PMCC your Premier Model Car Club has been staging a Nine Hour Endurance Race for the last five years. The race is in honour of the cars and driver that raced in the Kyalami Nine Hour held in the 60’s and 70’s. The cars used have always been 1/32nd scale models of cars raced in the era.
The company Fly has always been a good source of cars. For 2007 a new class of racing has been introduced in South Africa, promoted by Allan Patterson of Cape Town and adopted by the South African Model Car Association. The cars are 1/24th scale and all have Classic Style Bodies. All the chassis are identical as are the motors and tyres. As for the Nine Hour the cars had to be cars that could have raced at Kyalami.
This year the 6 entries were:
The company Fly has always been a good source of cars. For 2007 a new class of racing has been introduced in South Africa, promoted by Allan Patterson of Cape Town and adopted by the South African Model Car Association. The cars are 1/24th scale and all have Classic Style Bodies. All the chassis are identical as are the motors and tyres. As for the Nine Hour the cars had to be cars that could have raced at Kyalami.
This year the 6 entries were:
PMCC A (Ferrari 350 P4 CanAm)
Gustav Heymann
Dawie Van Rooyen
Anthony Bithrey
PMCC B (Porsche 917)
Gert Be Beer
George Pirie Gray
Arie Thoenes
TWR (Ford Mirage)
Tiny Wright
Ian Templeman
Peter Cavanagh
Deon Pirie Gray
Wolfies A (Porsche 908/3)
Andre Venter
Allan White
Johan Van Der Merwe
Andre Stander
Wolfies B (Ferrari 512S)
Eddie Pereira
Carel Buitendag
Carel Buitendag Jnr
Jan Fritz
Cheetahs (Porsche 917)
Philip Hardy
Louis Smit
Lionel Van Manen
Graham Thiele
Thom Byron
The day started with practice from 8:00 to 9:30 followed by Scrutineering and Concou
rse judging. Gustav Heymann of PMCC A’s Ferrari won Concourse.The race started at 10:15 with PMCC A going into an immediate lead completing 734 laps in the first 90 minutes, they were followed by PMCC B 705 laps, Wolfies A 666 laps, TWR 634, Wolfies B 633 laps and Cheetahs 587 laps. The second 90 minutes saw PMCC B run into a bit of trouble and slide down the leader board, PMCC A stayed in front and finished the second stint on 1464 laps ahead of Wolfies A 1311 laps, PMCC B1305 laps, TWR 1246 laps Wolfies B 1230 laps and Cheetahs 1222 laps. The third 90 minutes brings us to the half way mark with PMCC A stretching their lead ever further ending the first Four and a half hours on 2145 laps followed by Wolfies A 1992 laps, PMCC B 1944 laps, TWR 1900 laps, Wolfies B 1865 laps and Cheetahs 1858 laps.
The fourth segment of 90 minutes saw a few more gremlins creep in but our lead car although requiring minor repairs maintained first place on 2833 laps followed by Wolfies A 2689 laps, PMCC B 2598 laps, TWR 2570 laps, Wolfies B 2478 laps and Cheetahs 2460 laps.
The last three hours was to be quite exciting with the pace taking its toll. The leading car raced on unhindered after it’s earlier problems to get to the seven and a half hour mark on 3440 laps, PMCC B 3281laps and back in front of Wolfies A 3278 laps slowing and changing a motor, TWR 3241 laps, Cheetahs 3088 laps and Wolfies B 3082 Laps after a brief repair. The last segment of 90 minutes saw perhaps the hardest driving of the lot with positions 2nd to 4th all closing each other down.
PMCC A ran out the easy winners on 4256 laps, PMCC B second on 3944 laps only 4 laps ahead of Wolfies A on 3940 laps who were only 2 laps ahead of TWR on 3938 laps. Wolfies B was fifth on 3704 ahead of Cheetahs on 3635 laps.
Index of performance was won by TWR on 103.5%, second was Cheetahs on 103.2%, and third was Wolfies A on 98.6%.
At the end of the day the host club thanked all competitors for the spirit in which the race was run and their participation.
Tiny Wright
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