Shut up. I'm talking.

What an incredible turn of events.

On Wednesday morning I got a phone call from my long-time racing mentor Claudio. He simply said:

“You are about to get a very special phone call from Terry Moss.”

I just said “Ok” and hung up the phone. My heart skipped a beat. Terry Moss runs one of the most successful racing teams in South African motorsport. If you want someone to phone you then Terry is one of those people.

The phone call came and went quickly. The message was simple, their 3rd driver couldn’t make it and they needed a replacement. I was to be that replacement for round 10 of the South African Formula VW championship which was held in Cape Town.

I had one day to mentally prepare for a car capable of 150mph, insane cornering speeds and even more insane braking. The last time I had driven any form of racing car was two years ago when I competed in the first 4 rounds of the FVW championship. Even back then my experience of car racing was zero.

Build Up

There was no doubt that the following few days were going to be exciting and challenging at the same time. I couldn’t wait.

Friday was to be the first time I would actually drive the car but before I did that we needed to mold a seat to fit my body. Unfortunately the transporter carrying my car had arrived late which meant a bit of improvisation. I ended up using a seat used by my one time rival Michael Stephen. We were roughly the same size and the seat seemed to fit OK.

Practice

Friday arrived before I knew it and with that, first practice. Today was the day that I would find out if I still had what it took to be a racing driver. A million things were going through my head - was I still capable of driving a racing car? Will I even be on the pace? How rusty are my skills? The list went on.

As we left the pits for P1 I gave the car the heavy boot and my word what an awesome feeling. It is difficult to describe the sensations because there is nothing quite like it in normal everyday driving. You are strapped into the car as tight as possible, you can barely see over the front of the nose, there is not traction control, no power steering, no ABS. This is a racing car in its purest form and I was lucky enough to be in it.

Practice came and went before I could count to ten. By the end of the 20 minute session I was quite tired from being out of it for so long. As I drove down the pitlane I had so many doubts in my head, particularly my pace. It felt like I couldn’t maximize the car and my driving was still very rough.

Turns out I had nothing to worry about. As I arrived back in the pit garage my engineer gave me the news. I was 3rd quickest, 0.1 seconds off the fastest times. I couldn’t believe what I had just heard, the feeling that rushes through your body at moments like that are unique to say the least. The euphoria was difficult to contain and I literally started laughing with disbelief.

After 2 years out of driving I was almost instantly on the pace of the fastest drivers South Africa has to offer. It was a special moment and one I will never ever forget.

The remaining part of Friday consisted of two more practice sessions. In P2, after leading most of the session, I would land up 2nd quickest 0.02 off the leaders pace. In P3 I ended up 4th quickest, again after leading some part of the session.

By the end of the day I was completely exhausted. There are considerable forces that your body experiences in these types are cars. No kind of training can really prepare you for them. That night, instead of lying awake wondering about race day, I simply passed out and slept like a rock.

Race Day

Come Saturday and I was absolutely keen to get going. The day would consist of qualifying and two races. The two races are 10 laps each and their total times are added together to give you the overall finishing position for the day.

During qualifying I experienced a huge amount of understeer and couldn’t understand why (understeer is when you turn into a corner but the car tends to want to go straight). Turns out that my front wing was de-laminating causing it to flex and therefore lose downforce. Not ideal.

I landed up qualifying 5th for heat 1 and 6th for heat 2. I was disappointed and genuinely believed that if my front wing was working that I would have done better but no worries, we would just have to make it up in the races.

The racing turned out to be quite frenetic! In heat 1 I experienced some epic racing and moved up and down the leader board between 7^th and 4^th place. I was lacking a bit of top speed compared to the drivers around me so I had to make up much of it under braking.

Unfortunately even though I was very much on the pace, the rust really showed in my race craft. I made quite a few mistakes which resulted in me losing positions more than once. I finished 6^th but it wasn’t a great performance.

I took heart from the fact that the ability was there, I just needed to iron out some kinks and in heat 2 I could possibly challenge for a podium.

I spent most of my time between my heats running through improving my performance for the final heat of the day (and possibly the final time I would drive these cars – you never know in motorsport). My start was good and I didn’t lose any positions on the first lap. I was still 6^th and planned on finishing 3^rd, it meant having to overtake some incredibly good racing drivers in cars that are not easy to follow closely let alone pass.

As the race got on I moved my way up the field, my highlight of the weekend included overtaking two cars around the outside of a very tight hairpin. They made a mistake into turn one which allowed me to get a run on them into turn 2. They both defended the inside of the corner which meant I had to attempt to take the long way round. Luckily it worked beautifully and in one swoop I went from 6^th to 4^th.

Now in 4^th place and with some clear air in front of me I set out to catch 3^rd place driver (and team mate) Ernie. I caught him and took a chance to pass him into the final corner on the track. I managed to sneak ahead but because I had gone into the corner so hard my exit was compromised and he managed to drive past me on the main straight.

Unfortunately that would be my one and only chance to get 3^rd as I couldn’t get close enough again to make a move. So in the end I landed up 4^th and set the 3^rd quickest lap of the race.

I took heart from the fact that the ability was there, I just needed to iron out some kinks and in heat 2 I could possibly challenge for a podium.

The net result of my two heats gave me 4^th overall on my one and only come back event. Despite just missing the podium I was incredibly satisfied. I had been on the pace all weekend and created a great spectacle in cars which are difficult to overtake.

My team mate Simon Moss managed to win the overall Championship at the event and my other team mate, Ernie Van de Walt, managed to finish 3^rd overall after we had a tough battle in both heats.

With a First, Third and Fourth we almost had a clean sweep of the podium so all-in-all I think Terry Moss Racing, sponsored by Southern Sun Hotels and Dixxon Batteries had a very successful weekend!

I want to thank Terry and his awesome team for allowing me the opportunity to get back in a racing car. Those kind of experiences don’t happen very often and I definitely won’t be forgetting it any time soon!