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Purpose-built race cars are a no-compromise technology highlighted by series like Formula Volkswagen. At Scribante in Port Elizabeth racers in this category tackled round three of their national championship and showed exactly what they are capable of.
 
The fastest lap of the day was posted by Caleb Williams (77) in the Team Signkor entry. Williams posted a quickest time of 59.418 seconds over the 2.48 km track in the first race – which was not quite quick enough to best the lap record set by Gavin Cronje in 2008 (58.881 seconds).
 
This means Williams had to race at an average speed of 151 km/h to post the time.
 
When it came to race day action, things started right off the start line when Tasmin Pepper (31) in the PG Glass/Plastomark/VW Racing entry started looking to better her position immediately. Pepper first tried going past on the left before looking to better her chances on the other side of the track.
 
This move didn’t work out the way she hoped and this cost her track positions instead of gaining any. On the second lap Pepper found herself involved in a spin with Chad van Beurden (16) and his Beurden Construction/Square Waste Removal car. While there was no contact between the drivers, Van Beurdens’ spin – caused by putting two wheels on the grass – meant that Pepper spun out when suddenly reducing speed to avoid an accident.
 
The fight up front was taking place between Williams and Wesleigh Orr (2) in the Teugue Distributors/Bravo Racing car. Williams had put a move on Orr and made it stick.
 
That move was an outside overtaking manoeuvre which is an especially brave tactic on a track as narrow as Scribante. It paid off though – and is the reason that Williams claimed a second-place in race one.
 
Simon Moss (38) in the Dixon Batteries/Southern Sun entry took advantage of the action happening behind him to open a gap on the field and make good his escape. This translated into a 2.9 second margin of victory over Williams in the first race.
 
In race two Williams took off in pole position with Moss in two, followed by Orr. Moss was on the outside going into the esses and spun out as he went onto the grass to avoid contact with Williams – not unlike the earlier incident of Van Beurden. There was a rather different outcome in this incident as the field slowed to avoid the incident – and Gordon Connelly (3) OCC/Bravo Holdings/Cowan Signs was rammed by Ernie van der Walt (95) in the Dixon Batteries entry.
 
This cost Van Der Walt a front wing and Connelly the entire rear wing assembly. No downforce in these cars makes competition very difficult and Connelly had his hands full to finish the race – while simultaneously trying to hold onto position. He did manage an eighth place as the field crossed the line, but this incident is not the welcome back to this single-make series he would have been hoping for.
 
Connelly competed in Formula Volkswagen for the first time this year at Scribante after closing the 2009 season in third place.
 
For Barry Harrison (34) and his Bravo Holdings/Cowan Signs entry the second race of the day was rather a challenge as his gearlever broke and he was forced to resort to improvised methods to finish the race – which he did in ninth spot.
 
For Port Elizabeth racer Daniel Rowe (27) in the LuK/GC Diesel entry the event saw him finish fourth and fifth respectively to provide him an overall third place for the day – a welcome result and a good platform to build on during his debut season. Rowe suffered bad luck at the Cape Town event that saw him unable to compete in race one and the resulting repairs negatively impacted his chances in the second race.
 
Race results on the day:
 
Race one:
1 – Simon Moss (38) – Dixon Batteries/Southern Sun
2 – Caleb Williams (77) – Team Signkor
3 – Wesleigh Orr (2) – Teugue Distributors/Bravo Racing
 
Race two:
1 – Caleb Williams (77) – Team Signkor
2 – Wesleigh Orr (2) – Teugue Distributors/Bravo Racing
3 – Chad van Beurden (16) – Beurden Construction/Square Waste Removal
 
Overall results:
1 – Caleb Williams (77) – Team Signkor
2 – Wesleigh Orr (2) – Teugue Distributors/Bravo Racing
3 – Daniel Rowe (27) – Luk/GC Diesel