Team Natie take second overall in NR1 class

HIGHVELD – The start of the South African National NRC and Regional NR rally championships was held in Delmas over the weekend of 9 and 10 April.

After the 2020 season ended, Team Natie did a complete overall on their trusted Ford Escort classic car, seeing it being rebuilt and sprayed.

On Friday, 9 April, Round 1 of the NRC and NR rally drivers took off at NTT Toyota in Delmas.

Teams were required to go through strict Covid-19 screening at the start venue.

Because of Covid-19 regulations, no spectators were allowed.

Team Natie went out at 7:13am to recce the day’s route.

After 70mm rain, the route had to be re-routed to avoid rally vehicles getting stuck in the mud.

NTT Toyota’s first car started at 10:30, with Team Natie pulling off from NTT Toyota holding area at 11:00am.

Stage 1 was a gravel stage and racers competed on well-prepared roads.

All kicked off well for stage 1’s 11km, with Johan Smit being spot-on with route notes, however, 5.1km into the stage the oil pressure light came on and spelt disaster.

“I immediately switched off the car and pulled off the road. By further investigation I found one oil cooler pipe came off from the oil cooling system causing the loss of engine oil,” said Natie
Booysen.

At this stage Team Natie thought this would have been the end of the Friday rally, however, the Team Natie service crew assisted to remove the oil cooler from the system.

“This then helped us to apply to ‘super rally’ and get back to racing,” said Booysen.

He explained that ‘super rally’ is calculated times for the stages not done. It is usually much slower than the competitive times.

“We only did stages 1 and 6 and came stone last, still classifying us as a finisher. This was still an NRC5 class win.”

The Friday night saw the service team hard at work getting new pipes for the oil cooler and washing all the spilt oil from the car to be ready and clean for the rally when arriving at the service park on, Saturday 10 April.

When the team arrived at the service park at the TAPKAR venue, the service crew immediately jumped in to replace the cars oil cooler pipes.

Before taking off at 10:26am, Team Natie were hit again with another hiccup starting the car.

The starter didn’t want to start the engine.

It was a huge relief when the car finally started. The team took off on a demanding 20.07km stage 1.

“The car ran fine, we had a good stage and everything stayed together,” said Booysen.
Stage 2 followed without service from stage 1.

“At service after stage 2, the service team found a few loose bolts and a wiring problem on the starter.”
Stage 3 was a repeat of stage 1 and 2.

“We improved our time on the second run and started getting into the motion,” said Booysen.

He said the rest of the day went very well and saw them complete day two.

Team Natie took the national overall ninth place and the NRC5 class win.

They also took the regional second overall NR1 class win.

The team thanked their sponsors Graceland Hotel, Casino and Country Club, Kalahari Slaghuis, Sotran Trading, Power Fitment Centre, Fireplace Roadhouse and GBM Networks for their support and sponsorship as well as their service crew, fans and supporters.