Smile and spin!
Story: Colin van Son
Pics: Racepics.co.za
The first Bridgestone Zwartkops Skidpan scheduled for April 2019 had to be deferred to July due to low turnout numbers as the weekend was a week before the Easter holidays. So by the time July arrived, everyone was chomping at the bit to get back on the skidpan and have some fun. Close on 40 eager participants were ready to strut their stuff including a number of first timers including some ladies joining for the first time. This event is always popular where driver's race against the clock on a very slippery wet surface to see who can consistently navigate the course in the least possible time. Thankfully the wet slippery surface translates into virtually no tyre wear compared to a dry autocross.
Following the driver's briefing, the same course as in 2018 was used. Despite it having been in use for a number of events, there will still a number of wrong routes. A new simplified route will be introduced for the next round in September. Each participant would get a total of 3 pairs of left and right runs to total 6 runs. The fastest five runs would count as the slowest run would be discarded to make things more interesting and competitive. Some of the first time participants were a bit apprehensive at first but a few moments later it was all smiles and laughing in delight.
The classes were as follows:
1. - BMW 1 Series
- BMW 2 Series
2. - BMW 3 and 4 Series
3. - BMW 5, 6 and 7 Series and Diesels
- BMW Classics and Z cars
5. - AWD non BMW
6. - FWD and RWD non BMW
Everyone was really well disciplined and we finished the runs well ahead of schedule. While the organisers were capturing and collating the results for prize giving, the participants got to practice the track untimed and had plenty fun doing it!
Great fun was had by both drivers and spectators, with the ladies putting on a great showing with the four ladies getting trophies and the best time of the day by a lady!
A big thank you to our sponsors Bridgestone for an awesome event!
Overall results for the day can be found by CLICKING HERE
Results by class can be found by CLICKING HERE
A full collection of awesome photos of the days action were captured by Paul Blackburn and his Racepics.co.za team, and can be ordered from Racepics.co.za