about 10 minutes to get ourselves a competitive placing on the starting grid.

Still, after stepping into my newly sponsored Times/Sunday Times/Etana Ford Mustang, the adrenalin kicked in and within a few laps I had managed to clock a scorcher of a time. In fact, nearly two seconds ahead of Hennie Groenewald in his blue Plymouth Fury, it turned out to be a little too hot for the race control to handle; the clerk of the course decided to bump us down to fourth position in order to keep the first heat of the Etana Legends of the Nine-Hour "exciting" for the ever-growing crowd.

When the time eventually came to line up in formation for the first race of the day, disappointment quickly made way for determination. I made the main straight quake as my right foot unleashed every one of the ponies herded inside the Ford's monstrous V8 engine.

Managing to shake Jonathan du Toit's big black Chevrolet Chevelle SS off my tail - no mean feat - within the first few laps, I homed in on the only other Mustang to be mixing it up with the frontrunners. A clean white '64 coupé decked out in period Lucky Strike branding, its pilot, the experienced Brian Rowlings, defended his position with the grit of a true racing veteran. No matter how hard I tried or what moves I pulled, the man behind that vintage visor kept his cool to finish second behind the '59 Chevrolet Biscayne of Mark du Toit. At the end of the first eight-lap heat, split seconds behind Rowlings and inches away from his rear fender, I roared across the finish line in third; a result that ensured I started the next race in a much more combative position.

But this fierce level of competition wasn't just limited to the drivers in the Legends class because a bitter rivalry also played itself out between some of the quicker Trans-Am competitors. Stuck in a horsepower war that's been raging all season, local track legends Ben Morgenrood and Willie Hepburn gave fans something to scream for as they rampaged their way around the circuit.

Hepburn, always the showman, lost it in spectacular fashion in the first heat when his left rear wheel came flying off his '68 Sunoco Chevrolet Camaro in turn eight. Yet despite his gallant attempts at getting the car rebuilt for his second assault on the raceway - think lots of angle grinding and hammering of bodywork - it was Morgenrood in his '65 Ford Mustang who got the better of this feud by finishing further up the overall time index.

After an afternoon of many explosive duels, I once again strapped myself into my Times Racing steed and rumbled up behind the safety car for the last Legends race of the day. Unleashing V8 hell into the first corner - a slow hairpin that can get ugly fast - I immediately traded paint with the Fury, lost two positions and fired along the main straight in a blind rage. But then, sweeping into turn five, I calmed down, made use of the Mustang's nimbleness and found myself clawing at the exhaust pipes of Mark du Toit's race-leading Biscayne.

Quicker through the corners, despite having fewer horses beneath my bonnet, I spent the next few minutes studying the man's moves until, on lap four, I powered past him to put my white and blue Stang in front of the pack for the first time.

From here on and for what seemed like an eternity, every one of my senses was focused on keeping the car out of the gravel and on track for that chequered flag. Finally, it arrived when I hooked a left onto the pit straight and shot past my crew celebrating behind the concrete wall.

A dream debut for Times Racing, another box ticked in my personal list of life must-dos, this taste of victory has proven to be sweet but short. And now, like some beast with a taste for blood, all I can think of is the next hit; one I'll hopefully relish again at our next race meeting at Zwartkops Raceway on May 29.