Handbrakes and HairpinsTo receive your FREE weekly Handbrakes and Hairpins newsletter, or if you would like to share this with a friend, please send me your e-mail address to handhnews@gmail.com. Mobile: 083 452 6892.

All content copyrighted property of Handbrakes and Hairpins, 2007Issue 11

Serge Damseaux, one of Toyota SA’s greatest brand ambassadors, has bowed out of motor sport competition as the driver to have won more South African championship rallies than anyone in history. His record of 74 wins between 1985 and 2007 surpassed the 66 victories recorded by another multiple rally champion, Sarel van der Merwe between 1974 and 1997.

During his ultra-successful career Serge notched up all but one of his 74 wins in a Toyota and won 10 SA rally driver’s cham-pionships to the 11 Van der Merwe collected in his career. The quiet man from Somerset West was in with a shout to score his 75th rally win and thereby collect his record-equalling 11th driver’s title on the Toyota Dealer Rally that was held in Gauteng last weekend. But it was not to be.

The South African rally “great” ended his competitive career on the first morning of the Dealer Rally when he and co-driver Robert Paisley were forced to retire their Castrol Toyota RunX when it was badly damaged after hitting a tree stump in the very muddy conditions.

This was a sad ending to a great motor sport career, but Serge can still look back on an amazing run of successes, both as a rally and a racing driver. Although his major prominence was in the rally world, he was also a multiple racing champion. He raced and won in a wide variety of cars, from near-standard Group One models to highly modified cars competing in the Wesbank Challenge and also drove a Camry in the top-rated Super Touring Car Challenge.

Another achievement nobody can take away from him was winning the Firestone Master Driver’s Challenge on both occasions this test of driving versatility was staged – once in Golfs and once in Toyota Conquests.

Serge Takes His Bow!www.motorpics.co.za

Born in Leopoldville in the then Belgian Congo (now Zaire) on July 26, 1952, he moved to South Africa with his parents 10 years later. The family settled in Somerset West, where Serge has lived ever since.Serge had started “messing about” in racing cars at the Goodwood stock car track and in hill climbs before starting to race seriously in 1973.

“I was preparing a racing car for a friend and took it out for a test on the track and found that my lap times were not far off the pace, so I decided to start racing an Alfa myself,” explained Serge.

It was at that time that he married Beverley, whom he had met at college in Somerset West.

He got initiated into rallying by Bob Hardy in 1974. Serge was preparing Hardy’s Alfa Romeo rally car and once he had experi-enced the thrill and challenge of fast driving on unknown gravel roads with the experienced Bob Hardy the bug had bitten. Rally-ing now became his first love, although he still continued racing successfully for many years.

Toyota was the first company to see his potential and signed him up as a member of the “works” team in 1981. This made him a member of a very select group of professional motor sportsmen in SA. His subsequent 26 years as a paid driver makes him argu-ably the person with the longest, unbroken professional career in SA motor sport history. Serge started his Toyota career driving a Class B Corolla, but was elevated to the Class A car after two events.

www.motorpics.co.za

www.motorpics.co.za

www.motorpics.co.za

www.motorpics.co.za

www.motorpics.co.za

He then moved briefly to the Ford motor sport team that was the most successful at the time. He drove for them from 1983 to 1985 and scored his first win in the 1985 Nissan International Rally, driving a Ford Escort RST1700.

He and his co-driver, Vito Bonafede, rejoined Toyota in 1986 and Serge remained with this team for the remainder of his career. He and Vito only got back on the winning track in 1987 when Toyota had built a unique, four-wheel drive, turbocharged Conquest to take on the all-conquering Audi Quattros.

However, Serge’s real run of success only really started in 1989 when turbocharging was banned and a formula for four-wheel drive cars with a normally-aspirated two-litre engine was instituted.

This formula heralded a heyday for rallying in SA with Toyota, Volkswagen, Ford and Nissan building cars to the new regulations and sometimes there were as many as 10 of these cars on each event. Serge and Vito scored six wins in the inaugural season and collected their first SA driver’s and co-driver’s titles.

Serge went on to collect another nine driver’s titles in 1992, ‘93, ‘94. ‘95, ‘96, ‘98, 2000, ‘03 and ‘04) and built up his tally of rally wins to an amazing 74, with the last three coming in his final season of 2007.

As mentioned earlier, although Serge’s main focus was on rallying he collected numerous championships in a wide variety of circuit racing cars too. These included Alfa Romeos, a Ford Cortina V8, Group N Toyota Conquest RSi’s, a modified Celica and Corolla in the Wesbank series as well as the Minolta Camry Touring Car.

On the personal front, Serge, wife Bev and their children, Samantha and Jean-Pierre, went through a spell when he went power-boating on the Breede River at every opportunity, but now he prefers going with Bev and friends on 4x4 trips into Africa and has even had a Land Cruiser wagon converted into a luxury camper for this purpose. Meanwhile his daughter, Samantha, has got mar-ried and his son, Jean-Pierre, is a successful rally driver in his own right and runs a workshop preparing rally and racing cars.

Serge’s favourite food is Italian, particularly when it is combined with a quality red wine. Although not a fitness fanatic, Serge is avery keen and active squash player.

Serge Damseaux may not be seen as a driver on future motor sport events, but you can be sure he will continue his long-runninginvolvement with the branch of the sport that has given him so many opportunities and so much fulfilment over many years. - INFORMATION SUPPLIED BY TOYOTA SOUTH AFRICA.

www.motorpics.co.za

Visser du Plessis and Dave Lewkowicz (Pirtek/Kreepy Krauly Subaru Impreza WRX) played it safe under the most difficult of conditions to win their first Sasol Production Car Rally Cham-pionship in Gauteng at the weekend.

Entering the final round of the 2007 Sasol SA Rally Champi-onship with a 16-point lead over nearest rivals and defending champions Nicholas Ryan and Schalk van Heerden (Subaru Impreza WRX) - and knowing that Ryan had to finish fourth overall with himself not scoring - Du Plessis took no chances and kept out of trouble in a rain-affected and muddy Toyota Dealer Rally.

Du Plessis and Lewkowicz finished sixth overall and third in the production car category behind Charl Wilken/Greg Godrich (Subaru Impreza WRX) and Ryan/Van Heerden.

“It’s been a great season for us,” said Du Plessis. “We were the only production car – and one of only two in the entire Sasol Rally Championship – to score points in each of the eight rounds. This put us in a strong position going into the final round. We had already secured the class N4 title at the Total Swartland Rally in September and, even though we had to drop our worst score (12 points as it turned out), we were pretty sure we would beat Nicholas and Schalk. For them to have finished fourth overall they would have had to beat five of the more powerful S2000 cars and all of the N4 cars.

“We really didn’t even need to turn up for the final event, but of course we wanted to be in the battle right to the end and maybe even take another victory. We won two rounds (the Zulu

Rally in kwaZulu Natal and the Total International Rally) and finished in the top three in all but one event. The exception was the Total Swartland, where we finished fourth in class after our hairiest moment of the season. We overshot a turn at around 200 km/h and went straight through a fence, hitting a pole and finishing up about 150 metres into the veld. We also lost a lot of time on the Killarney tar stages as a result of a bad decision by me to lower the car’s suspension, which adversely affected the wheel alignment.

“That was one of the very few times we went off the road this year. While it was our aim to win the championship, we adopted an approach of fast but clean driving; do-or-die racing only when the situation required it. This we needed to do only a handful of times this year. Every single time I made the ‘’do or die’’ call to Dave before a stage, we pulled it off, except the 200 km/h off road excursion.

“I have to thank my sponsors, Subaru, Pirtek and Kreepy Krauly, for their valuable support and also my team. Dave had a great season in the co-driver’s seat. He made some very personal and huge sacrifices to show his commitment to the team; he knows what it is and I will be ever thankful. He has character, plenty of it. Wickus (van der Westhuizen), who prepares my car, and the guys who make it all happen in the service parks, have been solid all year. The Subaru was fast and reliable, nothing broke and I hardly even replaced parts as a precaution. What a car.” - INFORMATION SUPPLIED TO HANDBRAKES AND HAIRPINS.

Du Plessis and Lewkowicz Win N4 Championship!

www.motorpics.co.zawww.motorpics.co.za

www.motorpics.co.za

www.motorpics.co.za

Fuel Stop: News BriefsWales Rally GB Faces 2008 Lay-Off

World championship rallies in Monte Carlo and Great Britain are set to become the first high-profile casualties of the planned 12 round rotational calendar on the 2009 Championship, which will conclude in Ireland in October of that year, if news reports last wek can be trusted.

The World Rally Championship Commission [WRCC] proposed dates for the 2009 and 2010 World Rally Championship to the FIA World Motor Sport Council [WMSC] last Wednesday. From 2009 the championship is set to be cut down from 16 to 12 events, which will be selected from a pool of 24 events, with the remaining 12 events forming the 2010 championship.

Rally Ireland co-founder Ronan Morgan was delighted with the news. He said “Everything is subject to confirmation but we’re delighted with the news. We still have to put a good show on in three weeks time but a date in 2009 would fit us perfectly, as we always knew that we wouldn’t be on again in 2008.”

It was initially believed that the WRCC would present a pool of 23 events to the WMSC until a suitable 24th event was found. However, a list of additional newcomers with events in India, Indonesia, Russia, Abu Dhabi, Oman and possibly even China meant that a full list would have been presented last Wednesday.

A possible calendar for 2009 (in date order) has been put forward: Norway, Mexico, Argentina, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Poland, Finland, Cyprus, Australia, France and Ireland. For 2010 the possible events could be Monte Carlo, Sweden, Jordan, Turkey, Ger-many, New Zealand, Spain, Japan and Britain and a further three events to be finalised.

However these proposals were made to the WMSC last Wednesday, and as yet no news has been released on whether these plans will go ahead or if they have been rejected.

Teams Angered By Mexico’s 2008 ReturnLeading WRC teams have been angered by a FIA decision to include Rally Mexico on next year’s calendar. Originally Rally Aus-tralia was due to retake it’s place on the 2008 calendar, but that is apparently no longer the case. Mexico has replaced Australia on the shortened 15 round championship, even though four competing manufacturer’s wanted the replacement round to be in Portu-gal. Neither Cyprus or Poland was deemed fit for a place on next season’s schedule, so it left Mexico and Portugal fighting it out for the last slot.

The four manufacturer’s of the WRC – Ford, Citroen, Subaru and Suzuki – had all informed the World Rally Championship Commission [WRCC] of their preference for Portugal due to the lower costs of competing in Europe compared to North America. WRCC president Morrie Chandler told the paper that the decision to include Mexico was purely based on the events wish to run in 2010 to coincide with the country’s 200th anniversary of independence from Spain. In order to keep Mexico in line with the planned 12 round rotation system from 2009 onwards, the WRCC has said it had no alternative but to award Mexico a date for next season so it could run again two seasons later.

Citroen boss, Guy Frequelin, was very critical of the WRCC. He said “The manufacturers asked for 14 rallies but if it had to be 15 they wanted Portugal not Mexico. The problem is 18 people in the World Council are event organisers so this is how it will always be until the day the manufacturers get sick of it and stop.”

This year’s Rally Mexico was marred with reports of crew’s having rocks thrown at their cars and animals wandering onto the stages. As such Mexico was expected to appear in the IRC next season as it had initially been left off the 2008 WRC calendar. On this matter of safety WRCC boss Chandler said organisers has been alerted to the safety of crews on the event. He said: “It has been raised with them and they are to respond.”

Classic Rally Cars To Get Second Chance To Shine?Plans for a second tier World Rally Championship to absorb events that were dormant over the 12-round rotation plan have been discussed at the latest World Motor Sport Council [WMSC] meeting. Originally a contest for cars that would conform to the Super 2000 regulations was mooted, while a competition for junior and production cars was also discussed. However, with World Rally Championship regulations from 2010 due to be replaced by Super 2000 and a Group N ‘plus’ format, the World Rally Champion-ship Commission has been forced into a rethink over fears a rival championship could weaken WRC support championships.

As a result of this, a “classic” WRC could be formed allowing older cars to compete. WRCC president Morrie Chandler said “We have not written down any specifications or details, we’ve just got the vision. We are not calling it historic, as historical events have there own plan. We see it falling between the two, and if the world council likes the idea we’ll go further with it.”

Old Group A and B cars would headline the events, although power limits would be placed on Group B cars for safety reasons. Chandler revealed that not all events were happy in this idea so a “classic” WRC championship may be fewer than 12 events.

5

2008 British Rally Championship Details RevealedThe 2008 season sees a continuation of the British Rally Championship’s support series format, formerly referred to as the “Stars”, the National B series will be called the Silverstone Tyres BRC Challenge.

The now familiar concept is aimed at national licensed competitors who want to experience selected classic British Rally Cham-pionship events and their special stages at National B level. The 2008 Silverstone Tyres BRC Challenge offers high profile events for those on a tight budget in front-wheel drive cars.

The major innovations in 2008 include expanding the series to four categories and making it a class-based Championship. This will allow the dominant driver in each class take maximum points in the Championship, opening up the series to more competi-tion. There will also be an additional event filling the summer gap in Wales, giving the series a more complete coverage of the British Isles, while 6 scoring opportunities from eight events will mean drivers can pick and choose rallies. A balance of four gravel and four asphalt events from April to November gives a good spread of events across the season, although the Isle of Man remains a double header in mid July.

The two additional front-wheel drive classes in the Silverstone Tyres BRC Challenge will take the maximum capacity up to two litres, with a class for 1600cc A6 cars (RC3) and 1800cc N3 cars (RC4). RC1 and RC2 are both 1400cc classes similar to those being run currently. For the first time the champion could come from any one of the categories based on their class performance, meaning the smaller capacity cars are not disadvantaged.

Silverstone Tyres will continue to provide the control tyre which has been a great success in helping keep costs and performance on a level footing. The on event Tyre and Technical Support Service also continues for both Silverstone gravel and asphalt tyres. The Sky Sports coverage of the championship is extended to 2008, with feature programmes in the BRC Rallyzone programme, broadcast to around 8.5 million homes in the UK and millions more worldwide.

Cash prizes are on offer again spread across all four classes and the eventual Champion will get a prize drive in 2008 on Wales Rally GB. Silverstone Tyres also plan incentive schemes throughout the year, further adding to the attraction of the series. Finally part of the draw has been the camaraderie fostered by the teams in the service area, which will continue to be a “village” atmos-phere alongside the main BRC paddock.

Key points:Open to front wheel drive cars complying with MSA technical regulations in classes:RC1 – up to 1400 cc cars, adhering to Group N1 rules RC2 – up to 1400 cc cars, adhering to Group A5 and B9 rules RC3 – 1400cc to1600 cc cars, adhering to Group A6 rules RC4 – 1601cc to 1800cc cars, adhering to N3 rules

2008 Calendar of events (dates and details to be confirmed):§ 19 th April – Pirelli BRC Challenge Rally§ 24 th May – Jim Clark BRC Challenge Rally§ 21 st/22nd Jun – Midlands BRC Challenge Rally§ 18 th July – Isle of Man BRC Challenge Rally 1§ 19 th July – Isle of Man BRC Challenge Rally 2§ 16 th August – Neath Valley Forest Stages Rally§ 27 th September – Trackrod BRC Challenge Rally§ 11 th November - Tempest BRC Challenge Rally

Aqua Bodyworks SwimmingandFitnessCentre

*FullWeightsandFitnessGym*FullBeautySalonandMassageTherapy*PersonalTrainingandPowerPlate*WaterAerobicsandSwimmingLessons *SlimmingTreatmentandSteamCabin*SwimmingTraining *131aVilliersDrive,Clarendon,Pietermaritzburg,KwaZulu-Natal *0333427507

A special 2007 Total Commemorative Trial, the last of the events to be organised as part of Total’s 50th motorsport sponsorship anniversary, will be held on the weekend of 10-12 November. The Trial is being organised by the Classic Regularity Rallying As-sociation of South Africa, and will start at the Total Senderwood in Linksfield, in Gauteng on Saturday 10 November at 10h00.

Altogether 50 competitors have been invited to enter the Trial, including Ove Anderssen a former head of Toyota Motorsport in Germany and the man who kick-started Toyota’s Formula One programme. Only cars built between 1957 and 1977 will compete to commemorate the period that the Total International Rally, the father of rallying in South Africa, was held.

The event will consist of six events in one including a “Cars in the Park” consisting of vintage and veteran cars on Sunday 11 November from 14h00 onwards at the Kopanong Hotel in Benoni, which will be the headquarters of the Trial. The Trial will finish on Monday 12 August at the Indaba Hotel in Fourways, Johannesburg.

The various events that will form part of the Commemorative Trial are a sealed instruments rally, night sealed odo rally, open odo rally, Superman Rally, Blind Navigators Rally, Economy Run, and driving tests.

All the events will be held around the Gauteng area taking in towns such as Nigel, Devon, Delmas and Heidelberg. The “Cars in the Park” will also be a “tops only” concours, where the cars will be judged to find the best looking and cared for car.

The Total Commemorative Trial will be a feast for car enthusiasts and those interested will be able to see cars from yesteryear gracing the Gauteng and Mpumulanga roads again.

A Route map, itinerary and entry list will be available on the Total motorsport website www.totalmotosport.co.za.

Total Commemorative Trial 2007www.motorpics.co.za

Francois Duval has confirmed to media that he will not be taking part in the next round of the World Rally Championship, the Rally Ireland from November 16 to 18. Duval was unable to secure a competitive drive for the event after learning from the OMV Kronos Rally Team that they would be unable to supply a drive for him in the final two rounds.

Duval has also confirmed that he is not planning to contest the final round of the World Rally Championship, Wales Rally GB at the end of this month.

Duval has driven in three tarmac rallies this season with OMV Kronos driving a Citroen Xsara World Rally Car. This arrangement was to assist Citroen Total World Rally Team and their lead driver Sebastien Loeb in reducing the points deficit between himself and the championship leader, BP-Ford’s Marcus Gronholm.

Citroen had hoped Duval would finish each rally higher than Gronholm and thereby reduce the number of championship points Gronholm could earn. Although Duval was able to acheive this in Germany, he was unable to repeat the result in Spain and Cor-sica.

Duval will instead compete this weekend in his home country on the Condroz Rally, where he makes his debut at the wheel of a Fiat Punto Super2000 car.

Francois Duval Departs WRC... For Now?

Conrad Rautenbach, the 2007 African Rally Champion, will compete in a World Rally Car for the first time in his career on Wales Rally GB later this month.

Rautenbach will compete in a Citroen Xsara WRC supplied by PH Sport, who have been supplying his Citroen C2 1600 entry this season.

The 22 year old will be one of 26 World Rally Cars competing on the final round of the World Rally Championship this season. The WRC outing will be another highlight of Rautenbach’s season, which began with outright victory on the legendary Safari Rally in Kenya and ended with clinching the African title when he won his home event in Zimbabwe.

Rautenbach To Debut In WRC

www.rallystuff.net www.rallystuff.net

www.rallystuff.net www.rallystuff.net

8

Loeb Looking Forward To Flat-Out FinishSebastien Loeb has said he is excited by the prospect of having to drive flat out to win his fourth driver’s title. To retain his title Loeb has to win the final two rounds in Ireland and Great Britain. A rare error by his co-driver, Daniel Elena, meant that the crew left the road on a right handed on SS13 and got stuck in a ditch. This mistake meant that Loeb’s chance of overhauling Marcus Gronholm in the championship standings failed after the Ford driver crashed out on Day One. Damage to the Finn’s roll cage prevented him from continuing on in the rally.

Loeb was trailing rally leader and Gronholm’s team-mate, Mikko Hirvonen, by 10,5 seconds going into SS13. The error by Loeb’s co-driver meant that instead of reading “minus-minus” he said “plus-plus” which meant that Loeb entered the corner a gear too high. Loeb said, “After Gronholm’s retirement, finishing second would have given us enough points to regain the lead. Approach-ing a right-hand corner Daniel got a note wrong and we were too quick into the turn. We hit a tree with the rear left of the car and stopped in some branches but the rear wheels were still on the stage. Having to win the remaining rounds is quite stimulating.”

With two events left Gronholm lead’s Loeb by 4 points in the overall standings. However, if Loeb recorded two wins and Gron-holm finished second twice the pair would finish the season level on points. However, because Loeb would have won more rallies, he would take the title. Again pacenotes were to blame for Gronholm’s retirement where a over ambitious note was cited as the reason for Gronholm leaving the road. After his exit from the rally Loeb superallied, allowing his engineers to use the remaining stages to experiment with a Rally GB set-up due to Japan having similar roads. The Frenchman retired again on Day Three with a loss of oil pressure on SS26.

The Rally Chicks have been invited to Tanzania by a competitor and friend Amarjit Dhillon. Earlier in the year they took part in the first round of the African Rally Championship in Dar es Salam where they finished 3rd overall.

The owner of Sunvic Express bus service, Amarjit Dhillon has invited the South African girls to take part in the Guru Nanak Rally on the 10th on November. The rally starts in Arusha, near Kilimanjaro, and it is held over two days covering 200km of stage.

Amarit Dhillon sent a message with his son to the Zambian Rally, inviting the Rally Chicks to Tanzania. “ At first it sounded like a genral invitation, but as time came closer he called me and said that we should arrive on the Wednesday for recce and he wouldn’t take no for an answer!” Lola giggled, “ Not only is he giving us a car to drive but it’s his new Subaru N12b.”

There are 21 entrants for the event which is part of the Tanzanian Drivers Championship, but there will also be entrants from Kenya and Zambia.

Rally Chicks Invited To Tanzania

9

www.motorpics.co.za

The Scandinavian flick, Manji Drifting, or Pendulum turn as it is also known as, is a technique often used in rallying. While ap-proaching the turn the driver applies a slight steering input to the opposite direction of the turn and pushes down the brake and throttle pedals simultaneously.

This will cause the car to slide sideways facing slightly away from the turn. Then steering input is applied towards the turn and as the driver releases the brake pedal while still holding down the throttle the car will slingshot itself around the corner to the desired direction. Of course, countersteering will again be required to control the induced oversteer.

This technique is used to help the driver get around corners that had an increasing radius, but it is also used as a show off as the result of the flick involves the car oversteering heavily.

Watch Petter Solberg (WRC Subaru World Rally Team), Jan Habig (S2000 BP Volkswagen Polo) and Visser du Plessis (Group N Pirtek/Kreepy Krauly Subaru Impreza WRX STi) pull it off in a single fluid movement. Magic!

Back To School:Driving Techniques

The Scandinavian Flick

The Heel-Toe DownshiftThe heel-toe downshift is a fundamental technique to driving fast through corners. During a heel-toe downshift, you’ll be steering with the right hand, shifting with the left hand, clutch-ing with the left foot, and working both the brake and accelera-tor pedals with the right foot - all at exactly the same time.

It takes some getting used to, and it takes repetitive practice to become smooth, and have it be second nature. At first it takes a lot of concentration. You’re doing a lot of things at the same time. Besides working on all the controls, you also need to be sensitive to the tyre grip during braking, you have to be watch-ing your reference points heading into a corner. However, after a couple of weekends of practice, you’ll get the hang of it, and in no time you’ll be able forget about your hands and feet, and concentrate on the road in front of you.

When you approach a corner, you were probably taught to complete your braking before the corner, coast through the turn, then as you straighten out from the turn downshift, and start ac-celerating again. This works on the street, but it is entirely too slow a process for rallying.

For rallying, the time spent transitioning from braking to ac-celerating must be absolutely minimised. You’re racing! You don’t want to be wasting a bunch of time coasting while you’re switching between pedals (even if it is only 1/2 of a second). To maximise the speed and smoothness through a corner, it becomes necessary to do some cockpit acrobatics and operate the steering wheel, shifter, clutch, brake, and accelerator all at the same time.

As you approach a corner, your right foot comes off the loud pedal and presses the brake with the ball of the foot. Before the braking is done, you need to shift gears so when the braking is done you can immediately be back on the power. When the braking is almost done, your left foot pushes the clutch pedal in, and your left hand downshifts. However, while you’ve been slowing down, the engine speed has dropped. If you let the clutch out now, the car will jerk severely as the engine works like a huge brake. If you’re at the edge of traction limits (which you should be), you’ll lose control of the car. To prevent this, something needs to rev the engine back up to the right speed

before the clutch is released. The right foot is closest, so it is elected to tap the accelerator pedal. Even though the right foot is busy braking, you swing your right heel over the accelerator pedal and give it a short push (a “blip” as it is called) to rev the engine while the left foot also lets out the clutch (the ball of the right foot is still on the brake). The amount of blip, and the clutch release timing need to be perfected so there is a perfectly smooth transition when the clutch engages the engine. Mean-while, the heel is rotated back off the gas, the ball of the right foot has still been braking, and has been easing off as the car approaches the turn-in point. The downshift should be complet-ed before the braking is complete, and before the turn-in. As the engine and transmission are engaged, the braking reduced, and the turn-in begun as the foot makes a smooth transition back to the gas pedal. At first only enough gas is applied to sustain the initial corner speed, and then you gradually accelerate out of the corner.

Done correctly, there should be no jerking of the car during the downshift and transition back to acceleration.

Step One

Step Two

Step Three

Step Four

Step Five

Step Six

10

GBS/CIDP Foundation International

Guillain-Barre Syndrome and Chronic InflammatoryDemyelinating Polyneuropathy

Serving patients of GBS, CIDP and Variants with support, education and researchPLEASEADVISEPATIENTSANDFAMILIESTHATGBS/CIDPFOUNDATIONOFFERS:

*EMOTIONALSUPPORT

*INFORMATIONALBOOKLETS

*HOSPITAL/REHABVISITSTOPATIENTS(whenpossible)

Your South African GBS/CIDP Foundation International Chapter Is Led By: Evan Rothman evanrothman@gmail.com 083 452 6892

GBS/CIDP Foundation International 104 1/2 Forest Avenue The Holly Building Narberth, PA 19072 www.gbsfi.com

IRC Rallye du Valais Review: Fast And Furious!

The Intercontinental Rally Challenge Series (IRC) is in its first year of existence, and features S2000 and S1600 rally cars, with top drivers from Europe competing head-to-head on some of the best rallying roads in the world!

The IRC is interesting to follow for a number of reasons. Firstly, it showcases S2000 rallying (like we have here in our domestic National Championship), is more fantastic rallying news to follow and it highlights th future of World Rallying, for from 2010, the World Rally Championship (WRC) will adopt S2000 as the official formula.

So, development of machines here is all-important. This challenge series, as it is known, has heavy weight competitors vying for top honours: Honda Sport, Peugeot Sport, Renault Sport, Citroen Sport, Mitsubishi, Fiat-Abarth and Ford. Toyota and Volkswa-gen are rumoured to be entering the series next year, but not as official constructors. Toyota South Africa built S2000 machines for European championships, and it seems as if those teams are likely to now venture into the IRC next year. Volkswagen Motor-sport South Africa also built an S2000 Volkswagen Polo for competition in the Belgian National Championship, and that team is strongly rumoured to feature in select IRC events next year.

The Rallye du Valais kicked with sparks last weekend. Before the Super2000 Rally Peugeot, which is currently leading the Con-structors’ title race, had a chance to put their title beyond doubt, the other teams had plans of their own, and there was an exciting and thrilling three-way battle for the rally victory.

Rallye du Valais started off with bang, but not the sort Peugeot were hoping for. Belgian Peugeot Kronos driver Bernd Casier pro-vided an interesting mix between the three title contenders Andrea Navarra (Fiat-Abarth), Nicolas Vouilloz (Peugeot) and Enrique Ojeda (Peugeot). Casier, who only managed four IRC rally starts this season before Valais, started this event by crashing off at the first corner, blocking the very first stage of the rally and causing SS1 to be cancelled after only four cars had passed through.

When the rally re-started on SS2, Andrea Navarra suffered a puncture, dropping him outside the top ten places, meaning that Fiat-Abarth had no drivers in the points. Philippe Roux, Fiat-Abarth’s local driver, was well off the pace, and did not look like he was able to match the pace of the top drivers.

Fiat-Abarth had a secret weapon in the form of a young 23-year old driver, Umberto Scandola. Scandola has been criticised by

Nicolas Vouilloz in his S2000 Peugoet 207

12

www.irc.com

some earlier this season as he struggled to fit into the fast-pace of IRC rallying. In his first year in a top team, Scandola is absorb-ing much in his learing year, and will be a keen driver to look out for in future. Scandola silenced his critics on this event by win-ning SS2, and was lying second after Leg One, behind Vouilloz and ahead of Ojeda in third place.

During Leg Two, Vouilloz posted the most stage wins. He set off with a comfortable lead, and was slowing edging away from his team-mate Ojeda and rival Scandola.

Further down the field some Swiss drivers entertained the many spectators. There was an exciting fight in the S1600 class be-tween Antonio Galli and Oliver Gillet. Citroën C2 driver Antonio Galli, no relation to Gigi Galli, was the only hope for Citroen to improve their makes points situation.

Renault Clio S1600 pilot Oliver Gillet was nineth overall and Group N winner on the WRC Rally Monte Carlo 2001. However, like most of his compatriots this was a rare occasion of seeing him outside Switzerland. The fight between Galli and Gillet lasted only until midday on Day Two, when Gillet was heavily delayed with mechanical problems and at the same time Galli retired from the rally with fuel pump failure.

Allowing such WRC Rallye Monte Carlo comparisons, Philippe Camandona was also a nineth place overall finisher and winner of the Group N calls of the 1995 edition of the WRC Rallye Monte Carlo. On the same event Christian Jaquillard, like Camandona in a Group N Ford Escort Cosworth, came 11th overall. On the Rallye du Valais Jaquillard kept himself around seventh place in the Enjolras-run Peugeot 207 S2000, while Camadona, competing in a Group N Mitsubishi Lancer was surprisingly outside the top twenty.

Olivier Burri started the Rallye du Valais 2007 in a Subaru Impreza WRX. Burri came very close to winning a couple of stages, but his superb performance was hampered by inconsistency. More consistent was former Swiss rally champion Grégoire Hotz in a Renault Clio S1600. He was ahead of the battling Galli and Gillet. Burri and Hotz were the leading Swiss drivers, however, both in machinery not registered for the IRC series, permanently around fifth & sixth places.

Andrea Navarra moved into the top ten and steadily climbed the leaderbord. Aided by the problems of Galli and Gillet and the likes, Navarra moved from his original 16th place up to fifth in Leg Three. Navarra did not seem to get much closer to fellow Abarth Grande Punto drivers Scandola and Loix, but early on Day Three he moved past the best Swiss drivers Olivier Burri (Sub-aru) and Grégoire Hotz (Renault).

This set the scene for the final Leg of the rally. Since Andrea Navarra was Fiat Abarth’s only chance to bring at least one IRC title to Italy, words circulated ever louder in the service park that Abarth would employ team orders in which Loix and Scandola should forfeit their rally to move Navarra up to 3rd.

But then, in typical IRC style, we were in for yet another dramatic rally showdown! Already on SS14 of the total 17 stages, con-vincing leader Nicolas Vouilloz was slowed by a fuel pressure problem. When the problem persisted during SS15, Vouilloz lost his lead to team-mate Enrique Ojeda, albeit by only 0.4 seconds. On the road section to SS16, Vouilloz carried out repairs on the Peugeot’s fuel pump, but during SS16 Ojeda’s lead improved to 0.6 seconds.

It was the same road section to SS16 that put paid to all possible Fiat-Abarth team order ideas for Navarra left SS15 with a sick sounding engine and his fears were soon confirmed: he was forced to retire from the event!

This meant the battle between the two Abarth drivers was wide open. Indeed, the very last stage was a turn-around of the leader-board! When last have you seen that happen on a rally? Freddy Loix was in third place, only 3.3 seconds ahead of young Umberto Scandola. But, Scandola won the last stage to snap up third place from Loix...

Similar the scenario with the Peugeot Spain team-mates: Enrique Ojeda had a tiny 0.6 second lead over Nicolas Vouilloz, but

Luca Betti in his S2000 Honda Civicwww.irc.com

Vouilloz’s 207 springs back to life, and he retakes the lead to win his third IRC event of the season.

Burri (Subaru) and Hotz (Renault) move up a place each, into fifth and sixth, following Navarra’s surprise retirement.

It isn’t yet clear whether IRC Rally China (set for the 9th-11th November) will go ahead. It seems that Honda never planned to en-ter the event, and with Navarra retiring from this event, it seems unlikely that Peugeot will head to China either. Is the IRC season all done?

Perhaps a lesson has been learned this season: future IRC seasons should neither start nor finish with the most expensive fly away rounds. Like the season opener Safari Rally in Kenya, the Rally China – if it goes ahead – promises to be very slim on entries. If Rally China is cancelled, it is because approval of the Chinese authorities is still outstanding, and there is nothing the IRC organis-ers can do to influence its outcome. For Peugeot’s participation, China is their most important growing market. And in contrast to some reports, the factory does support the Peugeot Spain team. Peugeot Sport officials attend the IRC rallies with the team, Nicolas Vouilloz is not exactly a Spanish driver, and the car used by Vouilloz in Valais is the exact Peugeot Sport owned car that Gilles Panizzi drove in IRC San Remo.

The championship is headed by Peugeot on 114 points opposed to Fiat-Abarth’s 87 points. In these 87 points, Abarth has already dropped a score. For the next round Peugeot would need to drop another score in order to meet championship regulations.

Before Rallye du Valais, Abarth’s Andrea Navarra and Peugeot’s Nicolas Vouilloz were tied. Now, with Vouilloz winning the rally, he has also cmoved closer to winning the drivers’ title, but first has to beat team-mate Enrique Ojeda.

2007 IRC DRIVERS STANDINGS AFTER RALLYE DU VALAIS:Position Driver Points 1 Enrique Garcia Ojeda 47 2 Nicolas Vouilloz 42 3 Andrea Navarra 32 4 Luca Rossetti 20 5 Giandomenico Basso 18 6 Anton Alen 15 7 Umberto Scandola 15 8 Bernd Casier 13 9 Hideaki Miyoshi 8 10 Bruno Magalhaes 8 12 Asad Anwar 6 16 Freddy Loix 5 17 Roman Kresta 5 18 Luca Betti 4 26 Philippe Roux 3 31 Gilles Panizzi 2 2007 IRC TEAM STANDINGS AFTER RALLYE DU VALAIS:Position Manufacturer Points 1 Peugeot 114 2 Abarth 90 3 Mitsubishi 50 4 Citroen 4 5 Honda 4

Chris Jaquillard in his S2000 Peugeot 207Bernd Casier in his S2000 Peugeot 207

Freddy Loix’s S2000 Fiat-Abarth Grande Punto

Umberto Scandola’s S2000 Fiat Grande Punto

www.irc.com www.irc.com

www.irc.com

www.irc.com

The China Rally is the final round of the IRC this year, taking the series into new territory through what is the largest population centre of the world, complete with a rapidly-expanding car market. The all-gravel event is one of the toughest on the entire IRC calendar this year, and it is characterised by rapidly changing conditions both in terms of surface and weather.

Last year’s China Rally was made all the more tricky by heavy rain, and while this year’s conditions are ex-pected to be drier, the weather can still change rapidly. When they get wet, the normally hard gravel surfaces can become extremely muddy: making tyre choice crucial. A number of hairpin bends are a regular feature of the mountainous route, so good traction and grip will be a key to success. The itinerary – based in the town of Longyou, 400 kilometres south of Shanghai – takes in some of the most spectacular scenery in the world, with a number of the stages breaking through the cloud barrier. The China Rally is also a well-estab-lished round of the FIA Asia-Pacific Championship and the constantly-expanding Chinese Championship, which means that a number of drivers will start the event with plenty of experience and a good chance of winning. The rally gets underway on Friday night and finishes on Sunday.

A number of top drivers will be eligible to score IRC points in China, mostly driving Group N Mitsubishi Lancers. Amongst them will be Hideaki Miyoshi, who finished on the podium on the very first round of the IRC this year – the Safari Rally. Other top drivers expected to star on the event include former American and British Champion David Higgins. Nonetheless, Higgins’ priority will be to finish the rally in order to secure his Mitsubishi WY team the manufacturers’ title in the Chinese Championship this year. Another former British Rally Champion, Martin Rowe, will also take the start in a Mitsubishi Lancer. Finn Jussi Valimaki will be one of the most experienced competitors on the event in a Mitsubishi, having previously competed on the World Rally Championship and won the Asia Pacific Championship in 2005. Katsuhiko Taguchi is another well-known Mitsubishi driver who could also challenge for the win. With the IRC manufacturers’ title effectively decided (in Peugeot’s favour) Peugeot and Abarth have decided not to compete in China.

“China is a very technical rally that appeals to every driver. There is a wide variety of conditions, which means that you have to be quite versatile in your approach and a bit of experience definitely helps. If it stays dry the roads are so smooth that you could almost run on asphalt tyres, but if it rains like last year there will be plenty of mud. It’s a real challenge!” - David Higgins (Mitsubishi).

IRC Rally Preview: China Rally(09 November 2007 to 11 November 2007)

Handbrakes and Hairpins is now in its eleventh edition, and is fast growing into a truly authoritative rallying read. With information from the World Rally Championship (WRC), the Intercontinental Challenge (IRC), the British Rally Championship (BRC), the United States Rally Championship (USRC), the North America Rally Championship (NASA), the African Rally Championship (ARC) as well as the South African National Rally Championship. Not to mention, regional rallying in South Africa!

This would not be possible without the support and enthusiasm from you, my dear readers. Rallying is a fantastic sport, and is arguably the best form of motorsport not only to com-pete in, but also for spectators. And Handbrakes and Hairpins is looking to make this publication more interesting and more readable. So, if you have an interesting rallying story you’d like share, please send it to me at handhnews@gmail.com. And any team news, driver updates, inside information, please send it off to me as well! Send those e-mails!

15