Category Archives: Uncategorized

2011 Season Opener @ 9th Flamingos Langebaan Gymkhana

9th Flamingo's Route.JPG

This opening event for us as a team was very excited, due to a 2 new cars that was build and our outfits. The idea of the shirts started a last year, we wanted to stand out a little between the crowds and decided we need some branding as we are currently 9 members that drive and navigate under the www.race-tech.co.za name. This all started with only two friends that have managed to convince out friends to come and enjoy the sport. New members to the team is Selina Botes (driving Mike Mathee VW Fox) and Rudolf Marais, last year while we were standing in the sun waiting for our next run, Rudolf was busy slaving away on his restored Mazda 616. The car was completely stripped down, sprayed in a very nice blue, motor overhauled and assembled again, know the mammoth task start to get it in shape. Having a nice looking car only score points with the crowd, not with your peers racing against you. “Performance and handling does more for good track times than looks…”
During the off season, my brother, father and I sure as hell was not sitting around waiting for our older days to come closer. I decided that I needed to sell the Datsun bakkie, rust was taking over, this wasn’t a very hard decision to make, as I have been busy building a new race car for the last year. Mike bought himself a Datsun 1200 last year with big plans for, but since my car is still under manufacturing, I took over his big plans and decided that we will race with it until my car is done. The 1200 was stripped and the complete running gear was swapped with the bakkie and a few other bits like pedals, seats, front suspension and a completely new rear suspension was added to the 1200. This kept us busy for more or less 3 months. All this while I continued with building my new cars roll cage, but I have to admit, the race car was the one collecting dust half of the time.

We arrived at Langebaan the Friday evening, setup camp and went down to Flamingo’s to walk thru the route a few times, we had about an hour before it was dark, the route was new and would present a few challenges the next day, but at least we had a head start on learning the track. Once back at the camp site Pietie arrived with his Mazda F on the back of a trailer, we were so eager to help him offload it, that we forgot a few essentials, after utilizing a few jacks and ramps we got the trailer unstuck and could offload the F, “some say this was wasting time, we say this was an adventure”.

The next morning was pretty busy with getting our vehicles in order, going thru documentation and scrutinering. We had the normal first event issues like ground wires that came loose on engine rpm limiters, installing tyres in the wrong sequence etc. After a hour we were back in the groove and got every vehicle race prepped. We had another opportunity to walk thru the route before drivers briefing and the event started.

Jan van der Vyver’s view:
Jan van der Vyver and Herman Mathee in Class D VW Golf 1.4i – 1st in Class D and 6th Overall

IMG_9300-1_0.jpgThe day started off at 5:00 after the U2 concert. But looking at the skies we were going

to have a great day. Running at number 33 gave the nerves sometime to calm down. My first round was an 1:08 and I heard something from the commentators side, about me and wondering what I had for breakfast (a Whole lot of nothing at that time). After the first runs was completed, I realized that everything started to come together on the golf, her lifters was even “clapping hands”. The second runs in the D and H class was great fun. The little sleep and not drinking enough water caught up with me in the third run with a cramp in my left arm, but still a good time.

I was over the moon with the results of 6th overall, 1st class D and 3rd in class H. This was the most successful outing for me yet, and we can only hope that the rest of the season stays on par. Thank you to my wife for supporting me, and to all the people who helped with the car (Herman, Mike, Stephan, Leon, Marius, Lee, Bjorn)

Herman Mathee and Mike Mathee in Class F Datsun 1200 – 3rd & 5th in Class F

IMG_9048-1_0.jpgAll

the hard work of the last 3 months was at a end to get “Lil Datto” to where it is today, know it was time to get it on the track and start getting the feeling how the car handled. We only packed one set of tyres for the car, 14″ Bridgestone semi’s for the rear and 13″ Dunlop semi’s for the front. As we drive in n number order, I was the first one to take “Lil Datto” thru the route, and boy was it nice and also just as frustrating. As this was my first time driving a RWD vehicle with a limited slip differential on a gymkhana route, it took some getting used to, I’m pretty sure it will take a few events to get used to this. Our biggest concern was the exit speed out of corners and starts due to a long duration cam, but at the end of the day this proved to be a very nicely balanced setup, the concerns was with the front suspension, front end grip disappeared somewhere down the road, either during swopping the parts from the old bakkie to the car or while fitting the new rear suspension.

56F Mike and Herman Mathee - Race-Tech Datsun 1200GX - 1400_0.jpgGetting the car thru slow speed corners was a complete frustration and allot of swear words were exchanged between driver and suspension, it was under steering allot, yes it has a LSD fitted in the rear that aids with under steer, but this isn’t just under steer, definitely a few other parameters also at work. Even thru the higher speed corners the front felt loose, this normally the being driven at full speed and total confidence. As the day went on, we stole the Fox 13″ slicks and Mike tried them out on his second run, this was even worse, at least this helped with the decision to scrap them as they were done. Afterwards Jan borrowed us a set of old 14″ semi’s for the front. This made a huge difference but was not the answer, we had to sit down and figure a way out to get front suspension working.

At the end of the day Mike was able to bring the car home a Class position of 5th and I 3rd. Never in my life have I seen my brother exit a route and smiling more than with this little car. Thanks Mike for providing me with the opportunity to use your car until “Datto” is done. We are very pleased with the car, for its first real event it did very good, personally I think the car has allot more to offer, you just get that feeling when moving thru the route, if time is on my side, I will rethink the front suspension and make the necessary changes.

Mike Mathee and Pietie Erasmus in Class D VW Fox 1.3 – 4th in Class DIMG_9226_0.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

37D Pietie Erasmus and Mike Mathee - Race-Tech VW Fox 1300_0.jpgPietie Erasmus and Mike Mathee in Class D VW Fox 1.3 – 5th in Class D

 

 

 

 

 

 

IMG_9052-1_0.jpgSelina Botes and Herman Mathee in Class D VW Fox 1.3 – 7th in Class D

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

IMG_8972_0.jpgPietie Erasmus and Mike Mathee in Class F Mazda 1000 – 6th in Class F

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

IMG_9265_0.jpgRudolf Marais and Mike Mathee in Class F Mazda 616 – 8th in Class F

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More Pictures – 9th Flamingos Langebaan Gymkhana

Final Results for 2010

What a wonderful year it was to compete in the Witzenberg Motorclub Gymkhana series.

I would just like to say a few words:
Thanks to everyone involved with www.RACE-TECH.co.za, this was a very memorable year in the sport, from almost burning to death in Vredendal to nearly drowning in Stellenbosch, I can only look back and say how fortunate we are to be able to compete, all the challenges, struggles, late work, sweat and blood disappear with the thought that we as a group of friends is able to

enjoy this as a sport.

Thanks to Witzenberg Motorclub that made all of this happen, I know there is allot of work happening in the background that none of the competitors are aware off, to all, this is appreciated.

Thanks to the Marshalls, doesn’t matter if it is raining, or hell wants swallow you, these are the people that is always there to keep an eye on us.

Thanks to the Sponsors / Owners of venues – without your involvement all of this would have been a thought to us the competitors.

Last but not least: To the women in our lives, where do I start, words can’t really put it in perspective what you mean to us, I just want to say one

thing, thanks for allowing us to live our lives with you beside us.

Class Drivers			 Position	Name	Vehicle	Class 2nd	Herman Mathee	Datsun 1400	FClass Drivers			 Position	Name	Vehicle	Class 2nd	Jan van der Vyver	VW Golf 1.4i	D Class Navigators			 Position	Name	Vehicle	ClasClass Drivers			 Position	Name	Vehicle	Class 3rd	Bjorn Venter	VW Golf 1.4i	D  Class Navigators			 Position	Name	VehicleClass Navigators			 Position	Name	Vehicle	Class 1st	Jan van der Vyver	Datsun 1400	FClass Navigators			 Position	Name	Vehicle	Class 2nd	Herman Mathee	Nissan Skyline	GOverall Drivers Position	Name	Vehicle	Class 10th	Jan van der Vyver	VW Golf 1.4i	DOverall Navigators			 Position	Name	Vehicle	Class 8th	Jan van der Vyver	Datsun 1400	F

WBMK Gymkhana Championship

Overall Drivers
Position Name Vehicle Class
8th Herman Mathee Datsun 1400 F
10th Jan van der Vyver VW Golf 1.4i D
23rd Björn Venter VW Golf 1.4i D
28th Mike Mathee VW Fox 1300 D
31st Pietie Erasmus VW Fox 1300 D
Overall Navigators
Position Name Vehicle Class
8th Jan van der Vyver Datsun 1400 F
9th Herman Mathee VW Golf 1.4i D
21st Jan van der Vyver VW Golf 1.4i D
25th Mike Mathee VW Fox 1300 D
27th Pietie Erasmus VW Fox 1300 D
Class Drivers
Position Name Vehicle Class
2nd Jan van der Vyver VW Golf 1.4i D
3rd Björn Venter VW Golf 1.4i D
6th Mike Mathee VW Fox 1300 D
7th Pietie Erasmus VW Fox 1300 D
2nd Herman Mathee Datsun 1400 F
7th Pietie Erasmus Mazda F1000 F
Class Navigators
Position Name Vehicle Class
2nd Herman Mathee VW Golf 1.4i D
3rd Jan van der Vyver VW Golf 1.4i D
6th Pietie Erasmus VW Fox 1300 D
7th Mike Mathee VW Fox 1300 D
4th Herman Mathee BMW 535i E
1st Jan van der Vyver Datsun 1400 F
4th Herman Mathee Nissan 1400 F
8th Mike Mathee Mazda F1000 F
2nd Herman Mathee Nissan Skyline G

 

More Pictures – Final Results for 2010

Sea Sickness @ 1st Cape Gate Gymkhana

39D Pietie Erasmus and Mike MatheeI was asked after the event what my feelings is regarding the venue, the only word that came out of my mouth was “Amazing”. By far the only venue that came close to the ever popular Mykonos Gymkhana, at the end of the if we never get the opportunity to use Mykonos Casino again for a gymkhana, I hope Gape Gate will still be with us. The most spectacular part of this venue was the ability for the organizers to setup a fast and flowing route, which enabled a lot of the competitors to once again open the taps and test the brakes.

We also want to welcome Mike Mathee (my Brother) and very good friend Pietie Erasmus to the sport of gymkhana. This event was their first, sharing Mike's 1300 VW Fox, normally his run about  and my parts transport if the bakkie is on the jack, they drove and navigated this stock standard vehicle in a way that the best of seamen would have been sea sick after the three rounds. The above picture would explain the statement 100%, the amount of body roll on such a standard vehicle is enormous.

Herman Mathee and Jan van der Vyver in Class F Datsun Bakkie

Herman Mathee's View:

23F Herman Mathee and Jan van der VyverWhat can I say more than just, what a pleasant day, driving conditions, organizing and overall speed of this track, great stuff. Never before have we had the little bakkie so sideways exiting one of the high speed corners. This was the first event since I started with this event that I did not monitor times of myself or other competitors in my class, only after the event that I looked at the official times I rea

lized that I have won the class, but my biggest shock was by how far. Almost 6sec between me and the 2nd class placement on 2 best combined times for the day. Not only a great venue, but also a venue that suites my driving style.

Also one of two events where I thought here are we on our way to hit a wall or something with me navigating for Jan in the Golf. On our last run of the day in the Golf, Jan exited the 360 just before the end, and I'm pretty

sure my eyes were so far out it was actually sitting on the fender looking at how close it was.

Jan van der Vyver and Herman Mathee in Class D Golf 1.4i

Jan van der Vyver's view:
53H Jan van der VyverUpdate coming soon

Mike Mathee and Pietie Erasmus in Class

D VW Fox

Mike Mathee's View:
41D Mike Mathee and Pietie ErasmusUpdate coming soon

Pietie Erasmus and Mike Mathee in Class D VW Fox

Pietie Erasmus's View:
39D Pietie Erasmus and Mike MatheeUpdate coming soon

More photos of the day: 1st Cape Gate Gymkhana

zp8497586rq