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Friday 27 April we placed some stickers on the escort, just to give it that personal touch. The spares and tools were

packed and we were ready for the action on Saturday.

Saturday 28 April the day started early, tyre pressures were checked and double checked on both vehicles. After that we moved to the racing venue at Fairbridge Mall in Brackenfell. After we picked our spot in the pit area we parked the vehicles and started setting up our Gazebo that would provide our shade for the rest of the day.

We moved the vehicles to the scrutineers, were it was left until our entries were finalized and we received our numbers and stickers for the day. The Escort were moved from pre-race entry number 63 to 54 to avoid confusion, the reason is quite obvious. From now on the escort will always be competing as number 54. The bakkie was entered as number 39 to provide us with enough time to get the escort ready for his run and to evaluate the lines we did with the bakkie. The vehicles passed scrutinering with flying colors.

Afterwords it was time to start the long walk, this is a must in the sport of gymkhana, a while ago I told one of my friends gymkhana is as much as getting fit as it is about racing.

We walked the set out route for the day more or less 4 times. Afterwords we stopped for some refreshments and started walking the route again, this time it was securely planted in our heads but we tried to figure out what lines we would take to give the best outcome and times at the end of the day.

With all of that done, the groundwork for the day was laid. Now it was just a matter of having a look at the different drivers lines around the course and learn from there mistakes. As the time approached for the bakkie to warm up and move to the starting line, the nerves were tingling all over, excitement you cannot describe to someone that has never competed.

Our moto: let the first run count, this helps a lot with the rest of the day. At least you now you have one time that counts. You can only improve on it.

The bakkie posted a time of 1:00.44.

After a brief wait it was the escorts’ time for his first run, we warmed up the slicks and made sure the new brake setup was al working and proceeded to the start cialis canadian pharmacy line. Our first run in the escort was a 1:07.38; we must have received a 10sec penalty somewhere. I have confirmed that we hit cone 4.

As the day went on, we tried different lines, amounts of wheel spin, braking points, etc. This was our second time competing in any Gymkhana, we are still learning to drive and all the different characteristics of the vehicles.

The bakkie posted a best time for the day of 0:59.65 on the 2nd round, we were happy with the time and used the rest of the runs to figure out how we are going to get that escort into the 54sec bracket.

Times started dropping for the escort, to a best time of 0:55.56 on the 3rd round. We returned to our pit area knowing that we will be in the top 3 with our current times. After a lot of head scratching we decided to raise the limiter with 500rpm to 7325rpm. This motor sounds so a live from 7000rpm+.

We returned to the starting line for our last run, as we were waiting we knew that no Class F vehicle have posted a time under 55sec, and that became our target, if we can get into the sub 55sec bracket the class win will be ours. And that is exactly what we did. The run was so smooth, wheel spin kept to the minimum, enough momentum thru corners to ensure good acceleration to the next, it was just perfect.

And yes, we have done it, the time came back as a 0:54.86, this meant our first class win and a 13th Overall position.

What a day of competitive competition in all the classes, especially class f, never have I seen times so close between the first 5 cars in the class. Excellent racing, thanks to all drivers, navigators and organizers for the day.

Especially thanks to our friends and family for supporting us and all the help on the day and before whilst preparing these to vehicles.