Sharonlea-based racer Michael Kernick took part in the third edition of the Zwartkops Top of the Hill Historic Challenge, and was invited by Trans Africa Racing (TAR) to race their 1963 Thompson TS9 special in the H5 class.

Kerninck explained that he was over the moon to race the special car. He said the Thompson Special was made in 1963, commissioned by the Thompson brothers to compete and beat the Lotus 23 cars of the time. The car was nicknamed ‘Plathond’, which means crocodile, based on a joke one of the builders enjoyed. The car has a 1 500cc Ford engine and has a very impressive history, racing in the 1964 South African Formula 1 Grand Prix in Cape Town and finishing third overall. It then did the 1964 Kyalami nine hours and came second in its class. “In recent years, Trans Africa Racing have rebuilt the car and brought it back to life. Knowing the history, I couldn’t wait to drive the car. I sat in the car and felt comfy straight away. This whole car is built so low, as they wanted as little wind resistance as possible, so it was something to get used to.”

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There were four practice and qualifying sessions. The top three fastest cars in each class, after the qualifying runs, went into a class final, and the top 10 quickest in qualifying went into a top 10 final shootout. Kernick explained that their goal for the race was to get into the top 10, but this would be a tall order as there were many cars with more power than what they had. “I was going to give it a really good go. In all the practise sessions, we were fastest in our class, which was fantastic and unexpected. The car was working well, and everything was perfect.”

The qualifying rounds were also great, except for the third last run where he tried too hard and made a mistake, but the last two runs were the quickest Kernick had all day. “I was driving the car really hard and using all the road. I even thought that when I exited the one corner, thinking there’s not much more I could push. I was 2nd quickest in class, ahead of many big, engine cars, and setting the quick time also got me into the top 10 final shootout.”

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Everything was going as planned. Hernick was the eighth-quickest car among Porsches, Cobras, Nissan Skylines, and others. In the class final shootouts, he decided to give it a good and hard go. He said he wanted a clean run, but also wanted to do well. “I lined up. The light went off. The run was just what was needed. When I crossed the line, I had secured second in class. The team was over the moon as we got a podium finish. Then, we had to prepare the car for the top 10 shootout.”

Kernick still had another race to enjoy against the faster cars. He lined up and decided to have fun, giving the last run everything he could. “I was using every piece of road and more. I completed the run and went the quickest I had all day. The event and day were absolutely awesome. Thank you to Trans Africa Racing and Zwartkops Raceway for the great car and opportunity.”

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