Let’s Look Back At The 2022 Racing Season!
Can you believe that we are in February of 2023 already?! The first race of 2023 has been raced – and we kicked the season off with a bang thanks to Marlene getting 4th place overall for the day. Sadly, Ruan had to sit this one out, due to injuries but he’ll be back in the driver’s seat before he knows it! But, before jumping into the 2023 season, let’s look back at the 2022 season. And what a year that turned out to be.
GA Glass and Aluminum Installations is the proud sponsor of team V² Racing – the overall 3rd place winners for the 2022 BRM racing series. Let me be honest; it took a lot of hard work and a few downs and some exciting ups to get there.
This racing season was a whirlwind of new experiences, interesting lessons, and very good memories. We started the season off with a bang with Marlene winning her first 1st place trophy in the 2nd race of the year – it was a shock to all of us because she was one of the slowest drivers on the day and it was raining cats and dogs.
The next few months is where the real fun started. Marlene slowly started climbing the leader board to the top by becoming faster and more consistent. Ruan got his own Golf Mk1 2.0l 8v so now there are 2 team cars. Chandre happily stayed the man-in-charge and team mechanic. We always make sure that the race cars are 100% before setting rubber on track but we all know that these machines are temperamental, and anything can happen. We had our fair share of races where we had mechanical issues which rendered either Marlene or Ruan out of one of the races for the day or fighting very hard in between races to get the running again. We’ve had coilpacks packing up, breaks failing, fuel lines disintegrating, alternator bolts breaking off, steering rack boots tearing off (try explaining to the mechanic that your car is making “whale” sounds…) and many many hours of trying to repair these issues to get back on track.
Over the March-October period Marlene fought her way to the top of the leader board and maintaining her topspot for 3 months in a row. Sadly, if you’re inconsistent it costs a few championship points and Marlene slid down the leader board to 6th place in November. In Afrikaans we have a saying: “Hou die blink kant bo!” Which means when faced with adversity, always remain strong; and that’s what the team did.
However, November was a good month for Ruan as he had an interesting battle against some very fast turbo cars to score his first 3rd place win for the season, despite getting a 20sec penalty for a breakout time. December was full of twists. Ruan had to sit out the last race after breaking his ankle, but Marlene made it up for both by fighting very hard for points and taking home 3rd overall for the whole season.
Besides a great maiden season at BRM, the V2 team achieved a lot of amazing things off the Midvaal track. Marlene, Chandre and Ruan were part of the first-ever Zwartkopanapolis 500 at Zwartkops raceway. The race was team based, where the aim was to drive 500 miles/804.6 km or 335 laps around Zwartkops. Marlene and Ruan were part of the Supernovas team, which were mainly a female-based team in class C. Chandre was part of Team Blitzwagen in class A. It was an amazing day and experience, bringing 5 families together via the 2 teams. We walked away with 6 trophies for the day (5 for the ladies and Ruan team and 1 for the men).
So, which of our 2022 goals did we achieve? Which bonus goals did we achieve?
- Our goal was to be on the podium at the end of the season but realistically we were aiming for top 5 as we are a new team – WE MADE THE PODIUM! Marlene came 3rd overall for the year.
- We wanted to finish a few endurance races, especially the Aldo Scribante 3-hour race (in PE) – We didn’t make it to PE, but we did compete in the Zwarkopanapolis 500, and we also did a 3-hour endurance race hosted by BRM.
- We strived for comfort inside the race car which was challenging as the car had to be set up differently depending on the driver is for the day – we acquired another car so Marlene and Ruan are now both very comfortable in their own cars and know exactly how to get the best out of their race machines.
- We wanted to finish the season with all 3 drivers faster and with the car in one piece – both cars came home safely with minimal issues and damage throughout the season and all three drivers are faster and more consistent compared to the beginning of the season.
- Chandre – PB = 1.21 and consistent at 1.23
- Ruan – PB = 1.22 and consistent at 1.24
- Marlene – PB = 1.23 and consistent at 1.25
- We managed to learn other racetracks – we had a lot of fun a few times around Zwartkops and we embraced the chaos of Redstar Raceway.
What are our 2023 and long-term goals for the team:
- Speed is the name of the game – we all still want to/need to improve on our PB’s and establish PB’s on other tracks as well.
- Another podium for the 2023 season would be amazing, hence we really need to work on our consistency to ensure that we bag the maximum number of points for each race.
- We would like to move up into mainstream classes in about 2-3 years like the 111-series or SilverCup.
- We still want to make it to the Aldo Scribante 3-hour race, in PE.
- Marlene has her car, Ruan has his, now we need to get Chandre out of pits and into a race car as well.
Not too shabby for a bunch of first timers. We look forward to the 2023 racing season!
