Formula Volkswagen racers bring single-seat action to the Mother City

HIGH octane racing action doesn’t come any quicker than the single-seater Formula Volkswagen class. The drivers have to contend with a pedigree race car that rewards skill and enthusiasm and punishes over-enthusiastic drivers in equal measure.
 
It will again be wheel-to-wheel action as the national series moves to Killarney in Cape Town on Saturday, 13 March, for round two of the championship. Racers Simon Moss (38) in the Southern Sun / Dixon Batteries entry and Wesleigh Orr (2) in the Teugue Distributors / Bravo Racing car set a cracking pace at Kyalami to get the season off to a high note.
 
The pair each won a race at the opening round of the WesBank Super Series to be the leaders in the 2010 championship. Tasmin Pepper (31) in the PG Glass / Plastomark / VW Racing entry produced two solid third-place finishes and currently holds the third spot in the points rankings.
 
With the top two drivers on identical points and the third and fourth-placed driver also on identical points the season has started on a knife-edge. If fourth-placed Caleb Williams (77) in the Signkor Formula Volkswagen finds extra pace at Killarney there could very well be a very different scoreboard.
 
These single-seater race cars demand balance and strategy. A combination of optimum downforce and maximum top speed must be successfully calculated to ensure top performance. An adjustment of just millimetres of degrees of a turn make all the difference between success and failure.
 
Already the front-runners have managed to successfully understand and correctly set up their race cars, for other racers in the field this winning combination has yet to happen.
 
Spectators can look forward to newcomers Daniel Rowe (27) in the LuK entry, who put in an impressive performance at the first round to finish in fifth overall, Ernie van der Walt (95) in the Southern Sun / Dixon Batteries entry, Chad van Beurden (16) in the Beurden Construction / Square Waste Removal Formula Volkswagen and Caleb Williams (77) in the Signkor car – currently fourth in the points.
 
Each of these competitors had their first taste of national single-seater racing at Kyalami and acquitted themselves well on debut. Killarney is a rather different circuit and there is a distinct difference in grip levels by comparison to Johannesburg. This is going to make things particularly interesting for the racers and those who adapt the fastest is most likely to emerge victorious amongst the newcomers.
 
These drivers face a gruelling race weekend where they will be required to push every limit in their search for position and points while still keeping things neat on the track. Unlike their tin-top counterparts, the single-seater racers cannot afford contact.
 
The results of wheel-to-wheel contact for open-wheel race cars is dramatic and, by far the majority of the time, also terminal to their race hopes. Any race fan who keeps an eye on the Formula One circuit knows exactly what happens when those race cars touch – and for the Formula Volkswagen competitors it is no different.
 
The question to ask of the Killarney race meeting is whether or not this race series will set a lap record at the circuit this year. The field came close at Kyalami but were unable to shatter any records as they set their cars up at the start of the new season.
 
Perhaps Killarney is the meeting which will make this happen.