South African Endurance Series

[Hawkwood]

Originally Posted by Mike E

Coincidentally, Wikipedia is considered the world's third most factually accurate website.

I doff my hat to you Sir

[Jaguar4]

Does anyone have pictures of the Pilbeam P2 car on track?

[Mike E]

It wasn't there, and as far as I know it has never been on track.

The team didn't even run their old MP98, so it was a bit of a walkover for the winning Juno.

[AllanMcC]

All live timing was handled by www.protiming.co.za. Final results are also available on their website. The fire that put and end to the Viper was quite scary as it kept on flaring up. I was team manager for one of the other teams competing and was on the pit wall about 30m away.

[Mike E]

Welcome, AllanMcC! Which car were you running and will you be at the 3 hour at Midvaal later in the year?

[kurski]

Drama as Juno wins African 6-Hour Race http://www.dailysportscar.com/?p=23632

[Humpy]

Hey Mike, check out the times of the viper, Shelby's and the GT2, all quicker than the pilbeam

[Deleted]

After cancelling a 3 hour race at Midvaal last July, the organizers are (hoping to have/) having 3h event at Killarney Raceway this December. And as ever with these lovely fellas and their freshingly bold ideologies, LMP1s and LMP2s and LMGTEs are still freely accepted http://saendurance.files.wordpress.c...ulations-4.doc

Not that they're gonna get em unfortunately. You know, if Rebellion Racing wants to win races overall again, this atm would be the only place to do so someone inform them these events exist, hehe

[rich07]

In a perfect world Porsche Audi Toyota and Rebellion would announce they're sending a car each there. That'd be pretty cool

[isynge]

Originally Posted by rich07

In a perfect world Porsche Audi Toyota and Rebellion would announce they're sending a car each there. That'd be pretty cool

Have fond memories of the old Kyalami 9 Hours, which would often attract a pretty high profile group of exotica (Group Cs, Group 6s etc) alongside some of the weird and wonderful local entries, or indeed more recently the Vallelunga 6 Hours, where you'd see LMP1 or LMP2 machinery show up and have a go.

I'd like to think there's still an adventurous entrant out there who'd relish the chance at having a go - e.g. Thiriet wanting to see if they could at last get a result with their Ligier, but I suspect this is very much wishful thinking on my part.

[Mike E]

I suspect that you are very much right, Ian. The cost of getting out there would be out of all proportion to the benefits. Maybe if a few teams got together to spread the load it would be doable, maybe with backing from Nissan or something. But even then, Killarney isn't really ideal. The lap record is about 1:10, set by the local Formula Volkswagen. 3 hours of 1 minute laps would be frantic. Fast, flowing Phakisa is a better option, but it is even less accessible.

Kelvin van der Linde has just won the ADAC GT Masters with Rene Rast, driving for Abt. I would love to see Audi do something for him back home, like organising a GT3 R8 drive in the 3 hour, or better still, the Phakisa 6 hour.

One day, maybe...

[Deleted]

I wonder that since LMP1s especially "require" Grade 2 tracks at minimum, how would FIA even allow them to Killarney and some of these other places, if someone theoretically entered. Or would they just turn their backs for such club-esque meetings

[Mike E]

Here are a load of pics from the Killarney 3 Hour. The actual results of the race appear to be a closely guarded secret, however. But it looks like a Juno won it.

http://streetmotion.co.za/africa-3-h...duro-pictures/

[isynge]

Originally Posted by Mike E

Here are a load of pics from the Killarney 3 Hour. The actual results of the race appear to be a closely guarded secret, however. But it looks like a Juno won it.

http://streetmotion.co.za/africa-3-h...duro-pictures/

Fun collection of pictures - really reminiscent of the good old days of racing in less well travelled parts of the world bringing together all sorts of racing oddities.

Also quietly pleased that we won't be filing the Pilbeam under the "sportscars the never raced" category.

[Deleted]

The results are here
http://www.mylaps.com/en/classification/3349206

The Zoo P2 was the last of the non-DNFs and completed 41 laps. Only 17th in qualifying and much slower than their old MP98 Cosworth that was also entered.

But the car looks like a freaking tank when on track. Love it

[Mike E]

Originally Posted by Chiana

The results are here
http://www.mylaps.com/en/classification/3349206

Thanks!

[Mike E]

The 2015 calendar and regs have been released. A race in Port Shepstone! Goodness me.

http://saendurance.wordpress.com/201...5-regulations/

[Deleted]

Looks a bit over ambitious set of races, even with the sprint events, likely few will get canned along the way. It's not like that wasn't happening as late as last summer...

[Mike E]

African 6 Hours 2015 entry list released, including the legendary Sarel van der Merwe at the wheel of the Pilbeam LMP2. Hopefully they have found a bit more speed since Killarney.

https://saendurance.files.wordpress....ntry-list.xlsx

[rich07]

Sarel van see Merwe?

Now there's a name I haven't heard for a while. Good to see he's still racing.

[joeb]

That is a great entry list, they even have a Panoz GTLM!

[Deleted]

Originally Posted by joeb

That is a great entry list, they even have a Panoz GTLM!

Well that's a blast from the past!

[Koenigsegg]

Originally Posted by Chiana

Well that's a blast from the past!

For some reason I just love the Panoz race cars (except for the DeltaWing)!!

[Deleted]

So no Le Mans for Pilbeam. Now obviously, that was just about as distant pipedream as third TS040 was for Toyota, but I think they still had ambitions. That's what their PR, the little there has been, was all about after all - racing at Le Mans. In 2015 even. Of course, it's entirely possible that it wasn't the ACO that canned the request (and didn't even allow on the reserve list), but that the team didn't make entry request in the first place. Maybe they've given up on it or delayed it for next year.

Who knows. Either way, good luck for these little events this year

Think I have to rely on Pegasus Racing again as the "Minardi" of LM this year

[andy97]

Don't think it was possible to modify the Pilbeams easily or cost effectively to the latest bodywork and safety regs, as they had originally hoped and they did seriously investigate it.