MSA Drags August 2014

It started with comps to Killarney and ended with immense amounts of power from all the cars participating. There was a big rivalry between the guys from PE and Cape Town, as they went head to head on the track. With cars like supercharged type R Hondas, V8 Fords, Subaru STIs and Audi S lines, the day was loud smokey and entertaining.

Early this morning the drags started, with everyone warming up to not only beat their opponent but post the best time too.  there were a few cars posting just over 12 seconds ranging from Audi RS4s to Mk 1 golfs, this made for some interesting pairing and results.  I witnessed Opel Corsa B shapes beating Subaru STIs, Honda type Rs beating Audi RS4s, and Ford Cortinas absolutely thrashing everything it went up against. With tensions high and hundreds of horsepower there was bound to be a few mistakes, I saw a Nissan Champ bakkie pile into the wall right at the starting block while warming up his tyres as well as prop shafts breaking and cars having to be towed and this was all at the start line and a few cars experiencing problems on the starting block and having to be pushed away.  The fastest time was 10.5seconds posted by the Speed & Sound Ford Escort.

The vibe was great, with people tail gating in the parking lot, braais,drinks and people showing off their cars. Some might have tried a little to hard for instance, trying to handbrake turn and knocking out 2 polls along the entrance of the race track.  There were a few unusual cars seen too, like an 80s Toyota Supra, a couple of Nissan R32 GTRs and an Uno Turbo.  All the cars had plenty of power and provided the crowd with what they paid to see, cars, wheel spinning, revving, backfiring and dragging.  There was also go carting and motorbike racing on the small circuit where young racers show the crowd that its not always easy to drive a go cart or a motorbike when you  driving the speeds they do.

Overall it was a fantastic day and the crowd thoroughly enjoyed it, With better marketing and multiple events on the same day these track events could grow so much larger.  Thank you too Killarney race track for hosting this event and we look forward to more in the future.  

WTF 3

Going Green

We are in the era where everyone is going green, I found someone who has accomplished this.  Not only has this person gone green but they modified their car at the same time.  So I have taken the liberty of outlining some steps you can take to achieve the same thing.  Firstly you need to have your car sprayed the greenest green you can find, then neglect the paint until its faded cause we all know that faded paint is exactly the same as matte paint.  Secondly you want to go to your local china town and get the smallest rear wing you can find, this is done so there is a large contrast between the size of the wing and the size of your car.

Thirdly you need to have the rear wing painted black in order to imitate a carbon fiber look.  After this you want to paint your mags black with some shoe polish in order to match the wing and the door rubbers, this way you can get a colour scheme going on your car.  If you would like a graphic on the side of your car, you can pour a little recycled house white paint on the car.  It always looks cool to have that "im trying but im not really trying to make my car look cool".

The most important thing to remember about this process is to have a tow bar equipped and do not attach any lips, skirts or body kits.  Nothing screams modified car like functionality and a complete lack of modifications.

WTF 2

This is how we roll

The 1989 Opel Kadett 1.4 with a staggering 44 kw at the front wheels and a 0 to 100 km/h time of 15 seconds.  Lets just round that number down and call this a 10 second car and with its top speed of 130 km/h its inevitable that at some point this car will roll over. Not many people know this but there are some safety extras you can add to this car, like a roll cage or a headrest roll bar.  I found some one who was smart enough to fit a headrest roll bar to his Kadett.  As you can see by the image below he even took into consideration the passengers.

So this person has done this safety modification in the safest way possible, if you know anything about car and safety.  Its very important to attach the headrest roll bars to the most sturdy part of the car, which in this case is the wooden head board.  This person needed more flexibility during a roll so he opted to leave the screws and instead just used very strong super glue. This person was very accurate when getting the headrest roll bars in the right position, the rule of thumb is always use the lines on your seat covers.  

So if you want to be extra safe on while flying down the road in you 1400 Opel Kadett be sure to fit your safety parts on the right way, otherwise you could end up looking stupid.