Round 2 - 06/03/10 - Midvaal

The second round of the national Formula Vee Championship of 2010 was one to remember for Zaahir Essa (Reflex Solutions), which took place at Midvaal with the Execuline Historic Tour this weekend.

Essa, a development entry in the category, opened his account for 2010 with his first pole position and double victory, driving a Lotto-provided car after using an older model for the last three years.

The two wins did not come easily however, with ex-champions Peter Hills (MLS Consulting) and Symm Grobler (Auto Mecca) also competing hard for victory throughout the 12-lap races. Both heats proved to be close encounters, with Zaahir managing to lead the majority of laps, staying ahead and out of trouble on the bumpy circuit of Midvaal.


Essa was understandably elated with the result, as he came into the weekend under difficult circumstances. “It’s great to finally win a race in Formula Vee, but it was really unexpected considering I hadn’t driven in four months and I was driving a totally different car which I only had one session to get used to. It was a last minute dash to make the race, so I am very grateful to Lotto and MSA for providing the car to use, and I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for the financial backing of Reflex Solutions either.”

This strong showing for Essa has resulted in him jumping to fourth in the championship, after missing the first round at East London due to financial setbacks. The third round of the Formula Vee championship takes place at Zwartkops on the 10th April.

Kyalami - 08/11/2008 - Round 10

It’s incredible to think the final round of the Pro Tour has arrived already, and the nine rounds that have passed have each been great experiences in their own way. The 10th round at Kyalami was to be no different.

The 1st race was quite boring as far as Formula Vee standards go! I was on my own most of the time, trying to keep touch with the leading bunch. Unfortunately it seemed that some damage to my front tyre (sustained at the crash at the previous round) had really started to affect the handling of the car. The understeer got increasingly worse, but I managed to come over the line for 4th place.

We managed to get a replacement tyre for the 2nd race, which turned out to be completely wet! After running the sighting lap before the race start, it seemed the track was pretty wet; wet enough I thought for a gamble to try start in 2nd gear. The 2nd gear ratio is very short in a Vee, and I think it would have worked out had I practiced such a thing before! It turned out to be a complete disaster, with me stalling the engine about five metres into the race. Luckily I was rolling enough to ease the clutch out, but by that time I was basically in last position. But from there I had one of my best races!

Everyone seemed really cautious on the slippery track, and I was passing cars very quickly. I took no risks on the brakes, as it was very easy to lock the wheels and fly straight off the track, but I was pushing hard in the corners trying to find the grippiest part of the track. It was scary at times, but it worked out great. I worked my way back up to 3rd, with the leaders way too far in front to catch. I merely maintained position for the last 3 or 4 laps in very tricky conditions, but it seemed I was lapping slightly quicker than the leaders at that point! It would have been interesting had I not stalled at the start, but the race would not have been that fun coming back through the field!

All in all, the year has been a great success, finishing 6th in the championship, and consistently challenging for podiums in the final few races. I have learned an incredible amount this year, maybe even more than last year when I first started out. To try and challenge in the top 5, let alone podiums, is extremely difficult. I am thankful for being in such a great team to provide me with that opportunity though, with a wealth of experience and knowledge to help both me and my teammate to push further up the grid.

Zwartkops - 11/10/2008 - Round 9

The penultimate round of the Pro Tour was held at Zwartkops, coming from a very eventful and successful Phakisa race. I was hoping for a similar performance, and it certainly looked very close at the top of the field during the practice sessions. I was trying yet again to find a way around the understeer, and could just about come up with a decent setup, although I lost a lot of time in the slow corners.

After qualifying 5th, only 0.1sec behind P2, it was definitely going to be a tight race. The 1st heat was very eventful, and I found myself in 3rd position most of the race behind my teammate, and fending off the challenges from behind from other drivers. The entire race was packed with incidents, and there were yellow flags on just about every lap. On about lap 8 of 12, the safety car was deployed, but the boards were not made immediately visible to the drivers. Most of the front running pack did not see anything, and I was one of them. My teammate must have seen the SC board late, and braked really hard. Unfortunately I was directly behind him at this point, with no chance of avoiding an accident. This unlucky moment ended up with both development drivers out the race, after running in potential podium positions all race!

Both cars were repaired for the 2nd heat, and we had to start from the back of the grid. It was fun getting through the pack as fast as possible, but I was caught up with a very aggressive midfield battle which took too long to clear. I ended up coming out in 6th position, with 5th place too far up the road to catch in the remaining laps.

I’m definitely happy with the improvement of performance over the last few races, although this particular race ended up with a very unfortunate incident. The last round should be quite a nice challenge at Kyalami, with the top 5 drivers being extremely competitive! I’m looking forward to it.

Phakisa 2008 TV Coverage

Race 1


Race 2

Phakisa - 13/09/2008 - Round 8

The 8th round of the Pro Tour was held at the beautiful Phakisa Freeway circuit in Welkom. I really enjoyed the track when I visited last year, and I was hoping for a good result. The handling of my car from the last round had been quite unpredictable and effectively slow, and the only changes made to the car for this round was that I finally had new tyres. These seemed to make a world of difference, as the handling became predictable. Although still suffering from a bit of understeer, this was a lot better than previous occasions.

The races went really well, and I found myself fighting hard for 3rd position with Trevor Bland. I had never been on the podium before, so I was really determined to keep this position on track. The tyres seemed to lose grip drastically through the race however, and it was quite a struggle to keep the laptimes quick and consistent enough to keep the position. Eventually I managed to hold it to the finish line, and I was really happy at my best finish ever.

The 2nd race proved to the best experience in Formula Vees that I’ve had! A few quick changes to the car (and last minute repairs, after being pushed off the track in the 1st race and sustaining damage), I found myself right in the battle for the lead. This was an interesting situation, and it proved to be quite an aggressive fight with the local boy and championship leader Dennis Johns, and teammate Courtney Steenveld. Early on, the pace was pretty good and I felt I could lead the race without too much hassle, which was quite confusing and surprising as to why the leaders were that much slower, as I didn’t feel I gained significant pace to warrant that position. Keeping the lead would have involved quite a bit of defending in places I was weaker, and I didn’t want to get too involved in that way. I chose to hang back in 3rd place until the final lap, and just see how things go if I attacked. Dennis Johns in P2 chose to fight back while sacrificing laptime, so Courtney managed to gain a comfortable gap. The rest of the lap didn’t work out to keep P2 at all, and I could only manage to finish just behind Dennis for 3rd again.

I am just really happy for my teammate that he achieved his 1st win in Formula Vee, and I can appreciate my position in what has turned out to have been a very successful Lotto development team. With two rounds remaining, I am already thankful for every lap done being a part of the team, and being a part of the Formula Vee fraternity. I look forward to pushing further on my driving and personal developments!

Haibo

Kyalami - 02/08/2008 - Round 7

Coming from an exciting and very fast weekend at East London, the next round of the Pro Tour was just 3 weeks later at the other speedy circuit of Kyalami. My car seems to be in a somewhat developmental stage, with certain parts and modifications being attempted to try and get it to handle like the newer spec cars. This unfortunately did not gel perfectly at one race (or ideally between races), and I found myself battling with sorting out the handling yet again.

My current set of tyres seem to be well past their grippy range, but nevertheless the handling was atrocious. I was losing so much time surviving the oversteer in the fast corners, and getting frustrated with the understeer in the slow ones. Eventually I just settled on a setup where I’d lose the minimum amount of time everywhere, and I definitely was on the back foot. The first race was an extremely defensive one, where I battled the entire race just trying to keep Johan Gouws behind me for 8th position, and really suffered with understeer towards the end of the race.

The 2nd race was a bit more interesting, and it seemed like I was improving the handling a little with tyre pressures and trying something different on the warmup lap. It seemed to work for the race, as the grip seemed constant throughout. I strategically tailed Symm Grobler for a number of laps to slowly edge away from Gouws, who would only be a threat if Grobler and I started dueling. It was also the only chance I thought of keeping in touch with the guys ahead, which didn’t quite happen as Grobler just was not quick enough. I overtook him very late in the race for 7th position, as it was only really needed then. Again disappointingly out of the top5, which I really should have affirmed myself in by now, even though the final result was indeed 5th position after 2 drivers were disqualified for technical infringements.

After the race I had found out that my right front pushrod to the shock had completely snapped off, but it seemed like the car was handling better than it did all weekend! To say I was puzzled is an understatement! Hopefully for the next race at Phakisa I will be able to figure out this conundrum, together with the fact that I’ll be on a very overdue set of new rubber! Really looking forward to yet another mental challenge…